Teaċ Daṁsa / Michael Keegan-Dolan - MÁM

Michael Keegan-Dolan's 'MÁM' has been described as a 'heavenly, glorious, wildly whirling dervish', and yet nothing could have prepared me for the 80 minute emotional storm that swept over the stage of Norwich' Theatre Royal during last night's first of two evening performances of this powerful and moving dance piece, brought to Norwich as part of a UK tour arranged by Dance Consortium.

Keegan-Dolan trained as a dancer at London's Central School of Ballet, before becoming a choreographer and forming his own dance company 'Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre' in 1997. In 2016, Teaċ Daṁsa was founded in County Kerry, and it is the wild landscapes of the West coast of Ireland, as well as the resilience and the spirit of the people of Kerry that has provided the inspiration for 'MÁM'. Indeed the title of the piece comes from a Gaelic word that appears in many Irish place names, and is used to describe a low pass, or gap, between two peaks.

The darkness that is revealed to us at the start of the work is supplanted by the vision of a young girl dressed in white. Over her stands a robed figure wearing a goat's head. The setting is strange and unsettling – almost ritualistic. However, when the goat's head is removed we see that it is renowned Irish folk concertina player Cormac Begley and, as he begins to play, the main floor area of the stage is seen to have been set for some form of party, or celebration. Twelve masked dancers arrive, take their seats, and begin to tap out a hypnotic dance rhythm. The young girl watches, passively.

Seven musicians arrive to join Begley – they are members of Berlin-based classical crossover collective s t a r g a z e, and their piano, double bass, fiddle, guitar, oboe and drums augment the rhythms and melodies from the concertina. As the tempo increases, the movements of the dancers becomes more animated, until there are moments when a full-on ceilidh is ready to break out. And yet, beneath the mixed emotions of what is happening on stage, we are still left wondering about the young girl, who still appears to be a passive observer. Is this developing into some kind of pagan 'Riverdance', or a musical 'Wicker Man'? Or is it just a good old Irish knees-up in the local village hall?

The finale, when it comes, is arguably none of these, but it is still a dramatic and powerful combination of sounds, light and movement – a visceral tribute and testament to the music, the traditions and the culture of the people of the Kerry coastline, and to the power of friendship, identity, and humanity that can be expressed through dance.

Those that see this show will leave with a renewed sense of warmth and hope in their souls, and the rhythm and spectacle of 'MÁM' locked securely into their memory banks. Thanks to Norwich Theatre, to Dance Consortium and to Stephen Crocker (who also happens to be co-chair of Dance Consortium) for continuing to bring innovative, exciting and powerful dance works like this to our city's theatre.