ARRAN, the latest project sponsored under the Arts Council Interdsciplinary Arts scheme, drew a large crowd to the Botanic Gardens last week.

This latest project saw Marcella Reardon, Clodagh Thornton and Saturio Alonso working together to produce Garran, an open air dance piece in which various costume and sculptural elements were incorporated.

The work cent red on a dance performance from Reardon. In a loose orange dress worn over a leotard the dancer moved around the trees, stopping occasionally to bug or caress them Medallions had been hung from various bows, and in a nearby grove stood a tepee and some wooden sculptures of insect like creatures, which Reardon eventually opened to reveal small silver and glass items.

Garran gave every sign of lacking a detached vision of what exactly its audience was experiencing. There is no point in pretending that a figure in a flowing orange gown rubbing her check solemnly on the bark of a tree is not, funny, even hilarious. Ignoring the camp aspect of its intervention simply made the company seem somewhat shortsighted.