Trinity Irish Dance Company Instructs Students and Faculty on Contemporary Irish Dance in BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts Series Masterclass
This January, BYU students and faculty members had the chance to learn contemporary Irish dance from professional dancers Chelsea Hoy and Francisco Lemus. Hoy and Lemus are part of the dance repertory company Trinity Irish Dance Company, which visited BYU for a BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts Series performance and masterclass. Hoy gave insight and instruction as associate artistic director and choreographer for the company. Lemus was recently named one of the “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. They taught traditional technique and shared their progressive mindset about Irish Dance as a contemporary art form.
Trinity Irish Dance Company is a non-profit dance company that has sold-out performances on three continents and entertained Irish and American presidents and royal families. Notwithstanding these accomplishments, they identify as uniquely committed to the art or dance rather than commercial interests according to Hoy. In a program handed out at the BRAVO! performance, the dance company describes themselves as a repertory company focused on narrative that is “an original means of expression while maintaining a high regard for tradition.”
Lemus began the masterclass with BYU’s Irish Dance Class and Irish Dance Club with rhythm warm-ups. “Rhythm is our language," he said. “We are musicians as well as dancers.”
Trinity’s innovation goes so far as to include upper body beat percussion in some of their pieces, and all of their work has loose arms (rather than the traditional firmly straight arms often associated with Irish dance). Lemus also pointed out that the music made in dance can crescendo and diminuendo depending on how hard and loud dancers step. “Make sure you use your weight to make proper music,” Lemus said. Hoy and Lemus taught parts of Trinity’s repertoire to the students to demonstrate different dance principles, and students were individually commended for particularly good shaping and technique.
In preparation for a soft shoe routine with arm movement, Hoy asked students what they knew about the Irish dance tradition. She said that the tradition of keeping arms down came from the penal era of Irish history when Irish culture of any kind was forbidden by the British. In order to not get caught Irish dancing, dancers would keep their arms straight so those looking through windows would not suspect the footwork. “It came from oppression,” Hoy said. Trinity often has loose, free arms and sometimes uses them percussively. They used them very noticeably in routines like the softshoe one.
Hoy also told students that different schools of Irish dance teach different techniques and the members of Trinity Dance Company have come from different traditions. When a student asked if company members had to be Irish, Hoy said that they didn’t and often aren’t. However, they do have to have extensive experience in Irish dance.
“The class was really fascinating,” said Abigail Merrill, a BYU student auditing the class as a member of Traditionz, a BYU cultural dance outreach company. “It was interesting how they are breaking boundaries and enlarging the artistry within Irish dance. I could identify the Irish dance steps and styling within the things they taught us, and they used arms more, giving it a new twist.”
“Their technique is jaw dropping, and they bring their art to life,” said Lucille Carrizales, a dance education student. “The members of the company were humble, encouraging and very confident in their abilities; they were happy to share what they loved and did so graciously,” she continued. “You can practically feel their love for this style of dance when they move.”
