‘TARA’: Inside The World’s First All-Female Irish Dance Show

Our present moment is plagued with the destruction and devastation of global crises, from deforestation and global warming to political and social warfare. Living among us are five Celtic goddesses — Macha, Boann, Brigid, Cailleach, and Cernunnos — who come together  through music and dance to overcome these conflicts and stop the world from falling apart. This is the concept behind TARA, a new all-female Irish dance show that draws inspiration from centuries ago in ancient Irish history to bring modern-day issues to life, forging a compelling crucible of tradition and innovation.

Still in its early stages of production, The Irish Dance Globe is getting an exclusive first look into the show. It’s a sunny Saturday morning on Australia’s Gold Coast when showrunners Brent Pace and Ceili Moore, and lead dancer/co-producer Tyler Watkins join us on Zoom, eager to welcome us backstage into the world of TARA. 

The show’s narrative arc and characters are based on the legend of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a tribe of gods that ruled Ireland during the golden age and battled for the trials of our modern world. Not only must each goddess work through their individual conflicts, but they must also join forces to answer the mother goddess, Danu, who calls upon them to protect the world. “It’s the coming together of music and dance and the empowerment of the female spirit. The underlying message of the show is the coming together of society to overcome the global issues we are facing at this point in time,” Brent says.

TARA is the latest production from the Pace Live Entertainment Group, spearheaded by theatre power couple Brent Pace and Ceili Moore. Brent is also the creator of A Taste of Ireland, a show he started when he was only 21 years old. He began Irish dancing at the age of three with his mum’s school, the Rabusin School based in Melbourne, Australia. From there he danced in the United Kingdom for a few years, training with the Sean Eireann McMahon Irish Dance Academy and the Aaron Crosbie Irish Dance Academy in London, England. Brent also owned and taught at his own Irish dance school for six years before deciding to transition to the business side of professional dance entertainment, working as a promoter and producer in various capacities before developing A Taste of Ireland.

Ceili began dancing when she was just three years old, training in various styles before seriously committing to Irish dance at the age of 15. During her competitive career she danced with her mum’s school, the Fiona-Gaye Moore Academy in Sydney. Her accolades include four Australian National titles, North American National Champion, All Ireland Champion, and World Champion. Ceili’s professional resume is equally impressive, as she has been in the cast of Heartbeat of Home, Riverdance, and lead in Lord Of The Dance.

These led to her connecting with Brent while dancing as a lead in A Taste of Ireland and eventually working on marketing and behind the scenes for the show to bring it to where it is today, now in its twelfth year of touring. In this time as a couple, Brent and Ceili have also celebrated several milestones of their own, now engaged with a lovely two-year-old daughter, Elle. 

As a young pair of dancers and entertainment professionals with extensive competitive and show backgrounds, Brent and Ceili really have their finger on the pulse. Together, they have cultivated a strong, clear vision for something fresh and totally different in the Irish dance industry.

While A Taste of Ireland follows the framework of traditional Irish dance productions, Brent says that he wanted TARA to break the mould. This started with challenging audience perceptions and getting back to Irish dance as a style of dance, rather than a show format. 

“I think that there’s an expectation that all Irish dancing shows have this man running up and down and have a line of dancers with their arms by their side dancing, that’s the mentality,” Brent says. “But that’s like saying that all ballets are Swan Lake. The reality of it is that it’s not at all what ballet is. Ballet is an art form. It tells different stories in different ways.”

Another major point of difference for TARA is repositioning Irish history in the public’s imagination. “There is a general consensus from a lot of people that between Adam and Eve and [Irish king] Brian Boru, there was not really that much time. And then the famine happened straight after it, and everyone wore paddy caps, brown pants, suspenders, and petticoats the whole time. And Molly Malone appeared and then all of a sudden, that’s when Ireland started.” 

In order to reset this outdated cultural consciousness of Ireland, the TARA team went searching through those missing centuries all the way back to the beginning with ancient Celtic mythology, a daunting yet rewarding task. “I think you have to go far back enough to bring forward a story and make it relevant,” Brent says. To help construct this bridge between fiction and non-fiction, Brent and Ceili brought on Tyler Watkins, not only as a member of the cast, but as a co-producer.

Tyler began Irish dancing at the age of four, also at her mum’s school, the Watkins Academy based in Brisbane, Australia. When she was 17, she moved to Galway, Ireland, to train with the Hession School of Dance. She was first introduced to the Pace Live Entertainment Group when she joined the cast of A Taste of Ireland’s inaugural Christmas tour, A Celtic Christmas, in December 2017. In addition to her dance experience, Tyler is also equipped with a Bachelor of Creative Industries degree with focuses in creative writing and drama. Impressed with her background, Brent approached her to come on board for the production side of TARA.

As a co-producer, Tyler’s responsibilities range from creative-based tasks such as story writing and structuring, costume development, projection and set design, and social media content creation, to more logistical assignments like approaching venues, booking tours, project management, and marketing. 

“There’s been so much more involved with producing a show than I ever imagined. Most people would never know how much goes into it,” Tyler says. “Being a producer you wear so many hats, and I’ve been able to develop a whole range of skills that I didn’t know I had or would ever have to use.”

Tyler also has a deep passion for the fantasy genre, which has lent itself immensely to TARA. From the development perspective, she says, adapting characters from ancient history into the modern day is a common storytelling technique. “We really wanted to do something that was still rooted in Irish history, mythology, or folklore, because at the end of the day, it is an Irish dance music show. And that’s what we do best,” she says.

