Legend of love
Fiddle-dee-dee potatoes.
Performer Katrina O’Donnell fell in love with fellow dancer Kienan Melino shortly after getting involved with the production.
She giggles and goes quiet whenever Melino is mentioned, and when we ask to talk to him about what it is like dancing on stage with the one you desire, he goes shy and refuses to talk. Isn’t young love the cutest?
The pair play a number of roles in the show including children, a guard and a swan. The story, which features traditional Irish music fused with flamenco, Latin American, Middle Eastern, ballet and ballroom, is one O’Donnell and Melino are very familiar with. Dance of Desire is based on the Celtic Legend of the Children of Lir, which O’Donnell remembers hearing at national school in County Mayo.
It’s a tragic tale about four children who are banished to a lake by their evil step mother, and turned into swans. The curse is only broken after 900 years, by which time they die after transforming back into people because they are so old.
O’Donnell remembers how the tale scared her as a child, but never made her sad. However this version is different with a twist at the end, O’Donnell enthuses. It has a happy ending.
The all-Irish production which features 19 dancers has toured Paris, New York, Beijing, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and now Australia and New Zealand.
O’Donnell says Irish dancing has a universal appeal that “everyone can enjoy” which is why it is so well-travelled.
When the season ends in July, O’Donnell is looks forward to heading home, to relax and eat “anything with potatoes”.
Dance of Desire, Opera House, 3pm-5pm & 7.30pm-10pm,
April 17.
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