Natalie MacMaster is undoubtedly proud of her heritage. Hailing from the Eastern Canadian island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, MacMaster has forged a career out of melding the native traditional music of her home with a few modern trappings. Pulled from traditional Canadian square dances, filled with Scottish and Gaelic foundations and infused with touches of American folk, country and jazz, she described it best as "music to dance to and have a hoot."

So, it was no surprise that her concert at the Overture Center Wednesday night served as a musical travelogue, history lesson and folk dance festival.

A fireball of energy with a fiddle in her hand, MacMaster rarely stopped her percussive step-dancing throughout the 2�-hour set.

Backed by a talented five-piece band, most of the songs quickly sprung to life, before venturing into new directions.

"Flea as a Bird," a Scottish clog, was accented by JD Blair's jazzy drum interlude. Virtuosic 13-year-old cellist Nathaniel Smith drove "Volcanic Jig" from its mournful center into an angry dirge that was soon accented by a staccato response from MacMaster's fiddle. The slower "Josefin's Waltz" displayed the rich tone of her instrument. As the band began "G Medley," MacMaster prompted the three-quarter capacity audience to move, saying, "Don't worry about etiquette. This is a beautiful theater, but it needs to be shook up a bit." As she played, she danced across the stage, twirling and whooping in time.

Throughout the evening MacMaster was a gracious host. It was almost as if she was welcoming the crowd into her living room, as she spun tales about her family and her own musical path on the Canadian island.

When she asked if anyone else was from Cape Breton, one fan shouted out that she had honeymooned in the island's small town of Mabou.

"Well, then I know where you stayed," MacMaster slyly replied. "Because, there is only one place there."

After an intermission, multi-instrumentalist Matt MacIsaac performed an intensely rhythmic bagpipe piece before MacMaster took the stage by herself for the traditional "Tullochgorum" - a piece that featured her fastest and most intricate fiddling of the night.

"Madness" was a musical amalgamation highlighting the diverse skill sets of the band members.

At the end of the set, "Reel of Tulloch" roused the clapping crowd to its feet and found MacMaster removing her tap shoes to mix a few Moonwalking moves into her energetic highland steps.