Tapeire breaks all the rules (9 photos)

To be deemed by your peers as cutting edge, any art teacher will tell you that you must first know the rules in order to successfully break them.

Tapeire producer, director, choreographer and front man James Devine definitely knows the rules and has created a theatre experience that defiantly shoves the swear finger the in face of every single one of the principles of traditional celtic dance.

Fusing traditional, original and experimental music with Irish dance and rhythmic tap, Tapeire is exhilarating, inspiring and almost exhausting to witness.

Have you ever seen a dancer tap Queen's Another One Bites the Dust?

Or challenge a typewriter to a tap-off?

Didn't think so.

The audience at Tuesday night's Algoma Fall Festival presentation of Tapeire was treated a most enjoyable history lesson as Devine illustrated the roots of Irish dance from Sean-Nos (meaning "old-style") to its transition into a theatre setting.

All of this, of course, wrapped up in a punk-rock attitude.

On fiddle, Ashley MacIsaac demonstrated his classical training and wowed the audience with his solo performance of an excerpt from Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

Award-winning harpist Phamie Gow was astounding to listen to as she created sounds with the harp one would swear was three or four different instruments.

As one of Scotland's premiere percussionists, Paul Jennings played everything from pots and pans, to spoons and cajon drum (a wooden box that is played by slapping it with the hands) in an impressive display of rhythm, timing and creativity.

To compare Tapeire to Michael Flatley's Riverdance is an insult.

To witness the raw, exhilarating energy of Tapeire is to witness the next generation of Irish dance theatre.

Next on the roster for the Algoma Fall Festival is the Dave Young Quintet on Saturday, October 27 at St. Mary's College Theatre.

For more information about the Algoma Fall Festival, visit the website at www.algomafallfestival.com.

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