Fusion Orchestra Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing

Oddly enough, Bristol native Chris Naish

has a story a lot of male Irish dancers may find familiar.

I randomly took an Irish dance class about 27 years ago,

when I was four years old.

I was only actually going to pick up my sister from the class.

I remember the teacher, sort of, looking at me,

being like, "What about him?"

I think I was hiding behind my mum at that point,

saying, "Please, mum, don't make me go to Irish dance classes,"

but then I spent the next 15 years in the cut-throat world

-of Irish dance competitions.

-HE LAUGHS

I stopped competing when I was around 18.

I joined Lord Of The Dance and Riverdance,

and sort of did that for around eight years.

The turning point in my career was when I decided to

start making videos when we were on tour with Riverdance.

We all had our own ideas for different projects

and my project was to... to make Sneaky Steppers.

We started off in a supermarket,

quite randomly, late at night in Ipswich,

and there was a group of people.

They thought it was something a bit different.

Within a year, we were actually approached by Tourism Ireland

to organise a flash mob for them

for St Patrick's Day in Sydney Central Station.

It was really a big break for us because the video now has

something like over six million views,

and that's kind of where

I started to realise that

I want to start doing my own thing,

and, ultimately, have my own projects.

PERCUSSION RATTLES

SWORD CLANGS

Chris's own project became Fusion Fighters.

Via online videos,

he experiments with his many ideas for a live performance show,

fusing technology with his unique blend of Irish dance,

body percussion and tap.

MUSIC: Moonlight Sonata (dance remix) by Ludwig van Beethoven

SHOES TAP

He's about to embark on his latest idea, dubbed Fusion Orchestra,

which will set his modern choreography to a classical score.

Well, I have to put this project together, essentially, in five days.

I am on a very limited budget.

You know, I'm a dancer, but I'm in between tours,

and I'm paying for this whole project myself,

so when it comes down to rehearsal space, locations, it's stuff that

I can't really afford at the moment,

so I am going to have to try and do the project as cheap as possible,

but still make it high-quality.

To ensure the quality he desires, Chris has enlisted

a team of high-achieving dancers and a musician to fill out the Orchestra.

Well, I chose those particular guys because, you know,

they are the best people that I could think of within my network.

The question is, then, in the short space of time,

will they be able to pick up this choreography?

Some of the body percussion stuff they've never done before, or tap.

For some of the guys, it may be quite a challenge for them.

Right now, I don't have a location for rehearsals or

a location for the video,

but my friend Brian lives up in Navan...

-KNOCK AT DOOR

-'..and he's got a music studio there

'which he's going to let us use to create the track.'

-Good to see you.

-Good.

-You busy?

Yeah, just working away on a few little bits here.

PERCUSSION THUMPS

I'm Brian McGrane.

I'm 24 years of age and I'm a musician for this project.

I am actually a percussionist.

When Chris first came to me about the Fusion Orchestra project,

I became really interested, because I knew that it was something

that could really appeal to a new audience.

The most challenging part for me is to, kind of,

make something for me to shine,

and for me to kind of stand out as the percussionist, as well.

Did I mention to you that at the end of the week we'll be filming

-the two-minute video somewhere around?

-Oh.

You know, like a historic building, a castle...

-Mm-hmm.

-..a courtyard, a mansion.

Erm, it's just something, to me,

-that just seems to fit with the Orchestra idea.

-Yeah.

'When you don't have much money to put a project like this together,'

you really do have to sometimes ask your friends, you know, for favours.

'Brian doesn't know this yet, but we haven't got any definite plans,'

so I'm hoping that he's got a big house

and we could just film it there.

So, I suppose, the tracks, then,

are you happy enough with the three tracks that you've chosen?

They're really great to dance to,

and I'd say they'd be really nice to play music to, as well.

Basically, you want to chop these in sections?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, but...

-Say, like, 40 seconds of Beethoven Symphony No 5...

-Yeah.

MUSIC: Symphony No 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven

..and Vivaldi, Winter...

MUSIC: Winter from Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi

-..and Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

-Yeah.

MUSIC: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

I've chosen to use classical music for this new piece, Fusion Orchestra,

and for me, there's really only a handful of tracks

that would have elements of 4/4 tempo in them,

and I know that they'd definitely work.

CHRIS HUMS ALONG TO MOZART

Yeah, I love it. It's...

It's completely different to anything I've seen before. Yeah.

I'm excited.

-I hope it works.

-Me too.

DRILL BUZZES

Chris asked me, would I be able to help him out

making some dance boards?

