In recent years, St. Patrick’s Day has been sneaking up on me, arriving weeks in advance of the holiday, with hats, boas, T-shirts, shot glasses and other sorts of kiss-me-I’m-Irish greenery sprouting in the aisles of Walgreens stores, deals being offered by local taverns and restaurants adding green beer and corner beef and cabbage to their menus, people planning where to stand to watch the river turn bright green as it is scheduled to do (courtesy of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local 130) at 10 a.m. on March 14, with the actual holiday coming on March 17.
One of the most pleasant images that comes my way is of people dancing, the tapping of their feet and the lively music forming a holiday soundtrack.
Someone once said — it’s often attributed to the great Irish poet William Butler Yeats, but there is some dispute over its origin — that Irish dancers “had death in their eyes and fire in their feet.”
More than 30 years ago, Mark Howard told me, “From that description, people began to talk of the ice of the dancers’ bodies and the fire of their feet because their upper bodies remain rigid and their feet are lightning fast.”
There are few, if any, people who know more about Irish dancing than Howard, who has been at it, performing, pioneering and innovating, for most of his life.
Born in Yorkshire, England, he came to Chicago as a child and by the time he was 8, he was dancing at the Dennehy School of Irish Dance, still in operation. He became a competitive dancer and also worked for a time as a copy boy (a lower-level employee tasked with minor chores, a job that no longer exists) at the Tribune. Inspired by parents who wanted him to teach their kids, he founded the Trinity Irish Dance Academy in 1982. As he told me a decade later, when the school had more than 400 students from a variety of ethnic backgrounds at facilities in Chicago and Milwaukee, he was convinced by some parents to start teaching their kids.
“It is a hobby that got pleasantly out of hand,” said Howard.
You could say that again.
His students became the first American team to ever win the world championships of Irish dancing in Ireland in 1987, and they continued to pile up world titles.
But kids don’t stay kids forever, and as the students began to age out of competition, in 1990, Howard created a professional performing company called the Trinity Irish Dance Company, populated by former students not only from his school, but also other training programs as well. They have performed across the globe, on TV and in movies.
It’s been a creative and popular road, and one often unfairly compared with the creation of another alumnus of the Dennehy school, a fellow named Michael Flatley. You have likely heard of his immensely popular “Lord of the Dance” and “Riverdance” productions.
Much of those shows borrowed from Trinity’s “urban-inspired,” “progressive dance” routines. I have always felt that “Riverdance” and “Lord” were Trinity’s glitzy commercial cousins, having once described them as “Disney on Ice” compared to the Bolshoi Ballet.
Howard has always been a thoughtful gentleman about the competition. Nearly 30 years ago, he told me, “’Riverdance’ couldn’t have happened without us,” he says. “But we are undoubtedly benefiting from its success. Yes, it has been tough to see these shows making millions, but I see us being around for the next 30 years, pushing the boundaries.”
And so, now, 30 years later?
“It has been an incredible and rewarding journey, but I really feel we are just getting started now, after all these years,” Howard said. “The world now seems to be coming around to our way of thinking. We are real, and as ‘real’ has become more rare in this world, what we do is resonating deeper, more strongly.”
He was on the phone from New York City, snowed in after a triumphant week of performances at the Joyce Theater.
When the blizzard allows, Howard and dancers, artistic colleagues and crew will make their way here for their one-night-only engagement Saturday at the Auditorium Theatre. Howard, who travels much, has homes in Ukrainian Village and across the lake in Three Oaks, Michigan. He’s always happy to come home.
And why not?
As he once memorably told me, “Chicago has a certain rhythm. There is a grit to it, a can-do attitude that makes anything possible. And the city is a patchwork, a place where I could see and experience so many artistic forms. All of that stimulates and marinates.”
On the phone, he spoke with excitement about the upcoming program. It will feature the world premiere by Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland of BodyVox; a Midwest premiere by Michelle Dorrance; and “The Sash” by Howard, Chelsea Hoy and Stephanie Martinez. This middle offering is Howard’s second collaboration with tap dancer and MacArthur Fellow Dorrance.
The above names are likely unfamiliar to all but the most ardent dance fans, so I offer you these words from a recent review of the New York performances from Broadway World: “a vibrant program that will captivate audiences … (with) choreographies that have a unique contemporary flair … an unforgettable cultural and dance experience.”
Howard tells me, “There are some terrible misconceptions about Irish dance. Irish dancing is the source of tap dancing, square dancing and clog dancing. You should see the faces of people when they first see us. They are amazed.”
There are, of course, many ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Green beer? Or, this Saturday night, maybe you’d care to be amazed.
If you go
Trinity Irish Dance Company performs at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive; 312-341-2300 or www.auditoriumtheatre.org
rkogan@chicagotribune.com
