Tradition with a Twist Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing

Innova Irish Dance Company was founded in March 2013.

What we do is promote festival dancing with a modern twist.

That's very much what Innova's about.

Innovation, about doing something that nobody else is.

A year later, their Britain's Got Talent audition

made headlines across the UK and Ireland,

when they danced their way through to the semifinals of the show.

Britain's Got Talent was an absolutely amazing experience.

It is definitely one I would love to relive over and over again.

Their unique brand of tradition with a twist has seen them

excel on the competition stage as well as on-screen.

It has been 20 years since Riverdance, and to even get

close to their success would be incredible for Innova.

This is a year in the life of Innova Irish Dance Company.

Innova is based in the coastal town of Portstewart,

on Northern Ireland's north coast.

It's a collaboration between Catherine Lamont,

Kyra Archibald and Emma McKeary -

local festival dancers who have been performing since the age of three.

As lovers of both traditional and modern dance and music,

and with a burning desire to fuse the two,

they have raised the profile of festival dancing around the world.

Festival dancing is confined to Northern Ireland,

and has a more conservative approach to music and presentation

than it's bigger, brighter cousin, feis dancing.

Festival dancing, I feel, has been sort of the one

that people don't know about as much.

Feis, through Riverdance and those big shows,

it's probably what people associate Irish dancing with.

It's maybe a bit more along the ballet line,

a bit more about expression of the music.

So we want to kind of show the wider world all the beauty in it,

that maybe isn't seen as much.

It is the sort of thing that you really need to be

starting at a young age if you're going to master it completely.

'Tonight is a performance rehearsal for the junior group.'

Stamp up, two, three. Stamp up, hands. Stamp up, two, three.

Stamp up and go.

Dey, dey, dey, dey, dey.

Dey, dey, dey, dey.

They are eight, nine, ten, eleven,

so you can't really be too hard on them,

but it is stuff that we have done before,

so I'm just kind of hoping that as we go through it more,

and as we put the music on,

then it will suddenly come flooding back to them

and it will be, "Oh, yes, I remember that now."

We just love working with children, we love teaching children,

and it is just great to see them progress through the years

as an Irish dancer.

One, two, three, four, five, six...

It is very much the same ethos of, yes, we do tradition,

but we do tradition with a twist as well,

and that goes right down into the juniors.

So they don't just get landed with the traditional stuff

without anything that is a bit fun or a bit more exciting.

The modern music that we use and the modern moves as well,

I think that's something that is quite distinct just to us,

and we definitely like it to be our wee thing.

It makes us different.

With their upcoming performance

on the Britain's Got Talent semifinals just days away,

the Innova seniors 15-strong dance troupe

can usually be found practising late into the night...

in Catherine's garage.

One, two, three, fly.

The routine that we are putting together at the minute,

we've done a wee one's version, and an older one's version.

So we know the wee one's version,

-so we are going into the wee one's version.

-So confused!

And then it is like, "Oh, no, wait,

"that's for the wee ones, that's not ours."

But hopefully it will all come together.

On the day, yes, we tend to pull together...out of nowhere.

I don't know where it comes from.

But we just... The teamwork comes through.

And we just know what to do.

The competition season has not yet finished,

and school exams are also underway.

So the girls' stress levels are in danger of overload.

Our girls are very, very good.

They want to go to competitions just as much as they do performance,

which is what we would really encourage,

because they both do go hand-in-hand together.

If you are a great competition dancer,

your performance work is going to be even better

because you are a better dancer, simple as that.

But first things first, the girls have got a show to put on.

And their costumes aren't going to make themselves.

-Hi.

-Hello. Brought some more for the fittings.

This will be the first time she sees the full thing ready,

so it is just a more modern take on what we already had.

Ready? Let's see it.

-Do you like it?

-That's stunning.

Normally our own costumes would all be made of velvet,

where as obviously you can see

that we've just kept a bit of the tradition in the skirt

and then a little bit of a shoulder showing.

-Shoulders peeping out.

-Shoulders peeping out.

And different detail in the arms as well.

-It is itchy.

-It is itchy, yes.

That's the one thing! But no pain, no gain.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

-Oh, it is lovely.

It is beautiful.

-Go away.

-SHE LAUGHS

Lovely. You're making my tears run.

-THEY LAUGH

-Mummy, Mummy, Mummy.