-DRILL BUZZES

-Because he had a cool idea of

each of the dancers on their own platform,

and I've got two done.

The last three to go, so...

Well, this is the tape.

-Yeah, cool.

-So...

So, what's the idea of the different colours, then?

Each dancer, or each performer,

-can have a different colour designated to them.

-Oh, OK.

We could use these for the platforms, as well,

as well as using them for the little bits of our costume.

-Brilliant. Yeah, that's great.

-Yeah, just so the...

Do you know, like, if we have it, like, all round the outside?

-Yeah.

-I don't know if it will stick but...

-Perfect, isn't it?

-That looks good, actually.

-Yeah.

I mean, we don't have any money, so it's kind of budget,

-but, you know, it really works, doesn't it?

-Yeah, I think so.

-Let's go with it, then.

-Yeah, I think, the next step,

let's get one of these boards into the studio

-and see how it sounds.

-OK, cool.

SHOES TAP

But just as Chris begins to give his new platforms the once-over,

he's interrupted by a message

from one of his chosen dancers. PHONE RINGS

Oh, man.

I think we might have a problem with James.

"Could I learn the core of the routine from a video

"and meet you guys on Wednesday?"

-If he comes on Wednesday, everyone else has already had two days.

-Hmm.

He's going to just be left behind.

-That's not really enough, is it?

-Not really.

Hmm...

I think you should just tell him to come up now, to be honest.

Our only other option, if he doesn't come,

I don't think he's going to be able to do it -

-then I think we'd have to get someone else in to do it.

-Yeah.

-Realistically.

-The only thing is, if you go and get somebody else,

they're not familiar with the project at all, whereas James

-knows somewhat of what's going on.

-Yeah.

If he can make it, even just for a couple of hours,

it's better than not making it at all.

MUSIC: I'm So Sorry by Imagine Dragons

Brian actually suggested, you know, because we're on a tight budget,

that we ring up his local GAA club,

and so, luckily, like, they've let us use the hall for the whole week,

for free of charge, so it's amazing.

I can't wait to get going with it.

# No time. #

How's it going? What do you think of the hall?

-It's a cracking hall, man. That's great.

-How are you?

-All right...

I'm Michael Donnellan, from Ennis in County Clare, and I am 39.

SHOES TAP

I won a couple of award championships

at junior and senior level,

and then went on, obviously, and joined Riverdance,

and was quite lucky to get jobs choreographing

and directing various shows.

I know my place.

Chris is the ultimate choreographer of this project,

but any guidance that I can give him, I will, for sure,

and if it starts to slump,

I think I'll try and put a bit of fun and a bit of craic into it.

You'll have to do your sit-dance now, here, Dave.

-You'll be grand.

-No, I'm finished.

-You've finished with competing now?

-Yeah, thank God.

-Have you?

-Yeah.

-So you're going to join a show, then?

I don't know. Finish college first, and then...

-Finish college.

-Nice.

-..I'll see what I'll do.

-I tell you, all the shows will be after you, anyway.

-No, they're not.

-I'll get him first.

-Yeah, fair enough. Absolutely, yeah.

SHOES TAP

My name is David Gainey.

I'm 20 years old, and I'm from Dingle in County Kerry.

I started Irish dancing when I was about five or six years old.

I actually saw my sister winning a medal

and I just wanted to win a medal.

I didn't care what it was in, so it ended up being Irish dancing.

I kept going and I ended up winning five World Championships,

so it wasn't a bad sport to be involved in.

I suppose I've had a few prizes during my competitive career -

obviously, winning the World Championships -

but one I more recently won

was when I was awarded the Irish Dancing Magazine Man of the Year.

That was unexpected.

It was a different kind of award then I'm normally used to getting.

You know, you want to be known for doing something different,

for changing it up.

Well, I was doing, like... I was doing...

I was messing around in my book,

and I drew, like, a sketch of the five of us,

to imagine what, like, the whole thing would look like.

-Oh, my God. Is that me?

-Can you guess which one you are?

Oh, my God. I've got hair, though. That's great.

-Do you?

-That's great.

I didn't mean to draw hair.

-I think it was wrinkles.

-And I'm in purple as well.

So, I was thinking,

we could pretty much make our entire costumes out of tape -

-gaffer tape.

-Yeah. Cool(!)

-I don't know. See, I'm kind of afraid to...

-Yeah?

-To...

I don't know whether you're serious or not,

and I wouldn't be surprised, to be honest with you.

-You probably are.

-I am deadly serious.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I'm not wearing a purple gaffer jacket, though, am I?

