State Theatre presents the Emmy Award-winning troupe, the Trinity Irish Dance Company on Friday, February 8, 2008 at 8pm. Trinity Irish Dance Company is part of the State Theatre's winter festival, Hub City Carnivale: three weeks of performances, activities, and attractions for children 1-100, sponsored by PSE&G.
Tickets range from $25-55 (student, senior, and group discounts apply, plus limited $20 tickets and KIDS GO FREE discounts).
Trinity Irish Dance Company (Trinity), made up of dancers between the ages of 18 and 28, has performed to great critical, and popular acclaim on stages throughout the world. The performers of Trinity include: Briana Blahnik, Katie Dionne, Torrey Duns, Kelly Gallagher, Colleen Goy, Sheila Healy, Briana Kliesmet, Alyson Marr, Michelle McNamara, Kelly McNulty, Aisling Nally, Whitney Rondeau, Katherine Whelan, Garrett Coleman, and Billy Donahue.
Trinity quickly dispels whatever notions you may have about Irish dance. Founded in 1990 by Artistic Director Mark Howard as a means of providing professional career opportunities to students who formerly had no outlet for their dance training beyond the competitive circuit, this innovative nonprofit company is constantly searching for original means of expression while maintaining a high regard for old traditions. Trinity, a uniquely Irish-American company, was the birthplace of progressive Irish dance which opened new avenues of artistic expression that led to commercial productions, such as Riverdance.
A majority of the company's dancers came through the ranks of the prestigious Trinity Academy of Irish Dance, the Chicago/Milwaukee-based school that has garnered an unprecedented number of team world titles for the U.S. at the World Championships of Irish Dance. Many of them have danced together since they were children; building an instinctual bond that allows them to take risks no other company would dare attempt. Their years of rigorous training are evident in every perfectly paced spin, leap, and click, making them a lethal powerhouse of speed and sound that has electrified audiences around the world.
Not content to be simply the world's best, Founding Artistic Director and Emmy Award-winning Choreographer Mark Howard has moved outside the framework of ethnicity, expanding the company's range and repertoire in a host of imaginative, and new directions. Over the past several years, the company also has collaborated with many noted contemporary choreographers which have led them to an increased vocabulary of movement and the development of a unique form of story ballet which tells the ancient and modern history of the Irish-American people through dance and specially commissioned live music. One of Howard's lifelong students, Deirdre Mahoney, was named as Associate Artistic Director of the company in 2003. Mahoney is the first of many young choreographers that will emerge from the bridges built by the unique Trinity program.
The company has appeared in feature films by Disney, Dream Works, Touchstone, and Universal including Backdraft and The Road to Perdition. The company has toured internationally as invited guests for dignitaries as varied as the Royal Family in Monaco, Ireland's President Mary Robinson, and Indian meditation master Gurumayi Chidvilasananda. Trinity has won two Emmy Awards for their appearance on PBS television specials One Step Beyond and World Stage. The group was also featured in the ABC special Dignity of Children, hosted by Oprah Winfrey. -- www.statetheatrenj.org
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