Trinity Irish Dance Company to Perform at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art

Trinity Irish Dance Company  will launch its 35th Anniversary season at the Museum of Contemporary Art in May 2025. Their milestone season will include other special local events and performances across the country to be announced.

Continuing TIDC's longstanding history of pushing the boundaries of a cultural form, the Museum of Contemporary Art performances will include the world premiere of "The Sash," choreographed by Trinity Founding Artistic Director Mark Howard, Associate Artistic Director and dancer Chelsea Hoy and guest contemporary choreographer Stephanie Martinez, founder and Artistic Director of Chicago's PARA.MAR Dance Theatre. Completing the program will be a selection of TIDC's diverse repertoire, featuring original music performed live by TIDC's band, fronted by Killarney-raised, NYC-based Brendan O'Shea.

'Everything starts with a dream,' Howard describes, "and this is especially true of our newest work, 'The Sash.'" Set to a rousing soundtrack by Northern Irish composer Kevin Sharkey, "The Sash" blends cultures, movement genres and percussive complexities. Howard, Hoy, and Martinez fuse Irish precision, traditions, and history with contemporary flair, bringing to life Sharkey's dream inspired by his childhood during the "Northern Ireland Troubles," and reminding us that unity is stronger than conflict.

The four-performance series at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., May 16-18 will include:

• Friday, May 16: 7 p.m. - 11 p.m. - Opening night performance and 35th Anniversary gala celebration, featuring special guests: local Trinity Academy students that won the 2024 world championship gold medal for the United States

• Saturday, May 17: 2 p.m. matinee and 7:30 p.m. performance

• Sunday, May 18: 1 p.m. matinee

FURTHER COMPANY GROWTH

Leading into its 35th Anniversary Season, TIDC is celebrating artistic and administrative expansion. The company recently welcomed a longtime leader in the Chicago dance community, former executive director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and River North Dance Chicago, Gail Kalver, to their team as Development Manager and Board Liaison.

In response to growing interest from elite dancers around the globe to join TIDC's mission and study Howard's unique movement genre, known as progressive Irish dance, TIDC launched a new Training Company this fall. TIDC's legacy is also celebrated through multi-generational artists: new main company artists include Aubrey Chann (Columbus, OH) and Phife MacGabhann (Novato, CA), both who were trained in their competitive Irish dance careers by Founding Members of the Trinity Irish Dance Company: Katie Irwin and Alisa Belew, respectively.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TRINITY IRISH DANCE COMPANY

TIDC's 35-year history is one of unlikely successes and unexpected evolutions: the rise of an ambitious young Irish dance coach to an internationally celebrated choreographer. Howard founded the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance at the age of 20, winning the first world championship team titles for the United States in 1987 and ultimately bringing home America's first gold in all team categories. Trinity's competitive dominance garnered national and international media exposure, including regular appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Their meteoric rise in the 80s led to the creation of groundbreaking repertoire and the ultimate founding of the non-profit TIDC.

Founded in 1990, TIDC is the birthplace of progressive Irish dance, an innovative movement genre created and developed by Howard that "ushered in a new era for Irish step dance, one which led directly to commercialized stadium tours like 'Riverdance.'" (Chicago Tribune) Pushing the boundaries of a traditional form, TIDC celebrates Howard's unique vision to fuse vibrant Irish traditions with ever-evolving American innovation.

The company's history includes multiple runs at New York City's Joyce Theater, performances throughout Asia, North and South America, and Europe, collaborations with internationally-renowned choreographers of different movement genres, and the creation of a diverse repertoire that continues to redefine what is possible for Irish dance.

"Since inception, Trinity has always been an art-driven company that uniquely celebrates Irish dance through a performing arts lens," says Howard. "We seek higher ground by allowing the form to morph and evolve with integrity while keeping a clear lineage to the ancestors."

Through a blend of percussive power and aerial grace that consistently presents males and females on equal footing, TIDC sends a clear message of female empowerment. "The women of TIDC don't only get to make noise," says Associate Artistic Director Chelsea Hoy. "We're expected to make noise."

Described as "a stunning program of groundbreaking dance" by Broadway World and a place "where women make the form their own" by The Boston Globe, Trinity's ability to carve new traditions continues to attract critical acclaim both at home and across the world. Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Lauren Warnecke said "Since 1990, Howard and TIDC have sought to locate Irish step dance, a 17th-century cultural dance form, in the now, developing a cool vibe, and stretching the limits of what Irish dance can do aesthetically and rhythmically."

Leading up to the 35th Anniversary Season kickoff in May at the MCA, TIDC will maintain a robust touring schedule through 2024 and 2025. This winter and spring, the company will share their percussive power across the country:

• Lyndonville, VT (December 13 & 14, 2024)

• Marietta, OH (January 18, 2025)

• Provo, UT (January 21, 2025)

• Ogden, UT (January 22, 2025)

• Olympia, WA (January 24, 2025)

• Medford, OR (January 26, 2025)

• Boston, MA (February 8, 2025)

• San Diego, CA (March 21, 2025)

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