No, we changed yours to white. Black-and-white, you're wearing.

Oh, brilliant, like a Valentino, kind of a little...

-Smooth.

-Smooth.

-Yeah.

-Brilliant. Yeah, I'm in.

Bah-bah-bah, bah!

Come on, David, you're five-times World Champion.

My biggest challenge would be the upper body, so using the hands,

and clapping at different points in the music,

it's difficult for me, but, no, go with the flow, you know,

to the routine, so I suppose I'd better get on with it.

That was my fault! Oh, God, OK, OK. All right, have we got it?

'It's quite a difficult piece. It's quite intricate,'

and it is a real challenge to, kind of, get your head around that,

and get your body around it and, kind of, feel that music,

and dance to it, so that it's very clean.

It might take me a little bit

longer to get it than the rest of

the young lads in there,

you know, but hopefully not.

I'll be fine. I think I'll be fine.

-Hey, James!

-All right, lads?

And with the late arrival of the final dancer, James,

the Fusion Orchestra is finally complete.

My name is James Devine.

I'm 38 and I'm from Ardnacrusha, County Clare.

SHOES TAP

I'd be kind of known as the original Celtic tapper, like the first,

kind of, Irish dancer to really combine,

like, the tap with the Irish.

The achievement that I'm probably known for

is my Guinness World Record -

a whole 38 taps in one second.

Erm, the previous record was held by Michael Flatley.

Definitely not. He's got two left feet, anyway.

-Jamie, boy.

-2pm. Is it two?

-You made it.

'James was late arriving but when he did arrive,

'he came straight into it and slotted straight into the piece,'

so I had no doubt he'd pick up the start of it in no time.

MUSIC: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

SHOES STOMP

'The challenge, this week, for me,

'is probably being part of a group, you know?'

I'm used to, kind of, I suppose, doing solo work,

and this week, now, is very much about interaction with other dancers

and all that kind of stuff, so that's...

I think that's the challenge, this week, for me.

The next day, with James out of the picture again,

it's a good time to go shopping for props

that will represent electronic pads on each of the dancers' platforms.

As long as we get to take them off. Yeah.

-We could do one of those things where we, like...

-Yeah, slide.

-LAUGHTER

-Ow, that kind of hurt.

SHOES TAP

-It'd need to be metal, though.

-It might look better.

Oh, look, there's, like, a kitchen sink.

They've got the grated things on it.

Couldn't really buy a kitchen sink, though.

It'd be a bit silly.

I'm just looking for something with either, like, a grated panel

-like that, that door.

-Right.

-Chris, we could do an air vent kind of thing.

-Oh, yeah?

That's kind of cool. It'd be great if it was longer, wouldn't it?

-There's bigger ones. There's different sizes.

-Is there?

What do you think about using these for the shoes?

-Yeah, excellent.

-There's something different. Did you change your top?

Does he always go around with a toilet seat on his head?

We can't use this in the show, though, unfortunately,

-but that's a good idea, I think.

-No.

-Yeah?

I don't suppose you can dance? We're looking for another dancer.

We've actually had a phone call this morning from one of our dancers.

He's hurt his ankle. I don't suppose you...?

-Disco-dancing championship, 1969.

-Disco? That's what... Really?

-That's exactly what we're doing, a disco dance.

-Any time, any time.

-OK, great.

-Yeah, yeah.

-We've got rehearsals this afternoon.

Do you think you can make that or are you working?

-I'll ask my boss.

-Great. Nice to have you on board.

-Thanks very much. Is the money good?

-The money's brilliant, yeah.

-Oh, then, there you go.

-You'll love it.

You ask and I'll go. See you soon.

-Thanks.

-Cheers. See you at rehearsals. Don't be late.

I won't be late. You didn't tell me where?

-Erm...

-Don't tell me where.

-OK.

Yeah, so we're happy enough with that, are we?

Having eventually settled for corrugated plastic

and some foam pads,

it's straight back to rehearsals,

and even though James is unavailable today,

a particularly difficult section of the routine is on the agenda.

This choreography is putting years on me.

I started, I was 24 a couple of days ago.

I don't know what's happening.

I don't know, it's just wrinkles and things and...

-OK, let's go with it. Come on.

-Let's do it. You can do it.

# Da-da-da da-da

# Da da-da da-da

# Da-da da-da-da. #

'The coordination of coordinating your hands and your arms'

and your feet together, and making that sound really, really crisp,

with this choreography, is difficult,

but it's great stuff, though.

And step, and one, two, three, four, five,

and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,

-nine, ten.

