Rhythm of the Dance

Rhythm of the Dance Brings Dance and Blarney to Cerritos

                  By Glen Creason

    I guess it was Michael Flatley in the show “Riverdance” that bumped Irish step dancing onto the big stages and into the American imagination.  Since that show and the ensuing “Lord of the Dance” in the early 1990’s the art of Irish dance has gone big time and spread out all over the world. Over the weekend Cerritos went step-Celtic with the very big and very polished “Rhythm of the Dance” show that rocked full houses and made many an Irish eye smile…so to speak. Rhythm is large scale from the towering backdrops to the video screens to the many costume changes to the very impressive dance talent throughout the troupe. There were also five live musicians aided by some recorded booming bass and all-important lighting that played a bigger part than most such shows.

     This program is long and full of brisk dancing, quaint musical selections and plenty of Vegas-tinged Blarney. As a matter of fact the first musical number was “Where the Blarney Roses Grow” as part of an Irish Music Hall medley. While the singing of the three ROTD tenors was fine and the tight reels and jigs of five person band were lively and sweet the focus was always on the flying feet of the dancers. A more comely group of lasses and lads you will not find and the obvious joy they felt in being able to dance made the show live and breathe.  Particularly impressive were Doireann Carney and Nicola Kennedy for the ladies and tireless Connor Smyth who was quite literally the lord of this dance…performance. The delighted audience was given plenty for their money with over twenty numbers including “Northern Exposure” that exploded the “troubles” between the green and the orange and “Swing Time” that took the dance to New York in the 1920’s with trumpets and trombones joining the pipes, harp and flute. Still, the finest moments were the rousing ensemble number filled with flying feet and taps at what seemed like the speed of sound, like the appropriately named “journey’s end” to finish the full concert.