AELFORCE DANCE
– THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Whatever your opinion of Gaelforce Dance, you have to admit one thing: they’ve got guts.

by Jake Tinio

15th November, 1998

There’s an almost David and Goliath quality in their quest to carve themselves a niche in the world of contemporary Irish dance, currently the dominion of Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, the twin behemoths of the genre. Given the current fascination with all things Celtic, I found myself rooting for this plucky troupe from Down Under to keep the popularity going, to give us a new twist on the Irish theme. They certainly don’t lack confidence, describing themselves on the playbill as an "international spectacular…taking North America by storm." (Friday night, it felt more like a gentle breeze.) And after paying brief homage to their groundbreaking predecessors, they can’t resist turning around and taking a few jabs at them: "Gaelforce Dance showcases even more entertainment by incorporating live traditional music and song into its original choreography… It employs a truly unique approach, while honoring what is an ancient art form mixed with the excitement of a rock and roll show… the greatest troupe of Irish dancers ever assembled outside of Ireland, a spectacle of flashing feet and ancient Celtic beats, and it’s 100 percent live!" Well, not quite. While Gaelforce Dance doesn’t use pre-recorded taps, they do use a pre-recorded rhythm track on many numbers which the musicians and the dancers have to follow (and were occassionally out of time with).

So what exactly is Gaelforce Dance?

Despite the hyperbole, they’re simply the latest product of the Irish Dance Show Formula. It’s quite simple, really: get a group of muscular, hard-stomping guys together with some lithesome, long-limbed gals, add a bunch of musicians (including the requisite fleet-fingered fiddler), feature an Enya-esque singer to provide a change of pace, throw in the proper lighting and scenery to set just the right mood, compose a New Age-y Celtic soundtrack, write a storyline full of angst and conflict but with a happy ending, employ a lot of straight chorus lines and flying "V" formations in the choreography, stick the male lead dancer – wearing the requisite leather pants, of course – in the front to strut his stuff, and get everyone to yell with gusto while executing domino-like maneuvers up and down the line.

Got it?

Gaelforce Dance follows all these rules and then tries to throw in some elements to raise itself to another level. Unfortunately, the show strives for much more than it can actually deliver. For starters, its somewhat convoluted storyline ultimately becomes too confusing (or boring) to follow, since you’d rather pay attention to the dancing. As in Riverdance, there’s a heavy amount of narration designed to keep you abreast of what’s happening, but after a while, you wish the narrator would just shut up and let you enjoy the show. Another shortcoming is composer Colm O’Foghlu’s soundtrack: a fairly nondescript blend of Celtic, New Age and (possibly) Middle Eastern music that sounds like something Ronan Hardiman would write in the middle of a serious hangover. The sets are something you might see in a decent college production with patently phony-looking hillside scenery behind which the band performs. The show’s biggest weakness, however, is its lead male dancer, James Devine. He’s really quite good – even brilliant at times – but the current world record holder for tapping speed needs to develop much more stage presence if he wants to be regarded as one of the truly great ones. He’s only 22, though, so he has time to develop confidence and flair. Perhaps his counterpart in Troupe 2 could teach him a couple of valuable lessons in stage presence: soar like an eagle and never, ever neglect your audience. To air is Carey; to forget, Devine.

According to the program – which I bought in the lobby from a ponytailed guy with a cool Aussie accent – "Gaelforce is a story of family. It is about the ties we share that bind us together above all else… It is a story of three brothers who, after a storm destroys their village, decide to take separate paths and journey toward their own place in the world… This is a story of tension and escape, of beliefs that kill, of hope and love and the bitterest pain. And this is a story of reunification and peace." Whew! Truth be told, so many people die in this show, you’d think you were watching an Irish version of Wagnerian opera.

The three brothers are Paul (Paul Noonan), the oldest brother and an earthy stud with girlfriends galore, James (Devine), the middle brother and the family’s "black sheep" who’s searching for the meaning of life, and Timmy (Timmy Manners) the youngest brother and a happy-go-lucky fella who hasn’t "found" himself yet but really doesn’t care at this point. Devine and Noonan, along with three other dancers in the troupe, are former members of Lord of the Dance. Noonan is a tall, dark and handsome Daire Nolan-type guy, Devine is shorter and stockier with blond hair, and Timmy is a 17-year-old Aussie spark plug who reminds me of LOTD’s Phelim Lennon. This trio is joined by female lead dancer Fiona McIlkenny (a dead ringer for Irish actress Roma Downey of "Touched By An Angel"), who was born in Northern Ireland but raised mostly in Australia. Trained in both ballet and Irish dancing, McIlkenny cuts a graceful yet powerful figure on stage. These lead dancers are joined by a troupe of 25 Australian stepdancers who, according to the playbill, share 40 international dancing titles among them. They’re good, and they wouldn’t look out of place in the chorus lines of the "other" Irish dance shows.

Gaelforce Dance opens with AXIS MUNDI, wherein Paul, James and Timmy are enjoying the good life in their village with Mom and the cute Colleens (or Sheilas, or whatever Irish-Aussie girls are called). The dancers begin with a kind of soft shoe version of "Reel Around The Sun" and then shift into a "Siamsa"-like manuever before finishing with a "COTC"-like flourish. Devine, of course, makes a grand Flatley-esque entrance and strikes all sorts of Flatley-esque poses. To his credit, however, he does something original when he drops down on one knee and makes like Rodin’s "The Thinker." This looked pretty ridiculous – with everyone reeling around him, what would he suddenly be ruminating about? The stock market? Saddam Hussein? The NBA lockout? I dunno.

