Colin Dunne: Concert

presented by Once Off Productions

Two artists united by a deep appreciation of tradition yet compelled by their desire to break it apart: Irish dance artist Colin Dunne takes on the ‘undanceable’ music of the virtuoso traditional Irish fiddle player Tommie Potts (1912-1988).

In this new solo work,  Dunne confronts the music of the enigmatic Potts. A singular and complex figure in the history of Irish traditional music, he rarely played in public, and his 1972 album, The Liffey Banks, was the only recording of his music released commercially before his death. Although renowned for its delicate, melancholic and playful qualities, the album’s rhythmical irregularity renders it practically impossible to dance to.

Collaborating with Out of Time director, Sinéad Rushe, and composer/sound designer, Mel Mercier (Drama Desk Award Winner and Tony nominee), Dunne sets out to ‘dance’ this controversial album in a concert like no other.

Armed with an LP copy of The Liffey Banks, a tape recorder, portable speakers and some sheets of flooring, Dunne embodies the lonesome and deviant nature of these recordings in his innovative style that is as evocative and idiosyncratic as Potts’s own. Concert sees Dunne draw on his extraordinary technique and deep engagement with the music to illuminate it afresh in a negotiation of old and new.

Presented in collaboration with Dance Umbrella.

***** “Warm,funny, respectful and irreverent”
(Irish Times)