Once they landed in this ancient Celtic realm, it was not long before the team discovered their goddesses, the five female leads that are the heart and soul of TARA. Tyler plays Macha, the goddess of war. Taking up arms beside her are Olivia Kennedy as Boann, the goddess of water; Ella Giammichele as Brigid, the goddess of fire; Ciara Loughran as Cailleach, the goddess of winter; and Brittany Pymm as Cernunnos, the goddess of earth.

Beyond the narrative concept, curating an all-female cast fulfils a prime opportunity in the professional dance market, one that Ceili has observed for the past decade. “From a casting perspective, we have always struggled to get males, but we could cast a female show 15 times over,” she says. “So you’ve got female strength, individuality, feminism, all of these things that are so important to day-to-day society. But you’ve also got the practicality of how many girls there are that are interested and wanting to be in shows.”

Ceili also emphasises the importance of each girl bringing something extra to TARA, whether it be versatility in other styles of dance, strength in heavy or light shoe dancing, or an aptitude for choreography. With only five girls in the cast, she says, each dancer has a heightened level of responsibility to deliver on the stage.

“Being intentional is very important, but the girls have to be very big. Big in their commitment, big in their movements, big in their actions,” Ceili says. Everyone truly had to be larger than life to command an audience and fill the space of these powerhouse characters.

Despite having been involved in the creation process, Tyler says that bringing Macha to life was unlike anything she had ever done in an Irish dance show. She breathlessly recalls how fulfilling it was to watch her castmates push themselves out of their comfort zones and embrace their own inner goddess. 

“I don’t think we even realised how much we individually related to our own character until it was laid out in front of us,” Tyler says. “And then I think once you make that connection, it’s like, ‘I already have this in me, how do I just now bring this out and show everyone that this is who I am?’”

Every costume, makeup design, and prop came together like pieces of a puzzle to help the girls embody their characters. They had to give in to the process and trust Brent and Ceili’s direction, and it paid off. “We still say if we put another five girls in that room, it would have come out a completely different show,” Ceili says.

The dynamic relationship between the goddesses manifests in the show’s choreography, which Brent and Ceili describe as “elemental”, in the way that it contributes to TARA’s intentional, symbolic storytelling. Not only do we see a combination of Irish light and heavy shoes, but also the integration of other dance styles. One number spotlights Boann, the goddess of water, as she fuses Irish light shoe dancing with contemporary movement to simulate the graceful currents of rivers and streams. 

Brent describes another number called ‘About Time’ in which Brigid, the goddess of fire, dances around Cailleach, the goddess of winter, their movements punctuated by the sounds of a ticking clock. “She’s dancing around the winter, which is symbolic of the fire melting the ice. The ice movements are very sharp and very quick, lots of heavy shoe, lots of trebling. Whereas the goddess of fire is in her ballet shoes, it’s more flowy,” he says.

TARA’s soundtrack also contributes to this rhythmic renaissance. Several numbers in the show feature traditional Irish folk tunes, including tracks from Talisk, the chart-topping Scottish trad band known for their enthralling music and infectious on-stage enthusiasm. The focal point of the show’s musical identity, however, is trad electronica, an innovative synergy of classic Irish music and modern beats. 

Several of the songs were provided by the Scottish electronic band Valtos, and Brent describes the complexities of working with this type of music, as each track would have three to four layers. “You might have a bass beat, you might have a melody, you might have a rhythm track with some synth through it, some vocals or whatever it might be,” he says. “Deciding what layer you’re going to choreograph which character to, or which part, was probably the hardest thing to do.”

Another defining component of TARA’s vibrant texture is projections of news footage, including newspaper clippings, TikToks, and television broadcasts. Tyler explains that they wanted to help tell the story with modern multimedia that audiences would not only be able to recognise, but also relate to. It all comes down to evoking emotion and fostering a critical global dialogue through the power of music and dance. “We wanted to make a difference,” Tyler says. “We wanted to make people feel things and continue those important conversations after the show ended.”

The TARA team brought all of these elements to the stage for the first time for their conceptual showcase back in October 2023, later using the footage to create an extended teaser for the show. You’re immediately immersed in TARA’s provocative storytelling. News sound bites from around the world document rising sea levels, wildfires, and political instability, their messages underscored by haunting chanting and vocalising.

Each clip is paired with the corresponding element and goddess, whose intense gazes penetrate beyond the screen. What follows is an explosion of colour, sound, and movement. As the goddesses raise their weapons and conquer the stage, we get snippets of the hybrid choreography, glimpses of the alluring costumes and makeup, and flashes of other fun surprises, like jam sessions, masked villains, and even roller skates. TARA’s electric energy transcends the boundaries of conventional Irish dance performance. It’s ethereal, but with an edge.

Still buzzing from the success of the showcase, the TARA team are heading into development by May of this year, meeting with expert designers to turn the show into a full-scale production. This comes at an exciting time for Pace Live, as they have just announced A Taste Of Ireland’s Off-Broadway New York premiere at the Sheen Center’s Loreto Theatre this March. 

After staging some local performances of TARA in Sydney or Melbourne in June, Brent shares that they are also in discussions for a potential run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. This will lead into their US debut in the latter half of 2024 starting in September and into January of 2025, followed by a full year of touring throughout 2025 and 2026. This is only just the beginning of TARA, and we can’t wait to see the goddesses take their reign.

Keep up with updates from TARA on Instagram.

Photography: Courtesy of ‘TARA – The Show’
Design: Colleen Falco
Words: Siobhan Cooney
Editor-In-Chief: Hollie Geraghty
Social Media: Käri Barile