Delight in the sights, sounds of 'Rhythm of the Dance' at Palace

The National Dance Company of Ireland’s “Rhythm of the Dance” show is back in the states for another round of shows, just in time to celebrate the St. Patrick’s Day season with the troupe’s American fans.

It’s not like the champion dancers, professional singers and musicians had a chance to rest up for their U.S. engagements, having just completed a six-week tour of Germany before landing in Arizona a few weeks ago to kick off the spring shows.

The tour brings Ireland’s traveling troubadours to Greensburg for a performance presented by Latshaw Productions on March 8 at the Palace Theatre, where they performed last year on St. Patrick’s Day.

Leading the cast is principal dancer Amy Marie Prior and her lead partner Dane McKiernan. She has been with the company for more than five years and the pair has been performing together nearly that long. McKiernan also serves as choreographer for the show.

Both were competitive dancers as children; McKiernan has been dancing since he was 6 years old; Prior began to dance at age 3 in her hometown of Woodford Green, London, England. He also toured worldwide with “Riverdance” and was part of the modern Irish dance group “Prodijig.”’

High-energy entertainment

“I hope that audiences enjoy our high-energy entertainment, fast-moving feet and watching us doing what we love and have trained for since a young age,” she said.

During the show, Prior dances while wearing soft ballet slipper-type shoes. For a few numbers, she dons her “heavy shoes” that produce a loud tap sound when she performs a solo dance with the band’s bodhran player.

She said the traditional Irish frame drum is a unique instrument that she can exchange beats and rhythms with on stage.

For the most part, though, she prefers her soft shoes that enable her to perform more gracefully in her dances.

Besides the principal and ensemble dancers, “Rhythm of the Dance” features a team of musicians playing traditional Irish instruments, including fiddles, flutes, accordions, banjo, Uilleann pipes and whistles, and singers who offer their renditions of traditional Irish songs.

Following their four-week U.S. tour, the dancers will head back to Ireland, then upcoming travels will take the troupe to Russia, Holland and Switzerland.

“We get a couple of months off, when we try to take a rest and see our families,” Prior said. “Then we put our shoes back on and head out again.”

Communicating through music

Kieran Cavanagh, producer of “Rhythm of the Dance,” said the show has played to audiences in 57 countries across four continents, including in non-English-speaking territories such as Russia, “where we generally start a tour as far over as Siberia and then work our way back to Moscow over a five-week period of one-nighters, going from town to town overnight by train.

“It’s pretty amazing and the people come out and fill the theaters and sometimes bring Celtic song books and literature with them to show to us. They cannot communicate with us, only through the music. It’s fantastic to see this happen, how music can bring different nations and cultures together.”