The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
BROADWAY LIGHTS IN SIGHT FOR THE KINGDOM’S FRED ASTAIRE
THE fine weather brings out the best in everything. It’s been a summer of sunshine, thus far; this week, there was heat to match.
When such weather hits Dingle, a city-like buzz pulses through a town of 2,000 people. Here and there, tourists sit out with their tea or coffee, enjoying in the midday sun, tapping along to the trad music flowing from shops and bars. The odd daytime pint makes an appearance, too – but who’s to judge on days like these?
It’s the kind of atmosphere five-time Irish Dancing World Champion David Geaney feeds off.
When night falls, those same tourists are drawn to his steps, the rattle his metal-tapped dancing shoes drum up on the Dingle Pub’s timber platform. Perched on a stool overlooking his bar’s dining area, he speaks fondly of his championship-winning days; as he puts it himself, “I’d go into battle for a bag of chips.”
But even for a man of his competitive instinct, jamming to a musician, putting an artist’s spin on his craft before a crowd, offers an allure that outweighs all else.
“When I got to 16, I kind of got sick of competition rules and wanted to venture into performance and choreographing my own stuff,” he says. “In competition, I was coming up with things people weren’t doing and tweaking things other people were trying. I forgot about judges; it was about performing to an audience.
“I was about 19 when I was coming to the end of my competition days and, by then, I always freestyled if I felt it was going to come right. Nowadays, I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do once I hit the stage.”
His nightly performances, he says, have given new zest to the family bar. In the summer months, there are few places on earth to rival the energy of performing in Dingle. In winter, the town returns to some kind of normality. For David, only the city that never sleeps can match his limitless ambition.
Last week, he phoned The Kerryman to tell of signing a contract that will bring his own show, Velocity, to New York – or Broadway, to be more precise. Excited and all as he was at realising his prime ambition, still aged the right side of 25, there was a tinge of concern in his words.
He’s always been one for setting and meeting targets. Inspired after his sister won a medal at a local feis, a six-yearold David wanted a medal of his own. Too young to play football, Irish dancing was only a means to achieving that first goal. Within four years, he was World Champion.
What started with Therese O’Shea’s dancing lessons has led to a November run in New York. Following that, it would seem there’s little, if anything, left to achieve.
“I don’t know how I’m going to follow this one,” he says, his familiar smile stretching still further. “I know it sounds clichéd, but this is the only dream I’ve ever had.
“As a dancer, I never dreamed of River Dance, Lord of the Dance, or being part of someone’s show; it was about dancing in my own show. And the only place I ever dreamed of bringing that show was Broadway. So, who knows? Maybe I could do a longer run over there!”
But David isn’t known for negativity and, besides, there’s never been less reason for worry.
Those less familiar with the locality may remember his ambitious performance in Britain’s Got Talent last year and think only of Simon Cowell’s lukewarm reception; David himself described it as one of his finest experiences.
It was an unfinished product, one he was never confident in himself, and the routine was heavily influenced by what the show’s producers wanted. His positivity is in full-bloom, however, in speaking of a night that would have unnerved many others.
“I didn’t think I was ever going to win it, but the exposure made it, hands down, the best thing I’ve ever done,” he says. “I was approached by producers, and I originally said no because I was in the middle of final-year exams.
“Eventually, after long-winded discussions over the phone, I said I’d give it a go. But I didn’t have long to turn around between those phone calls and the first audition. It was an unfinished product.
“I always expected what Simon Cowell said, because I was never fully convinced in that routine. But you have to take advantage of everything that’s being offered to you. I went in with open ears, and you have to expect directors or producers to put their spin on your act; I let them, I listened, and I learned. It stood to me”.
Even looking ahead to November 15 and the first day of his Broadway run, he rhymes off the names of those who’ve helped, with a fluency not unlike those of his champion- ship-winning steps: lessons learned from Therese, Miriam O’Sullivan, Katherine O’Sullivan, Jimmy Smith, Triona Breen, and six years as Celtic Steps’ lead dancer all fed into his success story.
Educated in an all-boys primary school, his love of dance could have left him at the mercy of teasing. His principal, Maura Flahive, helped him bypass that by offering pupils homework-free evenings upon his many wins; for Maura’s help in bringing his schoolmates onside, he remains grateful.
But it’s not so much a time for reminiscence as it is for looking ahead.
Collaborating with James Devine, Velocity draws on the support of some of the foremost talent in music as David charts the evolution of dance from its beginnings, right up to something like the visual feast he served to millions through Britain’s Got Talent. After taking promoters’ eyes at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, extensive negotiations led to a Broadway contract.
“Keeping the story quiet was painful,” he says.
“Even the cast didn’t know. My cellist was out in Japan when he heard the news. I tried phoning him eight or nine times, couldn’t get through to him, and when the news broke, he rang me and said, ‘What the hell is this?’”
“Another local, Seán Leahy, will travel over as well, and the team will do a few performances for schoolchildren in New York. Then, it’s on to November 15 and the first public show. I cannot wait.”
I DON’T KNOW HOW I’M GOING TO FOLLOW THIS ONE...MAYBE WITH A LONGER BROADWAY RUN?