On The TownFirst there was chaos, but still the audience loved it. "It was really beautiful. I really enjoyed every movement. It was an exploration with bodies. It was excellent," said Faranak Mehdi Golhini, who is from Iran.
She and her husband, Shahbaz Sattar, who said the piece was "very near to my own experience", were among those who came to Project, in Dublin, for the world premiere of (Like) Silver, from the Irish Modern Dance Theatre (IMDT), this week.
"It's non-narrative," explained choreographer John Scott, founder of IMDT and choreographer of the new show. "It's about the idea of chaos, which we have at the beginning. It's about parallel lines and a search to make parallel lines that never meet - they belong to each other, but they never cross. It is also about the idea of useful things and the beauty of impractical things, like writing a love letter to a blind person."
Many of those involved in dance and theatre in Ireland came to enjoy the opening night's performance. They included arts consultant Janice McAdam, who said she was working on Fête de la Danse, the 10-day festival which will run as part of Cork 2005 in February next year. There will be dance companies "from Belgium to Burkina Faso in west Africa" as all the francophone countries will be involved, she said.
James Kelly, film-maker and newly appointed financial controller of the St Patrick's Festival, also came along to see the show. Martin Drury was in the audience too, "recovering" after the previous night's reopening of the Abbey's production of The Shaughraun, on which he is working as assistant director to John McColgan.
Jenny Traynor, general manager of CoisCéim, the theatre dance company, was there too with her husband, arts consultant Ruairí Ó Cuív. CoisCéim has just finished its Gaiety run of Orfeo ed Euridice under the direction of co-founder and artistic director David Bolger.
(Like) Silver will be performed again tonight at 8 p.m. It will also run for one night only at the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray, Co Wicklow, on Wednesday, at 8 p.m.