It's the big day, and the seniors have gathered

for their two-hour bus trip to Belfast

and hour-long flight to London.

On board, Catherine's mother, Patricia,

is nervous about the upcoming competition.

Up until now, it has only been the judges,

so now it is public voting, and that's...

It is almost like an unknown quantity.

The girls are very popular anyway, especially on the north coast.

As you're going up the country, and you're seeing signs

and posters up, you know, you're getting messages from Facebook

and Twitter and all the rest.

Hopefully, everybody will be behind us.

THEY CHEER

I will be voting, and my family will be voting, too.

HE LAUGHS

As Belfast nears, the girls reflect on their Britain's Got Talent debut.

A couple of acts before us got buzzed,

-and how loud were the buzzers?

-So loud.

Like, you know, everybody says it,

but it actually goes through your body.

If they'd buzzed, we would all stop for a minute and be,

"Oh, my God!" And it would be so hard to get back into the dance.

-I would be so heartbroken.

-I wouldn't even come home.

-I would be...

-Just get on another fight somewhere.

Before we went on stage, the crew were like,

"Simon's in a bad mood today."

When we first went on, he was very, like, negative.

He was like, "We've seen this all before, Irish dancing."

And then he rolled his eyes.

And then he stood up, he actually stood up,

and was extremely pleased with what we had done.

There's definitely a lot more pressure this time

because we've already done our twist sort of thing,

so it's what are we going to do next?

But we actually do have a few surprises

up our sleeves for this one.

This is a completely new routine that we are doing for the semifinal.

Not only have the judges not seen it,

nobody has seen it before.

It is totally new, which makes it ten times scarier,

because we've never performed it to a live audience before.

# I don't care

# I got this feeling on the summer day when you were gone

# I crashed my car into the bridge

# I watched, I let it burn

# I threw your...into a bag... #

THEY CHEER

# I crashed my car into the bridge

# I don't care

# I love it... #

We are watching Britain's Got Talent and, as well, it is my birthday.

Oh, my God.

'Hey, and now we get a selfie.'

THEY CHEER

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

THEY CHEER

Um, I've got two issues. One, I think there should be more of you.

I also think you need a lead star.

I think, without those two aspects,

it's not really going to go anywhere.

I liked the dancing, but I don't agree with Simon.

-I can't believe what Simon said.

-Who listens to Simon anyway?

No. It's up to the public.

And if this segment of the public have their way,

Innova are a shoo-in.

-Oh, I got my vote!

-I voted like 1,000 times.

I've done it so much my battery is dead now.

THEY CHEER

After flooding the phone lines,

the juniors take to the streets to drum up more votes.

From right up to the older ones to the younger ones,

they all look out for each other and they are a family.

-And that's what it's all about.

-ALL:

-Innova!

No matter what happens tonight, it's been amazing.

The journey that those girls have taken everybody on

has been such fun.

And let's just hope for the best.

It comes as no surprise that Innova do well in the public voting,

and sail into the top three.

THEY CHEER

But once again, this places their fate in the hands of Simon Cowell.

I'm going to give my vote to Lettice.

No!

His decision would send the competition to deadlock

and back to the public vote,

with competitor Lettice eventually winning out.

Gutted but so proud of all of them.

So disappointing for them,

but they were brilliant, they were brilliant, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter, we are still really proud, so we are.

Obviously we were disappointed

because you're so close to getting into the final,

but on the other hand,

we were in the final 15 from 60,000 auditionees,

and that's the thing we have taken away from it.

Britain's Got Talent was an absolutely amazing experience.

What Simon said about having a lead dancer

doesn't really concern us because we don't want to have a lead dancer.

All of us are equals and we all perform exactly the same way,

and that's just what we do best.

Since the Britain's Got Talent semifinal,

it has just been insane in the best possible way.

The invites that we have got in,

there's stuff that we obviously wouldn't have got before.

We've been exposed to a whole new audience,

we've been dancing in Italy,

we've been at open air concerts here,

corporate events, just a whole range of stuff.

We are heading off to London,

that's for a Financial Times corporate event.

It's a new platform for us,

we've never performed at something like this before,

so we'll just go and do our thing and hopefully it goes down well.

I'm sending all the music that we are going to be using tomorrow.

