Irish dance fusion groups: Hammerstep's Indigo Grey Kickstarter Campaign

Long time readers of Rince go Bragh may remember a few years ago when I made a few posts spotlighting different Irish dance groups who continue to expand the vocabulary of the Irish style by fusing it with others dance genres. I made four different posts on the subject, and if you're a newer reader, it may be worth checking out because these groups are just plain awesome to watch!

[ID Fusion Groups 1]   [ID Fusion Groups 2]   [ID Fusion Groups 3]   [ID Fusion Groups 4]

One of the aforementioned groups is Hammerstep, a New York based company that you may have seen before on America's Got Talent. Hammerstep is led by dancers Jason Oremus and Garrett Coleman, and they are currently in the middle of a huge Kickstarter campaign to fund their new Indigo Grey project! Indigo Grey will offer a live multimedia digital experience fusing live theater, film, video gaming, and interactive technology in an immersive showcase premiering in spring 2015.



Their goal is to raise $75,000 to fund their new show experience. With this being the final twenty days in their Kickstarter campaign, I feel that it's important as an Irish dance community that we come together to support our own in whatever way you can.

If you've never checked out Kickstarter before, it's a neat way for people to get independent projects funded. One of the coolest things as "backer" of a project is that there are different reward tiers that can be chosen for donating different amounts of money. These include anything from thank you emails, to t-shirts, workshops, and VIP tickets to see the show.

Check out more about this project, and why this will be should be a groundbreaking experience by visiting the Indigo Grey Kickstarter campaign link below. I have already made my contribution. Will you make yours?

[Indigo Grey Kickstarter]   [Hammerstep website]   [Facebook]   [Twitter]   [Instagram]

Goals: Try new reels and hornpipes without stopping

Days till NANs: 131

Irish dance fusion groups, 4

Again, I am finding more and more cool Irish dance fusion videos that I just have to share!  I have two videos to share at the moment.  All previous versions of my Irish dance fusion group posts are here: [Number one] [Number two] [Number three]

Ciaran Plummer and Zach Klingerberg of TapTronic released a new video in May.  As always, I am impressed with the musicality of their rhythms, and the entire video experience that goes along with it.  They will be performing at nationals on July 4th and 5th, and I am looking forward to seeing their live performance! [Like TapTronic on Facebook] [Follow TapTronic on Twitter]



2013 is definitely going to be a big year for the group called Hammerstep.  After performing at the opening ceremonies of the world championships, they recently auditioned on the show, America's Got Talent.  I see a lot of parallels between their performance and Prodijig's performance on the British show Got to Dance (which they went on to win).  Hammerstep is not a new group in the Irish-fusion circuit.  They have been around since 2009, working on fusing Irish, tap, and hip hop to progress these dance forms. [Check out their website] [Like Hammerstep on Facebook] [Follow Hammerstep on Twitter]



Goals: Finish packing, and continue to drill little things
Days till NANs: 6

Irish dance fusion groups, 3

I just have to keep adding to my list of cool Irish dance videos that fuse the traditional Irish steps with new exciting things.  My previous posts can be found in these places:

Original (and why I am doing this)
Version two

I'm going to start out this third edition of fusion groups with a video my none other than dancer extraordinaire and jiggaholic, Ciara Sexton. I love the way she has modernized Irish dance by mixing it with modern dance.  Also love where and how the video was filmed and edited.  [Read Ciara's blog]  [Follow Ciara on twitter]



This next selection I have for you is brought to you by Chris Naish, former Sneaky Stepper and Hammerstep member.  This awesome video is of an improvisational jam session for dancers and musicians that was been held in NYC. This particular video was filmed the day before hurricane Sandy struck   One of the things that really draws me into this video is the fusion of classical works and percussive dancing.  I only wish I had rhythm that snazzy.  [Follow Chris on twitter]

Reminder! Help me to become a finalist in the Top Dance Blog contest by following the directions here!

Goals: Pracitce Hornpipe 2nd and Planxty Drury ending
Days till NANs: 172

Irish dance is cool, people.

At least, that's what dancers Peter Harding and Suzanne Cleary of Up & Over it have to say in this post for the UK's Fringe blog.

The article goes boils down to the statement that although Irish dancing itself is an old folk art form, the performance and show aspect of dance is a relatively new concept (beginning in 1994 with Riverdance).  In a world that now hosts not only Up & Over It, but also Taptronic and Prodijig, how could Irish dance be seen as anything but cool?  I have posted earlier in the year about these aforementioned groups (and others!) that are pushing the boundaries in performances, but this post sums up the essence of why mainstreaming is so important for this dance style.

