Reel In The Valley

A New Vision Of Step Dancing With The Stepcrew

The Stepcrew brings to the stage a blending of traditional dance genres, displaying a unique comparative progression of how some seemingly divergent styles actually compliment each other and share much of the same history with one another. During a recent phone interview, Jon Pilatzke (co-founder of The Stepcrew) brought the production's details and goals more into focus.

“It's to really compare and contrast the three styles in the show, which is the Ottawa Valley Step, the Irish Step and Modern Tap Dancing. There's a couple of numbers where we really kind of focus on showing each style back to back, in their traditional form, so you can really get a sense of, first of all, the differences of what the feet are doing; the rhythms.” Pilatzke went on to explain that, “With tap, you've got the upper body as well, with its arm movements on more of a theatrical kind of plane. Then you have the Irish, which traditionally has very little movement in the upper body and then the Ottawa Valley...which is crazy all together.”

The Stepcrew members, while fairly new to the scene, have individually distinguished themselves as veteran stage performers by sharing the stage with such world class acts such as Bowfire, Seven Nations, Cherish the Ladies and the Chieftains. Pilatzke explained how he and his brother Nathan brought the Ottawa Valley Step to the world stage.

“We did some stuff here in Toronto. We were in a musical that featured our style of dance mixed with swing dancing. As far as being on an international level, the Chieftains were definitely the first project that exposed us to that arena...and Cara (Butler) as well.” Pilatzke quickly added. “She was with the Chieftains when we joined, so she was with them a hell of a lot longer than we have been. She's also been involved with a dance production called Dancing on Dangerous Ground with her sister, Jean Butler (of Riverdance fame). Dan (Stacey) started out with a band called Seven Nations.”

Joining the Pilatzke brothers, Cara Butler and Dan Stacey on stage are three other dancers, Stephanie Cadman (Bowfire), Sarah Uddin and Joe Dwyer (both from Riverdance), who round out the ranks of The Stepcrew. Pilatzke went on to talk about how touring with the Chieftains brought international attention to their regional style of dancing.

“It was quite something when Nathan and I started touring with the Chieftains, just to see how our little, remote style of dance could generate such a reaction from an international audiences, like in Japan and all of these exotic places that you would never really think would be receptive to what we do. It's just one of those things that never really fails, and now to have a whole show of that stuff.” Pilatzke said, almost overwhelmed. He then went on to describe the new show, comparing it to as opposed to being a part of another groups production. “The new show is such a high energy show. It's like ninety minutes of the most intense workout for us. We're so used to getting up for like three or four minutes, then sitting out for three or four numbers to catch your breath. This is like a marathon.”

Along with the dancers, the show features some of the top musicians and vocalists, which adds a deeply textured layer to the performance. I was curious whether or not the musicians played in a strictly Celtic tradition or whether they followed the cues from the dancers, taking up a more jazzier sound.

“I would say the music, overall, tends to be Celtic in nature. We definitely go towards more of a jazzier sound on a couple of numbers when the tappers take the limelight.” Pilatzke added that, “Three of us are Irish fiddlers, so we can definitely handle the Irish side for the Irish stepping. All the Ottawa Valley dancing has always been traditionally done to...it's not that far of from Irish music, it just sounds a little more...country-ish. Unfortunately there's no better word.”
The Stepcrew's style seems to be a natural progression from what we here in America have been inundated with in previous years, namely: Riverdance.

“It's funny to hear how people seem to like the more expressive, free-form style that we have. I think that, as you said, they were inundated with what people call Riverdancing...it's become the name of the style.” Pilatzke then said, “Audiences are like, 'Oh! It's so great to see people moving their arms and having so much fun with smiles on their faces.'”

The Stepcrew will take the stage at Victoria Theatre as part of Cityfolk's Celtic Series on November 7th at 8:00pm. Tickets range from $21 to $36. A pre-show whiskey tasting event will be held at the Dublin Pub as well as a post party with music by Mothergrove. Just show your tickets for admission to these pre and post events. To purchase tickets, you can call the Cityfolk Box Office at 937-496-3863 or visit them at 126 N. Main St., Suite. 220. You can also go to cityfolk.tix.com and purchase your tickets online.

(This article appeared in the November 4th, 209 issue of the Dayton City Paper. This is the article as it was originally written.)