Aktuality 21. 12. 2008
Interview s Mr. Colinem Dunnem
When first inspired you to dance?
I was three when I took my first lesson, although I don´t think I had any inspiration for anything at three! My two older sisters started going to classes when I was about six months old, and I think I started by imitating them when they practised at home (which wasn´t very often). I just liked bouncing around to music. It came quite naturally to me.
Growing up in Birmingham in an Irish family, did you feel more Irish than English?
Oh yeah. I grep up in Birmingham in the ´70s and there was no option then but to chaose your allegiance. Everything in the house was Irish – music, dance, an extended Irish family, with huge gatherings and Irish newspapers. I think the older generation who had just emigrated painted a pretty romantic picture of home and how displaced they were in England. In retrospect it was quite isolating. I don´t think I actually had a conversation with an English person until I went to university at the age of 18.
What was your initial reaction when you were asked to be the lead dancer in Riverdance?
To be honest it all happened over the course of a few days:“you might be going on, you´re probably going on, yes, you´re going on“. I could have done with a little more time to prepare. Opening night was a blur, and the first month was surreal. Luckily, I think the media focus was more on the fact that Michael Flatley left rather than about me taking over, so I was able to get on with learning the job. It was very exciting, though, and my bank manager was delighted.
In what way has the perception of dance changed since Riverdance?
I suppose prior to Riverdance, you would only ever see Irish dance as quite technical or clinical in the context of competitions, or as something quite informal or community based – in the pub, for instance. But now audience expect to see some kind of performance quality, and in the mainstream they want that to be big, flash and entertaining. The success of Riverdance really created a mould for audience expectation from a dance show. It´s actually quite a hard one to break.
What´s your new show about, and how does it digger from what you have previously done?
Well, it´s a solo show for starters. I´m alone on stage for just over one hour, apart from the occasional appearance of a few dancers on film, which largely came from the RTÉ archives. I´ve also gone a little electro-acoustic: my shoes are hooked up in such a way that the sound is digitally manipulated, which means in this instance that multiple layers of sound create a live score to accompany the films. The show is really a meeting ground for my traditional dance roots and the more contemporary aspects of the work I´ve been doing recently. I think there is a sense of both looking back and looking forward in it and of trying to find my own place within that tradition. It´s not explicity biographical, but I don´t think you have to dig too deep beneath the surface to get where I´m coming from.
Převzato z Cara Magazine – dec/jan 2009
Václav Bernard
