There isn't a tutu in sight. No-one does even a demiplie. It's supposed to be a dancers' gig but do we see dancing? Excess, drink, frites and canapees, yes. Tippie-toes, no. Aoife Ni Dhochartaigh and Becky Reilly, two young dancers enjoying the party, are unapologetic about this bacchanalian soiree. They do usually live purely and stretch zealously, don't they? "Absolutely," they both trill. "Dancers indulge in all the vices," says John Scott, master of this evening's entertainment. "There are some pure-living dancers somewhere," he says, scanning the room. His eyes light on Chris Nash, a photographer who has worked with Scott to produce a series of giant images called Off The Wall, which will have been screened in Temple Bar at this stage (yesterday and on Thursday) with the aim of challenging audiences and highlighting dance as the art form of the millennium. Does Nash dance? "Eh, I dance down in the clubs," says the Londoner.
Finally we meet a woman we know can pirouette. Mariam Ribon, from Burgos in Spain, lives and works in Dublin's College of Dance. This is the star of the giant images in Off The Wall. Is she nude in those images, we wonder? No, there's no nudity, Scott assures us quickly. What a relief. She's wearing flesh-coloured underwear, he explains. Mr Pussy, aka Alan Amsby, is relieved to hear this. "I know how that feels, but it's the price of art," he says. But he'll say no more. "It's a trade secret," he whispers. In among the trays of mussels and meat-balls are Loughlin Deegan, Rough Magic Theatre Company manager, and Gilly Clarke, administrator of Loose Canon Theatre Company. Yes, there's great camaraderie between the various theatre companies, they say. Lynne Parker, artistic director of Rough Magic, is here too, just back from the Royal Shakespeare Company. Derek Chapman, actor and director, is also here enjoying the gig. Singer Jenny Wren, who will be performing in July at the Isaac Butt venue, opposite Bus Aras, has come along with Simon McWilliams, proprietor of Simon's (Coffee) Place on South Great Georges' Street.
Dublin's Lord Mayor, Mary Freehill, welcomes Off The Wall, which is the latest production from the Just Modern Dance Theatre. It's a further "widening out" of their craft, she says. The exploration of movement is "tied in to psychological freedom, it's connected to how we think". So, watch out for Scott's company, which is expected to tour to Cork and Galway later in the year. In the meantime, they'll be heading for Bulgaria in June.