Dancing on Dangerous Ground

Dancing on Dangerous Ground
by Lindsay Dolan

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Category: DVD
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DVD details

Actor: Bobby Fox, Brian Swanton, Ciaran Maguire, Colin Dunne, Jean Butler
Director: Lindsay Dolan
Producer: Jean Butler
Producer: Colin Dunne
Producer: Harvey Goldsmith
Producer: Ian Allen
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 127 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video

DVD Reviews of Dancing on Dangerous Ground

DVD Review: Irish Dance of the Future
Summary: 5 Stars

Wow! I am an adult Irish dancer who loved Riverdance and Lord of the Dance (except the a fake machismo of M Flatley). I am so impressed by this show because it is vastly different than those that have come before. Jean and Colin are brilliant as always; and are truly trying to push Irish dance to become an expressive dance form instead of just showcasing the actual steps and rhythmns like previous shows have done. They have expanded on the traditional aspects of the dance and gone into uncharted territory. The dancing itself is top tier, near perfect execution, but with much more feeling and passion than previously seen in ID shows. Top quality dancers, innovative steps and beautiful but simple costumes and sets~ as close to perfect as you can get. What a terrible shame that this show did not have a longer run. Jean and Colin are two gifted artists and their vision of where ID can go is truly modern. Not to be missed!

DVD Review: An Incredibly Lucky Find
Summary: 5 Stars

As a former Riverdance nut, I am amazed that I actually missed this! As it is, that incredibly lucky discovery came from a most unlikely source, but I feel so lucky that I found it. Having seen (as it turned out) clips that were posted against permission, I HAD to buy the DVD.

Jean Butler and Colin Dunne are perfectly matched, and I still feel that the world will have to wait a long time to see their equal - and that DEFINITELY includes the bombastic egotistic Michael Flatly. I've seen both Colin Dunne and Michael Flatley in person, and my feelings remain unchanged. I missed a live performance by the incredibly beautiful Jean Butler. Alas. Just to see these beautiful dancers together is alone worth the price of the DVD.

They chose an ancient Irish myth as their vehicle, and they could have gone in 2 directions. Either overdo it, or try to keep their production as spare as possible the more the show the myth. Fortunately, unlike Flatley's garish productions, they chose the latter. Also, fortunately, they DID chose to stretch the envelope of traditional Irish dancing, but in a very valid way and totally in context.

The setting and the costumes do take some getting used to, but used to them I did getDancing on Dangerous Ground. I've adored Riverdance, most particularly when both Butler and Dunn were the leads, but watching my beloved VHS of their New York show, strangely Riverdance looked stiff, albeit still beautiful, by comparison.

Their ARE uneven spots in Danching on Dangerous Ground, I won't deny it, but on the whole I LOVED it and would highly recommend it to anyone who truly does want to see where Irish dance CAN go - especially in the hands (or feet) of two of the greatest Irish dancers in the world. It will be a long time before any make us forget THEM! I so wish I had been able to see THIS live, and I can only hope that we haven't seen the end of their dancing.

DVD Review: celtic dance
Summary: 4 Stars

wonderfull,loved it,love Jean butler in everything she does,superb,if you love celtic dance you will love this dvd.

DVD Review: Beautiful and Unique, but oddly frustrating
Summary: 2 Stars

Dancing on Dangerous Ground is best described as a ballet expressed through the medium of Irish dance. The costuming is modern and the acts form a very cohesive story (much more so than Riverdance), but the superposition of romance, tragedy, and war on a dance invented for celebration seems...contradictory at best.

The performance is technically excellent, and for some, the military scenes alone will make the DVD worth it. But the Irish Legend - a tale of a first officer and a queen who betray their king not unlike Lancelot and Guinevere - has Griana truncating her forms so as not to bounce too much during her lament, and both leads trying to express longing without breaking Irish posture during their romance. In that sense, watching Dancing on Dangerous Ground is kind of like admiring a painting of the sunset over a tropical beach done in glorious black and white. Even if you think black and white photography is beautiful, and love sunsets and the tropics, you end up wishing that the painter had chosen to change either the subject, or the medium.

The one place where medium and subject DO work well is in the military scenes, where Irish precision is put to amazing use; then the watcher can feel the rhythm and the power conveyed, even through the TV screen. But in the scenes in between, I found myself craving a no-hold-barred energetic number that expressed the joy of Irish dance (like the ones which made Riverdance famous), and wishing for the full upper-body expression of a ballet during some oddly stilted during laments and romantic scenes.

As an Irish dance piece it's well executed, and as a ballet the costuming is inventive and the music beautiful, but there's an odd quality to watching it. Sometimes it gives the impression of muted color, sometimes of undersold majesty, but always there's the feel that the passion, while *almost* there, is somehow still missing.

DVD Review: Patchy
Summary: 3 Stars

First of all, no one can complain about the story. It's an Irish legend. The costumes sucked until the intoxication dance (my favorite). The beginning and ending songs were REALLY good too. The rest of the show was mediocre and not worth watching, even for the feet. Rent this show if possible, or watch it when it comes on TV. If you feel that you must purchase it based on the integrity of a few dances, try to get a used copy.

Description of Dancing on Dangerous Ground

Studio: Kultur Release Date: 10/26/2004 Run time: 160 minutes Rating: Nr

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