Serious Stepping
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For Howard the Joyce debut is the realization of a long-standing goal. “I always wanted to go to the Joyce and wanted to be a part of that dance community,” he says. For the Joyce, Trinity’s appearance is an acknowledgment of the public’s increasing fascination with a dance form that has previously been overlooked in North America. And for IMG the New York engagement could provide the critical boost needed to sell Trinity around the globe and make it a valuable addition to the agency’s roster. IMG’s vice president and artist manager, Mark Maluso, says, “From an agent’s point of view, there is obviously a tremendous interest in Celtic dance out there, and the Trinity company happens to be the only Irish dance company now in existence in North America.”
Maluso flew out to Chicago earlier this year to see a Trinity performance at Navy Pier. A series of meetings led to a verbal agreement in June that would make IMG the dance company’s exclusive representative for at least the next two years. Maluso maintains he has no intention of trying to turn Trinity into another Riverdance: “Before Riverdance there was the Trinity company, and after Riverdance there will still be Trinity.” Yet Maluso is moving quickly to upgrade the company’s image. He hired designer Stan Presner to light the Joyce program; Presner, formerly of Chicago, was responsible for lighting all the Lincoln Center Festival productions this summer. Trinity also has a new relationship with Sony Entertainment; the troupe will appear on the cover of a new CD by Bill Whelan, who composed the music for Riverdance. Segal booked most of Trinity’s 1997-’98 tour season, but after that Maluso wants to send the company overseas to se-lect festivals in Edinburgh and Lyon; he’s also planning engagements in the Far East, where IMG has a major presence. “Trinity is a serious company that can fill a niche for presenters in a dance series or as a special presentation,” he says.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Mark Howard photo by Jim Alexander Newberry; Trinity Irish dancers photo/ uncredited.
