THE NEW CENTURY AMERICAN IRISH-ARTS COMPANY TAKES IRISH DANCE IN A NEW DIRECTION
When: Saturday, August 24, 2013, 8:00 PM
Where: St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, 824 Wayne Ave. Silver Spring, Md. 20910
Admission: $16 for non-members. $13 for FSGW members; family price: (two adults and children) $40; students $10.
Parking: Please DO NOT park in Whole Foods/Strosnider's parking lot adjacent to the church (they tow). There is some street parking, and the Wayne Avenue Garage is a block away at 921 Wayne Avenue.
Irish dance didn?t stop with Riverdance. Foot-pounding and roof-raising, The New Century American Irish-Arts Company blends rollicking Irish traditional music with dynamic choreography to create innovative, original performance art. Join more than twenty of the area?s finest traditional musicians and dancers in The New Century American Irish-Arts Company?s Irish dance extravaganza at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Silver Spring, MD on Saturday, August 24 at 8:00 p.m.
Headlining the show will be the New Century?s directors: composer and arranger Peter Brice (button accordion, ballad-singing) and choreographer Kate Bole (step dance). Tenor banjoist Bob Smith and pianist Donna Long will join them, presenting selections of their individual work, and Catherine Marafino will present choreography derived from her background in Irish step and tap dance.
These performers have created a local style of Irish traditional music that blends the musical influences of accordionist/composer Billy McComiskey and fiddler Brendan Mulvihill with the Irish dance legacy of Peggy O?Neill. Their performances run the gamut of dance styles from step to tap and sean nos (?old style?) Irish dance. At the heart of the New Century is its mission to empower traditional performers, and raise the visibility of the traditional arts in America.
?The New Century?s performance ensemble is a laboratory for new ideas,? says company director Peter Brice, ?But we aren?t experimenting on traditional music and dance?we?re creating new platforms for traditional artists to pursue their creativity at the highest level.?
For more information, visit The New Century American Irish-Arts Company website, http://www.newcenturyirisharts.com
