Every Little Step: The Rhythm of Hope

Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin ***

On an empty stage, in an atmosphere of held-breath silence, seven dancers conjure an abstract landscape composed entirely of rhythm: the pulse of hands clapping, a foot against the floor. Drawing from the tradition of African step dancing, the dancers’ bodies become beat-boxes; they are the music as well as the dance.

Every Little Step is a collaboration between Dance Theatre of Ireland and American step-dancing company Soul Steps, and the marriage of Irish set-dancing traditions and Soul Steps’ African influences is persuasive. This is not just to do with the dancers’ gestures towards the audience, orchestrating infectious rhythm games that ensure our inclusion; the fast footwork of the traditional Irish elements complements the clicking beats of African-American tap.

Much less successful are the spoken-word elements of the show, which bring the positive physical energy to literal extremes, as the dancers take turns urging the audience to “take care of you”, and other hackneyed mantras culled from the culture of self-help.

The choreography by Robert Connor, Loretta Yurick and Maxine Lyle, however, maintains levity, and although the dancers are exact in their execution of precise rhythms and steps, they never lose sight of the medium’s potential fun. There is a terrific clown routine in which two of the dancers shadow each other with exaggerated moves, and they use their faces as well as their bodies to bring an added dimension of humour to the playful piece.

Other highlights include a set-dancing routine performed against percussive urban rhythms and the high-jinks gymnastics of contemporary dance moves punctuated with breakdance spins.

At an hour in length, the rhythms risk becoming repetitive, but the company manage to sustain their energy and our interest for an energetic finale. Every Little Step is a joyful, if simplistic, enunciation of possibility and positivity. Even sceptics will leave with a smile on their face.

Now touring nationally