We are doing three pieces, so even if we get through one of them,

with the proper sound, in the rehearsal,

that sort of will set my mind at ease.

They're just smaller than we would normally use,

and as well as that, there's four individual podiums.

So, four dancers will be out at those podiums,

and the rest on the stage.

So we kind of have to re-choreograph certain aspects of it

to make sure that that all fits in well.

The following day, the girls are back in London

for the first time since losing out on Britain's Got Talent.

Being here is overwhelming. Everything is just so "go, go, go",

compared to home in Northern Ireland.

It's nothing like that.

I'm really interested to see how this audience responds to us,

just because I would say nobody here has ever seen us before.

Probably half of them, more than half of them,

-have never heard of us before.

-If a crowd is sort of...

SHE CLAPS WEAKLY

..then it is a bit of a killer for us,

so hopefully they are in good spirits and enjoying themselves,

and then we'll enjoy it, too.

The girls head to the Natural History Museum,

and with no time for changes,

they're hoping all their requirements have been met.

-Oh, it is so massive.

-It looks so pretty.

Immediately we are so happy with the stage,

it is so much better than we thought it was going to be. Much bigger.

We haven't seen the podiums yet,

but I think they are going to be fine as well,

so immediately that is a massive relief.

The surroundings are just amazing.

I'm so excited. And I'm not even nervous.

It is looking amazing already,

so I think it is going to be stunning

by the time that we're ready to rock tonight.

Making every moment count, the girls squeeze in a quick rehearsal.

If you wouldn't mind meeting me, probably on this side,

I'll get someone from the museum down.

We'll get you up on stage, we'll dim the lights,

and then once you give me the thumbs up, we'll raise them and start.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Great.

With the guests finally arriving,

the girls prepare for the star-studded VIP event.

We want to impress,

no matter if we are dancing in front of an audience of two people,

which has happened before,

or an audience of how many ever people, hundreds of people,

that are here tonight.

Even if we get one more contact from tonight,

that's an absolute bonus for us.

And you never know where it can take us.

We love the performance end of it, as you can tell.

This is our full energy into this.

Not that we don't with competitive dancing,

but we all love this part much more.

One of the girls earlier on was saying

she felt like being here tonight was like hitting the big-time.

And do you know, it really is, because it's a massive event.

It's a bit surreal that we are here.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Innova Irish Dance Company.

CHEERING

MUSIC STARTS

WHISTLING

CHEERING

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Shake that

# Every day I'm shufflin'. #

# Yeah!

# Everybody dance now! #

# Who run the world? Girls!

# Who run the world? Girls!

# Who run the world? Girls!

# Who run the world? Girls!

# Every day I'm shufflin'. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Absolutely amazing performance.

Real combination of traditional dance and contemporary music.

It was awesome.

People may think we're a bit stuffy, but it was, honestly, outstanding.

Everyone at my table absolutely loved it.

I had to follow the girls, like,

and the audience were up and excited,

so it made it a lot easier for me tonight.

It was actually like the Riverdance, but with a whole new vibe.

Whole...it was amazing.

Because they done the footwork,

but they put a bit of a disco twist on it.

Loved it. Loved it.

WHOOPING

How was that for you?

It went absolutely amazing. I'm so, so pleased.

For once, no mistakes.

Not that we're owning up to anyway right now!

I don't think I've ever performed so well.

Just the whole atmosphere, the audience,

and all of us were in such good form,

so you just fully went for it. It was so good.

Still on a high from their performance,

the girls return to the main hall in search of that one valuable contact.

CHEERING AND WHOOPING

I can't get on my toes like you.

-Oh, you can!

-WHOOPING AND CHEERING

Come on! Come on! Come on!

-Perfect, it's great. That's great.

-JASON LAUGHS

-Thank you very much.

-Well done, girls.

After a long summer of endless performance commitments

and very little competition practice,

it's time for a number of the Innova seniors to face the music

at the Northern Ireland Irish Dancing Championships.

Under 16's competitor Ailish Deeney

plans to take this routine in front of the adjudicators.

APPLAUSE

After a successful solo performance, Ailish rejoins her fellow dancers

and it's clear the group feel more comfortable when they're together.

I can't remember what dancing's like without these two.

They've just been a part of it all.

And we got a lot closer during Britain's Got Talent as well,

because we just spent so much time together. We were like inseparable.

