Phaedrus Productions was asked to create a video back-drop for the McConnell School of Dance’s performance division’s production of the “The Legend of the Tuatha Dé Danann”.

“The Legend of the Tuatha Dé Danann” depicts the people of the goddess Danu, a divine race, with mortal kings and heroes of the distant past. The production is set at Newgrange and the Hill of Tara, whose ancient stone monuments and sacred mounds were the sites where the High Kings ruled Inis Fáil (Ireland). In this exhilarating production, the Tuatha Dé Danann battle the Fir Bolg, the Fomonians, and the Milesians. The Tuatha Dé Danann’s primeval struggles are parallel to those faced in contemporary times with stories of love, war, peace and reconciliation. In the tradition of “Riverdance” and “Lord of the Dance”, “The Legend of the Tuatha Dé Danann” showcases the most exciting and modern styles of Irish dance and drama. “The Legend of the Tuatha Dé Danann” blends mythology, tradition, and Irish history in this dynamic 40 minute production.

Phaedrus Productions was present during many of the practices and was provided the script, notes, and images to start the process of creating the video back-drop. I took that info and during the next two weeks (with some very late nights!) various images and video clips were gathered, edited and created into the 15 scenes of the performance. I basically dynamically painted the set for each scene.

Various techniques were used. Some scenes needed an appropriate landscape with a dynamic sky clip of moving clouds. While others consumed many hours of setup when many images and clips combined. One of the more complicated was for a scene where the people danced around a cauldron to use magic to hide the island. Several layers of images and clips were used to build the cauldron with flames coming out of it. Then the background was the shore of the Giants Causeway, with the sea splashing in the back ground, and clouds rolling behind. Then the ships that were coming towards the island were added, and finally the fog that was magically created, slowly appeared.

During the four nights the performance played, I ran the video backdrop which included the soundtrack. The show was well received and the dancers enjoyed a standing ovation on the final sold out night.