He has a lot to answer for, has Michael Flatley. Sure, sure, The Lord of the Dance may have been an irresistably debauched dollop of Wagner-esque excess but, what with all the thunder and bodygrease, it can't have done much to dispel the notion that Irish dancing is synonymous with heroic quantities of flesh baring and groin thrusting. Enter original Riverdance star and archetypal red-tressed cailin, Jean Butler, who at the launch of University of Limerick's new MA in dance performance, revealed plans to collaborate with London impresario Harvey Goldsmith on a new production. She's eager to avoid the cliches of sweaty torsos and self-aggrandising story-lines. "It won't be a miniskirt and push-up bra show," Jean explained to UL's Irish World Music Centre director Micheal O Suilleabhain. We wait with baited, though hushed, breath.
Jean's dancing partner, Colin Dunne, who was Flatley's Riverdance stand-in, came along on Tuesday night, as did Dr Mick Moloney, latterly professor of Irish music at Villanova University, Philadelphia, but better known to Irish traditional music devotees as founder member of 1970s supergroup, The Johnsons.
UCC lecturer and bodhran wizard, Mel Mercier, son of Padraig Mercier, a member of the Chieftain's original line-up, was in good humour following a barnstorming Monday night performance at nearby St Mary's Cathedral, while Karan Casey, formerly of trad combo Solas, seemed understandably nervous about plans for a solo career.
Belltable Arts Centre director Mary Coll was positively aglow. Well, she would be. Her new project, Mike Finn's bruising urban drama, Pigtown, is shaping up as one of the year's surprise hits. And Mary Noonan of Daghdha modern dance company arrived on the back of a successful national tour to announce her intentions to work with New York-based Japanese dancer Yoshiko Chuma next autumn.
Lyric FM anchor Eamon Lawlor, clearly enjoying life away from the bump and grind of political journalism, popped in with Hunt Museum director Ciaran McGonigal, who reported that, with tourists flocking to the mid-west in huge numbers, 1999 could be the institution's most successful year yet.