Dancers lift Spirit of Ireland> Orono show combines song, steps and poetry

The Irish sing their own kind of blues. They step to their own reeling rhythms and write their own poignant stories about the life of a people and a land as old as time. You can hear the calls of the wild in the pipes, see the flights of the spirit in the fawnish dances, and read of an Ireland that is both joyful and sad, free and contained.

That is, at least, the thought behind The Spirit of Ireland, a traveling show of musicians, dancers and narration presented Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts by the RTE — Radio Telefis Eireann — Irish National Radio Orchestra. The 47-piece orchestra plus six step dancers, a uilleann piper and a poetry-reciting emcee are on a second North American tour at a time when Irish culture is receiving revived attention in this country because of the popularity of the step-dancing extravaganza, “Riverdance.”

Called the RTE Concert Orchestra back in Dublin, where it was formed in 1948, this group gave a varied presentation that felt a little like a bubbling pops concert and a lot like a long ride (nearly three hours) in an elevator. That is to say, the program included overorchestrated arrangements of traditional Irish tunes such as “Come Dance With Me in Ireland” as well as newer pieces by contemporary Irish composers.

The less than reverent observer might say the concert had more in common with a Disney film score than with the spirit of Ireland. Such uplifting tunes can be a strain to absorb after about 20 minutes. Yet the elegant and explosive step dancing — which has something in common with tap and something oddly in common with frolicsome forest creatures — displayed remarkable discipline and stunning fluidity in every joint below the waistline.

Mind you, these young dancers were no Gregory O’Hines (as one audience member commented). Nor were they the caliber of those in Bill Whelan’s “Riverdance,” a segment of which they performed. On the other hand, they were the most exhilarating aspect of the event. The real trick to step dancing is to move with such effortlessness and lightness that it looks as if it feels good to do. That could certainly be said of these dancers.

Soprano Meav Ni Mhaolchatha sang from Whelan’s score with a sweet clarity that delivered the sincerity, depth and character missing from much of the instrumental work. Earlier in the program, she gave gentle, straightforward and keen presentations of “Siul a Ghra” (an unaccompanied air), “The Last Rose of Summer” and “Danny Boy.”

The show, hosted by Irish actor Bill Golding, who recited poetry and told jokes about Texans, never quite slipped into corniness. But it never quite graduated from sentimentality, either. To some of the green-clad audience members, that was just fine. To others, it wasn’t quite as charming as the road rising up to meet you.