-Ah!

'One of the reasons why I got these guys involved is'

cos I know how talented they are,

and that they've got the rhythm in them.

You know, a couple of days of practising,

and then we'll get it. We really will. Like, I've no doubt.

HE EXHALES

Now we'll just practise that

-for the next three days.

-We've got it. Yeah, yeah.

The day before filming,

and it's all hands on deck for the lads.

James is back, and with his help,

the platforms and costumes are pieced together.

You were all laughing at my gaffer tape idea, huh?

-Chris is happy so we're happy.

-Yeah, me too.

We haven't done the rehearsal, yet.

-LAUGHTER

-Uh-oh. He's in good form, anyway.

-Yeah, yeah.

-When you're smiling, we're smiling, Chris.

But it's not all smiles for Chris -

with tomorrow's filming looming,

he's still without a venue in which to shoot the video.

I've contacted around five to ten venues

and not one of them's got back yet,

so I'm just hoping today's the day.

Everyone's worked so hard,

and obviously we don't want to end up the week

with no location to film the video.

It's amazing to actually see the progression in, like,

two or three days of...

You know, these guys have been working really hard, like.

They really are getting the grasp of it now.

I just got a call from one of my friends, who actually know

a few of the lads, as well,

and she's managed to hook us up with a location for the shoot.

Getting to the evening time now,

and we're doing the video tomorrow,

so it couldn't have come at a better time.

We've been lucky to get a videographer involved,

and he's going to meet us for this recce of the place,

so we're going to head over there now to check it out.

We're all really excited.

-Hello. How's it going?

-Chris, how's it going?

-Hi, Denise.

I haven't seen you in ages. How are you?

How's it going? Nice to see you.

'Chris called me during the week in a panic and he said,'

you know, "Denise, I don't have a venue to record this video.

"What am I going to do?"

So I said, "Well, I know the perfect castle, Chris - Barberstown Castle."

It has the exact kind of vibe that I was imagining in my head,

-and it's incredible.

-Yeah, well, you kind of said medieval.

-Yeah.

-You know, so, that castle kind of vibe...

'Everyone wants to be part of Chris's project, purely because'

he works very hard for what he believes in,

and, you know, he's such a nice guy, as well,

'and I think it's a mutual respect amongst all the dancers,

'and Chris has chosen very carefully for this project.

'You know, you couldn't pick a better team.

'It's like the dream team.'

I just, like, got a bit of goose bumps there,

-I'm not going to lie, about this room.

-Did you?

-Coming in here?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-That backdrop is symmetrical and everything just looks

perfect there. We could do a run-through now, if you want,

-and get the lads to put their costumes on.

-Brilliant.

I feel quite privileged to actually have the opportunity to

look at the rehearsal of Fusion Orchestra tonight.

I think it'll be fantastic.

MUSIC: Busy Earnin' by Jungle

10.30am on filming day,

and while the videographer sets up for the shoot,

there seems to be a distinct lack of dancers.

We have up until, I'd say, 4pm, before the light starts changing.

-Right, OK.

-So if we can get people...

So we have to get moving, then.

..yeah, set up by about 12pm.

OK, I don't think they realised that we needed to be here this early.

I was hoping they wouldn't arrive any later than 11am,

and no-one's here yet, so I'm just a bit, you know,

anxious that they all come in the next 20 minutes.

# Just busy earnin'

-# You can't get enough...

-#

-What time's it now, anyway?

-11.50am.

The lads are only about 50 minutes late.

It's fine. We are only shooting a video today. It's fine(!)

# Busy earnin' You can't get enough... #

It's 12.30pm by the time the stragglers arrive,

and as they rush into their costumes,

with no time left for last-minute hiccups,

there's a last-minute hiccup.

The coloured tape Chris wanted on the dancers' shoes

appears to be damaging James's tap boots.

He's put the tape on and they're his 800 custom-made shoes...

But I think they got different masking tape

and I think they're going to be OK.

I'll send you the bill afterwards.

'He's not a diva but, he just,'

he loves these boots that are, kind of,

that he bought off Beyonce, you know what I mean?

And he's just a little bit protective about them.

That's grand, you know?

Time-wise, it'd be good to get going.

-Get going, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Let's do it.

We have to get going now, yeah.

All right, let's go.

Keep it on repeat and let's just keep doing it.

These are, obviously,

the self-made or home-made arrows from gaffer tape, you know?

Huge budget(!)

'Erm, so, yeah, they just kept falling off,

'cos we were sweating so much, cos we were doing the routine.

