Performed at the Glór Theatre, Ennis in February, before going on tour later this year, Out of Time explores Dunne's private world as a dancer rooted in the Irish step dance tradition. It looks to the past for simple beginnings as he examines his relationship with a tradition that has shaped his life.
Dunne wanted to find a way to present traditional Irish dance within a contemporary setting and an introduction to Green Hippo's Sean Westgate by the show's director, Sinead Rushe, was the beginning of an evolutionary, creative process which was to do just that.
"It is nearly a year ago since we all first met in London - me not really knowing anything about film technology at this end - and Sean not knowing anything about bloody Irish dance at his end," explains Dunne. "I was not sure what the Hippotizer really was, and was a bit intimidated by it at first. However, a workshop session with Sean in June showed Sinead and myself what it could do and gave us a sense of its versatility."
Using video footage of dancers from 1930s to 1970s - including himself as a 10-year-old performing on TV - Dunne wanted to use projection to bring aspects of Irish dance to the stage which, in a solo piece, he could not do alone. The video content and presentation had to show different facets of dance, some playing independently, some incorporating the action on stage in a more interactive way as he danced alongside it. The sounds from Dunne's shoes were digitally manipulated live in the theatre to create an evocative sound score to accompany certain sections of the films.
The challenge for Westgate was how to integrate the vital video footage into the dance piece without overpowering Dunne's performance in the intimate, close confines of the Glór. A large screen was ruled out on this basis and because of the difficulty of concealing it when not in use and of transporting it on tour.
The answer came in a number of odd size boxes which were to double as both dance surfaces and projection surfaces. These boxes could be danced on, opened out, arranged in different configurations and repositioned by Dunne throughout the performance, while images of dancers past and present were projected onto them. Westgate was then able to use a Hippotizer Express to keystone the images and map them precisely onto the boxes in each position. Intensity levels were also adapted to fit in with Colin Grenfell's lighting so the boxes glowed gently, drawing them into a coherent whole with the rest of the lighting.
The result allowed Dunne to retain the authenticity of the archive film clips but show them in a new aspect which was very important to his vision.
"I don't know how we would have done it without the Hippotizer" says Dunne. "The films look beautiful, and the Hippo is a genius. After our initial reserve we found it was very simple to get to grips with and our very talented sound designer Fionan de Barra, was able to operate it during the show whilst making small edits and adjustments as we went along."
(Jim Evans)
