Irish Arts Center Presents ModERIN: Darrah Carr Dance 11/11-12

Darrah Carr Dance is a one of a kind professional Irish dance company whose signature style of ModERIN (a unique blend of traditional Irish step and contemporary modern dance) continually delights audiences. This season, renowned guest choreographer Seán Curran brings his own innovative flair to the company's trademark style. Performances run from Friday, November 11 - Saturday, November 12 at 8pm, with matinees on Saturday, November 12 at 11am (a specially priced Family Show) and Sunday, November 13 at 3pm. $18 discount tickets are available if purchased by October 25th. Use Discount Code: DANCE1. To purchase, call 866-811-4111 or visit www.irishartscenter.org.

Set to the rhythmically complex and hauntingly beautiful vocalizations of Sheila Chandra, Seán Curran's highly anticipated work features virtuosic displays of percussive footwork by Darrah Carr Dance's cast of champion Irish step dancers. Curran and Carr first worked together a decade ago when Carr assisted Curran on the choreography for the Tony Award winning Broadway production of "James Joyce's' The Dead." In 2009, in honor of Darrah Carr Dance's 10th Anniversary Season, Curran choreographed "On the Six" for the company - a whimsical fusion of swing dance rhythms and Irish dance steps. This season marks Curran's eagerly awaited second collaboration with Darrah Carr Dance.

Additional highlights of the season include dazzling displays of lightning fast Irish dancing featuring live musical accompaniment by Niall O'Leary and Caitlin Warbelow; a specially priced Family show on Saturday morning; a post-show discussion with Artistic Director Darrah Carr and award-winning choreographer Seán Curran following Saturday night's performance; and a pre-show conversation with Darrah Carr Dance starting at 2:30pm on Sunday afternoon.

"Carr is a smiling, exuberant performer with an open upper body and fast-flying feet straight out of Irish step dancing . . . Her immensely likable and skillful dancers move with a space gobbling buoyancy and openness that looks as if they might take flight,"

Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times

Darrah Carr Dance

Since 1998, Darrah Carr Dance has created a sensational blend of traditional Irish step and contemporary modern dance. The company incorporates Irish music, step dance footwork, and spatial patterns within contemporary choreography and presents a bold new twist on conventional Irish dance. Artistic Director Darrah Carr calls her style ModERIN: a playful combination of the words modern (dance) and ERIN (an Irish American reference to Ireland).
"ModERIN is a combination of the best of both traditions, essentially creating a new language of movement from two distinct vocabularies of dance . . .To watch these performances is to see Irish dance in a whole new way . . . a glorious mélange of sound and movement that's breathtaking,"

Bridget English, Irish Dancing Magazine

Recent performance highlights include: A featured spot on NBC's "The Today Show," a performance with The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, the company's 10th Anniversary Season at the Irish Arts Center, "The Yeats Project" at the Irish Repertory Theatre, The Duke Theater on 42nd Street, Celebrate Brooklyn, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, The Yard at Martha's Vineyard, and The Bank of Ireland Arts Center in Dublin. www.darrahcarrdance.com.

Guest Choreographer Seán Curran

Seán Curran, Artistic Director of the Seán Curran Company, began his dance training with traditional Irish step dancing as a young boy in Boston, Massachusetts. He went on to make his mark on the dance world as a leading dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. He received a New York Dance & Performance Bessie Award for his performance in Secret Pastures. A graduate and guest faculty member of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Curran was an original member of the New York City cast of the Off-Broadway percussion extravaganza Stomp. Curran's work has appeared on Broadway in "James Joyce's The Dead" for Playwrights Horizons and "The Rivals" at Lincoln Center Theater. He recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut choreographing "Romeo and Juliette." He has created works for Trinity Irish Dance Company, ABT's Studio Company, Denmark's Upper Cut Company, Sweden's Skänes Dance Theater, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Ririe Woodbury Dance Theater, and Dance Alloy. www.seancurrancompany.com.