'We were like, "You've got an arrow." I had three arrows,

'and somebody else had two arrows, and somebody had no arrows,'

and somebody had four arrows. I don't know how that happened.

Erm, so, yeah...

So we had to, kind of, get somebody to sew them onto us, you know?

God, we're really selling ourselves, here, aren't we?

This latest delay has Chris doubting whether there's enough time left

to get all the filming done before they completely lose daylight.

Do you think there are any opportunities

to do it in the evening time?

-No, because we've gone this far, now, at this stage.

-Yeah.

-I think we should leave it daylight.

-All right.

But we've only just started, really, haven't we?

We've just done the one wide shot a few times.

-That's all so far.

-We need to try and get it done in daylight.

Do you have to get going, as well?

I don't need to get going, but it'd be good to do it in daylight,

-since we started in daylight.

-My gut feeling is, like,

to maybe, really, have a think about doing it in the evening time.

That's just my gut feeling,

-cos I just think we're going to rush it now.

-We'll see how we get on.

Our problem is, if we just see how we get on,

I think the guys are going to be wrecked from doing that.

-It's just my gut feeling. I don't know.

-We'll give it a stab, OK?

I feel like if I go against my gut feeling then I'm going to regret it.

Am I wrong? Do you think I'm wrong?

-Tell me if I am and tell me to...

-Well, it's a beautiful day.

-It's a beautiful day...

-Yeah.

..so it's not going to be dark until 4pm or, I think, probably 5pm.

I don't know.

-Am I just stressing out too much?

-Yeah.

-All right, let's go for it.

'I've been involved in the professional scene,

'I suppose, for the last 15 years, you know,

'and I know what it's like to be in Chris's boots,

'and you can't really show your hand.

'You have to be constantly positive.

'As much pressure as he may be under,

'you have to stay unbelievably positive,'

for the other four or five, and for the crew and everybody around you,

and the ambience, and the ethos, and the whole, kind of,

atmosphere of the project, you know, to stay...

to stay up there and to keep the energy levels really high,

erm, and he's doing it.

It's gone 4pm, so kind of pushing it now at this stage,

but hopefully we'll get it done. I say we will.

We only have close-ups to do, and then maybe a faraway shot,

so hopefully we'll get there.

The day has been fantastic. It's...

A few challenges, obviously, with the trying to get the shoot in

before the sun goes down,

but I think we've achieved it.

Like, it is current. It's now.

It's not anything that's back in, you know, the early 2000s.

This is now 2015, so it's really current,

and, yeah, I think we'll have a massive impact.

-Shall we?

-Job done.

-Absolute pleasure.

-Well done, Chris. Well done, man.

-Oh...

-All right?

That is it, isn't it? That's the last..

'It's kind of surreal, when you've finished something like this.'

I do feel relieved, but it's almost like...

Now it's like, ah, looking back on

how good everything was. Like, my feet are killing me.

The lads are also, like, really tired and sore and hungry,

but I'm so happy with how the filming went today.

'We're going to have a massive expectation from the video.

'The reaction already, just seeing the cast that I've put together,'

has been, like, wow, you know,

like, a sort of dream team for this sort of stuff,

so people are going to be talking about it

through the dancing world, the Irish dancing world,

and, obviously, they're going to be expecting it to be brilliant.

Tonight's the launch.

I don't know if it's nerves or, just, anxious or excitement,

or, like, I just need a drink,

or I'm hungry, but, you know,

I'm definitely feeling something, anyway,

and I'm very excited for everyone to come in and see the video.

So, guys, just sit wherever you like.

It's just going to be me and Brian here, out of the five of us.

The lads have had to get back to work,

after I dragged them away all week,

but they'll be here with us in spirit, and no matter,

you know, what the response is from everyone else,

I think the result is something that we're really proud of.

MUSIC: Symphony No 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven

MUSIC: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Well, the sort of views we get

for Fusion Fighters videos

at the moment is anywhere from,

you know, 5,000 to 25,000 views,

so, I think, for this video,

you know, obviously, we're always aiming to get more,

and, you know, reach a bigger audience,

so we'd love to try and beat that 25,000-view mark.

The goal is for us to be a part of history, I suppose.

To make and develop this new, unique style,

20 years on from when

Riverdance has inspired us.

It is an addiction, really,

but it's driven by, like,

a huge passion that I have to

succeed and to make it work.

MUSIC: Winter from Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi

Oh...

Oh!

CHEERING AND WHISTLING

Fusion Orchestra has gone on to be Chris's most-watched video yet.

It currently has 36,000 views and counting.