Take a few minutes for yourself today, and read what's said.  

Do you agree with what the article has to say?

Goals: Stamina
Days till Os: 29

Irish dance fusion groups, 2

A few months ago I posted about some Irish dance groups that are taking our dance for to the next level by fusing other dance styles with Irish dance.  I would like to say that the buck does not stop with those three groups.  Today, I'm sharing three more.

By now, quite a few people both inside and outside of the Irish dance world have seen Taptronic's video to a dubstep song, "Crave You."  This particular video doesn't show very much in the way of fusing with other styles and the featured dancing is mostly Irish, but something cool to note is that one dancer is wearing traditional Irish dance hard shoes, while the other is wear tap shoes.  This creates an awesome effect because you are hearing two different timbres at the same time.  The tap shoes are slightly higher pitched than the hard shoes.



A video I discovered over the weekend features Colin Dunne, singer Alyth McCormack, bohdran player Aimee Farrell Courtney, and the Notre Dame drumline.  I am assuming this collaboration was a part of the Navy/Notre Dame football game played in Dublin's Aviva Stadium over the September 1st weekend.  This video truly highlights Dunne's innate sense of rhythm, especially in relation to both the drumline and the rhythm of the Gaelic words being sung.  Because of this, I found this piece was very interesting to my musician brain.



Noctu is a show by Riverdance star Breandan de Gallai.  When I first saw the trailer for this show, what really drew me in was the piece choreographed to Stravinsky's Firebird.  This piece has become more well-known since it's feature in Fantasia 2000, but for me as a classically trained musician and Irish dancer, of course it drew me right in.  I'm a sucker for Irish dancing to non-traditional music.  The clip below is just one of many featured on Gallai's Youtube account.  I encourage you to spend some time there watching longer clips of this contemporary Irish dance show.  Oh, and you can follow Noctu on twitter for more news.



Goals: Start PT this week, and do exercises.  Review figure choreography.
Days till Os: 81

Irish dance fusion groups

A litte background before the meat of this post: I was a gymnast almost all my life.  In this time, my favorite event was usually floor exercise.  I was lucky in what gymnasts call "optional" years to have a floor choreographer who put as much emphasis on the actual dancing in my routine as the required elements and tumbling passes.  This concept of having a floor routine full of mostly dance moves with three or so tumbling passes is something that's been around since Nadia Comaneci scored the first perfect 10 in the Olympics in the 70s.  Unfortunately for gymnastics fans today, floor exercises are so jam packed with tumbling and other elements in order to up the difficulty score that you hardly see any of this dancing artistry.

What this all boils down to is that I have been interested in other dance styles since I started competing as a gymnast.  My eclectic mix of dance studies ranges from ballet barre technique for strengthening muscles, to some contemporary-type mix for my floor routine.  Now my style is focused on Irish.

Tying this all together is the fact that Irish dancing isn't just about the traditional dance form nowadays.  Just like in other dance styles, Irish dancers are constantly pushing the envelope in what can be defined as Irish dancing.  Take Hammerstep and the Sneaky Steppers for instance.  Aside from the ever-popular sneaks and flash mobs, this group collaborates with tap and hip hop dancers, beatboxers, DJs electric fiddle, and comedy to break the mold of traditional Irish dancing.  Just check out what they did this past St. Patrick's day!



Another one of my all time favorite groups is Up & Over It featuring ex-Riverdancers Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding.  They are most popular for their hand dancing sensation that swept the nation, but what I like most is the aspect of fun they put into their videos, and to be honest who doesn't love a little rap about Irish dance?  Aside from the rapping, they seriously are mixing in other contemporary styles along with creative video editing by Johnny Reed.  Their newest video is particularly amusing to me because I almost, almost started ballet instead of Irish dancing.  Instead, I took a semester-long ballet course in college, and well, just watch the video.



And last but certainly not least is a relatively new group called Prodijig, 2012 winners of the UK's show Got to Dance.  This group literally exploded onto the scene with their audition video to Kanye West's "Power."  Prodijig combines hip hop elements with precision hardshoe technique that creates a jaw dropping performance.  Of all the groups, Prodijig can clearly be defined as an Irish dance group, as their choreography (for now) is comprised of mostly Irish elements.  I can't wait to see how this group develops and what new material they come up with!

Have you seen any other cool Irish dance fusion groups lately?  How would you push the envelope of Irish dance choerography?

Goals: PT exercises, low impact cardio activities
Days till Os: 193