Arts & Culture

FEW expressions of traditional culture have enjoyed a change in fortunes as dramatic as sean-nós dancing or damhsa ar an sean-nós. Having come perilously close to extinction towards the end of the last century, recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in this older style of traditional solo Irish dance.No longer confined to the heartlands of Connemara, sean-nós dancing has exploded on to the national and international scene. With a marked emphasis on improvisation and expression, the low to the ground footwork, improvised steps, free movement of the arms and battering steps of an accomplished sean-nós dancer, backed by lively musicians, are quite simply a joy to behold.  In that vein, dancers and followers alike will be delighted to learn of the inaugural Sean Nós Dancing Competition, which will be held at the Auburn Lodge Hotel on Saturday, May 28 from 2pm as part of the Fleadh Nua. Dance will be one of the art forms to be celebrated …

THE Iniscealtra Festival of Arts celebrates the voice as this year’s theme and there is still time for those looking to enrol for singing workshops as part of the festival line-up. The workshops are being conducted by Sian Croose and will offer participants a chance to sing with up to 70 other voices.The Sound of Angels concert billed for the church in Mountshannon on Saturday, June 4 will be the climax to this year’s festival theme and will bring together a large chorus of singers from East Clare and beyond. Under the tutelage of UK-based musical director and community choir coordinator Sian Croose, the singers will spend three days of intense rehearsal before presenting the musical extravaganza.Sian’s highly accomplished 20 strong choir Big Sky (Norwich, UK) will also perform. Those interested in partaking in the workshops can contact Doreen Hanley on 087 2686764. The festival will be opened on May 28 by Senator David Norris and runs all week.

THE final session of the Clare Three Legged Stool Poets for this season will remember the late Ennis-based poet Brendan O’Beirne.The event will be held in Glór this Saturday, coinciding with Brendan’s birthday. The poet, who passed away last year, was a Clare Three Legged Stool poet for the last four years of his life.Born in Scariff, Brendan spent 10 years living in Ennis. According to Brian Mooney of the group, “The main focus of this event will be celebrating his life. Michael Connaughton, founder of Voicefree is bringing a group of poets from Dublin for the occasion. Brendan was a member of Voicefree, the main meeting ground for poets in Dublin in the ’80s.”Michael will be bringing members of the Bayview Poetry Group. Among them will be Glenda Cimino, who has written an in-depth critique of Brendan’s published work. Music in the afternoon will be provided by piper Andrew Newland while Paul Saalbach of Glascloon Studios will record the …

THE yellow-brick road will be leading towards Glór this month where the Dinan School of Ballet will perform their annual show. This year’s show will be Over the Rainbow, a unique reworking of the classic The Wizard of Oz, taking place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm. The show will feature all pupils of the school, ranging in age from just three and a half to adults.A variety of music and dance styles have been incorporated into the show, including ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary.“This is our 24th annual show involving all of the students and there is huge excitement among everyone in the school in the lead up,” said Niamh Dinan.“It’s fantastic because we have children as young as three and a half, who are just starting to dance and we also have the adults who had started to dance at that age taking part. The show really has something for everyone.“Although the show is based on The Wizard …

SONAS Productions presents Stair na mBannaí Céilí, a new traditional music series for TG4 that discovers the history of céilí bands in Ireland. The four-part bilingual documentary series discovers how the céilí band first came into existence in Ireland, who was responsible for its development and the extraordinary impact that the céilí band has had on traditional Irish music over the last hundred years.The programme follows the fleadh campaigns of two céilí bands – Clare band Ceoltóirí na Mainstreach, led by John Rynne and Fermanagh band, The Knockmore Céilí Band.The series follows the two bands over a number of months as they prepare to compete in the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil senior céilí band competition in Cavan last year. Stair na mBannaí Céilí is filled with great traditional music, rare archive material and many informative interviews from some of traditional music’s leading experts. As Martin Hayes described in his interview, “Céilí band music was like a farmer’s version of a punk …

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides DIRECTED BY: Rob Marshall STARRING: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane CERT: 12A In an interview a couple of months back, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway claimed that the club’s chief ambition this season was fairly simple – they didn’t want to disgrace themselves by doing a Derby, who were promoted to the Premier League in 2007, only to go straight back down with the lowest points total on record (11), notching up just one win and a goal difference of-69.After a great start, Blackpool’s season collapsed and they may be relegated this weekend. But they’ve entertained, they’ve beaten the top sides and they’ll go down with a points tally that would have kept them up with breathing room in previous seasons. So if there really is any consolation to be had, at least they can say they didn’t do a Derby. What has that got to do with anything? Well, I …

CAMELOT…what a silly place! Well not in Joseph Fiennes’ world. Camelot, which has begun on RTÉ last Friday, is of quite a different variety to that of Monty Python. While there are plenty of shrubberys, there isn’t a killer bunny or a coconut horse in sight. Starring Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green and Ginny Weasley’s soon to be husband, Jamie Campbell Bower, Camelot is an epic series on a scale of Game of Thrones and with all the swagger and punch of The Tudors. It is an excellent drama that combines scenery, dramatics, storytelling and human nature effectively.The story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table has been told around the world in many and varying guises. From the comedy styling to the dulcet tones of Sean Connery, many scriptwriters, photographers and film-makers have had a go at creating their own interpretation of the legend. What is the story? The version being portrayed in this adaptation is this. …

“Can’t sleep, clowns will eat me.” If Natalie Portman didn’t finish shooting Black Swan curled up in her tutu in somebody’s closet, chanting those words over and over then I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.Winner of five Academy awards, including gongs for best actress and best director, Aronofsky’s story of a ballerina who fights both her professional rivals and her own sanity while rehearsing for the role of her life – the lead in Swan Lake – is both more approachable and more unnerving than you might think it would be.There are so many moments in Black Swan that will have you lurching out of your seat or squinting at the screen through the cracks in your fingers that you could easily mistake it for a horror movie. And, while it is indeed horrific, to think of it only as that would be to limit the scope of your enjoyment of the flick.There are layers of possibility here that can be …