Moving right along: everyone dies except the three brothers during THE STORM, and Devine tries to act sad during MOTHER’S DEATH but instead ends up looking constipated (maybe he was still thinking). To break out of his overwhelming grief, Devine meets up with a bunch of funky babes in JAMES MEETS THE ORDER WOMEN, a group of uniform-clad Amazons who probably wouldn’t swoon over Brad Pitt in "Meet Joe Black." These Order Women strike Egyptian-like poses and flex their biceps a lot, and Devine seems OK with that. Noonan, on the other hand, goes for a walk on the wild side in PAUL MEETS THE PAGAN MEN, a group of guys in fishnet shirts (lest you question Paul’s sexuality, he gets together with Pagan Women once he’s done male bonding). Manners, the little tyke, traipses around in TIMMY’S JOURNEY before Enya…er, Tara Ryan sings O MEN OF THE FIELDS (Ryan’s voice is decent but rather bland). The Pagans make Paul one of their own in CHURCH INITIATION before BROTHERS IN CONTRAST shows the brothers in, um…contrast. Paul then pairs off with Fiona McIlkenny, who plays a Pagan girl, in LOVE DUET. Ryan and a trio of musicians perform CEILIURADH - QUARTET INTERNATIONAL before Act I concludes with PAGAN CORONATION, a foot-stomping, stick-banging affair where Paul shakes his groove thing with the cast from "Hair" (at least that’s what they look like).

Gaelforce Dance finally makes an authentic break from the Irish Dance Show mold at the beginning of Act II with THE PUB. As the name implies, all the action takes place in a pub, and for the first time, we see the show’s executive producer, Michael Durkan. Durkan – a professional singer and musician who bears a striking resemblance to Dudley Moore – is a founding member of the Irish Drovers and, according to the program, has been working on Gaelforce Dance for the past two years. Armed with his guitar, Durkan sings a couple of traditional ballads and then starts cracking one joke after another. I have to admit, this guy is VERY funny – he had everyone in hysterics, including the troupe members on stage. Is stand-up comedy the next addition to the Irish Dance Show Formula? Might Colin Dunne return to RD to deliver witty one-liners? ("I don’t get any respect…") Could Michael Flatley come back to LOTD in a less strenuous role as the Lord of the Deadpan? ("I recently joined a dating service…") Only time will tell.

Moving right along: A blond fiddler who looks like Mairead Nesbitt in a long frock does her thing before Manner traipses around some more in TIMMY’S RETURN. Devine then shows off his stuff in JAMES DEVINE PRELUDE. "Prelude" is basically Devine’s version of Flatley’s "Feet of Flames" dance solo. And Devine delivers, big time. In a fearless, bravura performance, he pulls out all the stops and leaves everyone breathless with his dazzling, blinding speed. Thirty-eight taps per second? This guy can do it, without a doubt.

Tara Ryan lets everyone catch their breath during THAT YOU MAY SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS before Fiona the Pagan Lady – apparently impressed by Devine’s terpsichorean pyrotechnics – performs a steamy pas de deux with him in STEALING THE PAGAN GIRL. This new relationship with a woman from the wrong side of the tracks apparently doesn’t sit well with the Order Women, and they come marching in wearing Warrior-like masks in THE BURIAL AND THE BATTLE. A couple of Order Guys hold Devine (á la "Nightmare") while the Order Girls surround Fiona the Pagan and dance furiously until she drops dead. Too late, the Pagans rush in and do battle with the Order People (á la "Hell’s Kitchen") before U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan steps in to try to mediate a truce. Devine and Noonan are, of course, too ticked off to listen to Annan so they try to stab each other before little Timmy steps inbetween them and accidentally takes a knife in the gut. He dies. Bummer. (In case you were wondering, Kofi Annan is NOT in the show.)

With everyone gnashing their teeth over this loss of life, Tara Ryan dispenses some vocal Prozac with AS WE JOURNEY. Finally, the show ends with the rousing REUNIFICATION: HARMONIA MUNDI where, miraculously, everyone is ALIVE: the brothers’ mother (from Act I), Fiona the Pagan, and Timmy Manners. Huh? Did I fall asleep during Ryan’s last song? Where was the magic fairy dust? No matter – little Tim looked happy to be traipsing around again. God bless us, everyone!

Lights go out; the show’s over. It’s still dark in the theatre, but everyone gets up to leave and then…BOOM! Stage lights go on again, and Devine and the whole troupe surprise everyone by launching into a superfast *a cappella* hardshoe number (gee, where have we seen this before?). The dance ends with the troupe in a "Victory"-esque pose, which is rewarded with a standing ovation. An encore? You bet – Devine leads the troupe in the ending to the finale before the stage lights go out again, this time for good.

It may be Irish Dance Lite, but Gaelforce Dance was a lot of fun to watch. If nothing else, it made me appreciate just how good LOTD and RD really are, lest I start taking them for granted. Durkan & Co. get a B+.

Jake 207.180.219.26 <[email protected]>
Fairview Park, OH - Sunday, November 15, 1998 at 05:14:02 (PST)