Whenever we went home we were like, "Oh, I miss each other!"

All lonely.

Yeah, we had no-one to play with.

Courtney is also dancing solo tonight

in the under 17s championship

and she too has found it difficult

to switch between performance and competition modes.

Going from this competition

to events like the National History Museum

and Britain's Got Talent,

you're out there to perform, entertain.

As we're here in Northern Ireland, it's a total different story.

Everyone's watching you, this school, competition, you know,

and it's very difficult to live up to the standards.

But with the competition imminent,

Courtney hopes that when the judges see this routine

they'll be impressed.

APPLAUSE

After a very long day of competing,

it's time for the girls to see if their love of performance

has dashed their competition hopes.

-ANNOUNCER:

-Adjudicator A gave first grades to number 9.

Adjudicator B gave first grades to number 12.

-Adjudicator C gave first grades to number 9.

-Yes!

In first place, with a total of 26 points,

number 9, Courtney McAlister from Innova.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'I just won the dance championships under 17 and I am ecstatic.'

To win the Northern Irelands, it's everything.

I haven't been dancing well lately,

but then I just gave it all tonight -

might as well, nothing to lose -

and it paid off.

Courtney also do took first place with Ailish in the two-hand...

..and again in the three-hand with Lauren.

Ailish also took the top spot in the under 16's category.

Proud teacher Catherine leaves with an armful of trophies, too.

I'm so overwhelmed by the results and how they danced

and I'm just so pleased that all the hard work and everything they put in

has kind of, you know, they've got back now what they deserve from it.

On nights like this, you love competition as much as performance.

-Yes!

-We can't complain.

After a busy season of performance and competition commitments,

the girls finally return to their beloved hometown of Portstewart

to take on their toughest challenge yet -

an open-air performance

to an eager crowd of motorcycle enthusiasts.

Portstewart is known for its stunning promenade

and its variety of windswept golf courses,

but its biggest event by far is the annual North West 200,

and Innova are kicking off the main event.

Over 150,000 motorcycle fans from around the globe

have converged on the tiny coastal town

over the course of the week-long event,

culminating with today's final race.

The Innova girls are making the short walk

from Catherine's home to the racing grid,

where local celebrity DJ Brian Moore is busy warming up the crowd.

Are you able to stamp your feet

and clap your hands above your head at the same time?

One, two, one, two, one, two.

Get the feet stamping. Come on!

I think it will go down a storm,

because the crowd aren't expecting it.

It's so out there, so left field, to have Irish dancers

on the starting grid of the North West 200.

I mean, it's... I think it's going to be amazing.

-Hi, ladies!

-Hello!

-You're very welcome.

-Thank you.

We're going to bring out some guests here

and we're going to start the North West 200

as it's never been started before, OK?

Right, go, go, go. Good luck.

We need you clapping your hands and stamping your feet along to it.

Please welcome... Give a round of applause for the Innova dancers!

WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE

IRISH FOLK MUSIC STARTS

MUSIC WARPS AND STOPS

# Shake that. #

# Born to be wild!

# Born to be wild!

# Whoa, Black Betty, bam-a-lam

# Whoa, Black Betty, bam-a-lam

# Black Betty had a child, bam-a-lam

# The damn thing gone wild Bam-a-lam

# She said, I'm worrin' outta my mind, bam-a-lam

# The damn thing gone blind Bam-a-lam

# I said oh, Black Betty Bam-a-lam

# Whoa, Black Betty, bam-a-lam

APPLAUSE

The Innova dancers kicking off big style the North West 200, 2015.

There is always something very special about

doing something that's local,

to get together with the town, and be part of that

and showcase another bit of Portstewart,

because that's essentially I suppose what we are.

You're going to something like the North West,

where bikers are at it, so you want to deliver something

they're going to be able to relate to,

so whether that's putting in biker music or, you know,

a few different moves.

We are pushing to achieve the best we possibly can.

We're never going to be just happy with what we're doing.

That's been our dream from the start, so, you know,

we'll absolutely just keep on going,

doing the best that we can for us

and for festival dancing and Irish dancing in general.

If Innova can keep on going the way that it has for the past year,

that would be the absolute dream.

For us to still be this busy next year, in five years' time,

in ten years' time, fantastic.

If we can build on top of that, you know,

particularly in terms of maybe more international gigs -

tradition with a twist, international.