Before "Lord of The Dance", before "Riverdance", there was the Trinity Dance Company, formed in Chicago in 1990. The company grew out of the Trinity Academy of Irish dancing, whose Irish-American director, Mark Howard, decided it was time to turn traditional Irish hardshoe dancing -previously a competitive sport- on its ear. His company touts itself as the first to do "progressive" Irish dance, freeing it from the rigid-torso line dancing of the past. Still, a Celtic thread runs through the program, which includes traditional displays as well as contemporary numbers.
"We're a nightmare for most sound people," says dancer Sheila Ryan. "We mike the stage as loud as we can and pound really hard."
www.trinity-dancers.com
