Jacob’s Pillow, Becket, MA
July 10 – 13, 2025
by Shera Cohen
I won’t pretend that I know enough about most genres of dance to pen a bona fide review of Trinity Irish Dance. Yet, merely writing that I enjoyed their performance certainly does not give the troupe enough credit.
From the point of view of a layperson, who are probably most of our readers, I watch dance for the excitement, drama and/or humor, envisioning a story of some sort. The group can be large or soloists. The text that I loosely interpret might be incorrect and only true for me. But that’s okay.
It was a treat for Trinity to celebrate its 35th anniversary at The Pillow. They are known for their strength and aesthetics; the combination was an even and delightful mix.
The two-hour program filled what looked like every seat at the Ted Shaw Theatre. No surprise. Ever since Michael Flatley brought “Lord of the Dance” to the world’s stages, every nationality instantly discovered what Irish Dance was all about. In fact, Trinity Irish Dance is often credited as a predecessor to “Riverdance”.
Performing arts can be every bit as pleasant, emotional, and/or exciting to newbie audiences as much as to diehard, knowledgeable fans. Not that I am a daring person, but I have experimented with performing art forms, hoping that I just might like at least one or two. That was my expectation at the Irish Dance concert, going in with only one pre-conception: if the Pillow’s reputation of selecting only the best, then I was in for something worthy.
My expectations were well-founded. The approximately 25 young female and male dancers made for a lovely site. The first segment on the program was Irish as could be. Ah, this is what I came for. However, as the dances proceeded, there was one, unfamiliar, and very pleasant twist; these dancers smiled! I thought that was verboten. In addition, they used their arms above their heads, in front, and even touched each other. Step dance is known for its rigidity, but this concert proved that it was not mandatory.
At the center of the program was a recently created piece titled “The Sash,” a black & white video coupled with the dance movements for a raw political story. This piece was bookended by two lengthy and far-less dramatic works.
This is to say that while I am not a dancer, only studied dance for 6-weeks at age 10, and have no Irish heritage, when given the opportunity, there is a lot of room in my life to experience the skills and beauty of a new (to me) art form. Try it…you will like it.
NOTE: While I didn’t have a chance to peak into the new Doris Duke Theatre, from the outside it looks very inviting. Maybe next time.
