The Irish dance phenomenon: Celtic crossover - includes related article on Web sites

Dance Magazine, Oct, 1997 by Jann Parry, Gary Parks

Irish dance has stepped from obscurity to claim center stage, with both Riverdance and Lord of the Dance on tour this month. What account for the breakout success of a bravura folk art once known only to a few?

Arms pinned to their sides, legs flicking, flailing, scissor-kicking, pounding like pistons, Irish dancers seem to embody a schizoid sexuality. The top half of the body refuses to acknowledge what the lower half is up to.

"One theory is that the Catholic Church forbade any form of sensual expression--except the rhythm method," says Colin Dunne, champion Irish dancer (nine world titles between the ages of nine and twenty-two) and head of the Riverdance troupe in the United States.

"Another theory is that the Irish didn't want their English oppressors to know that they were having a good time, so they kept their faces glum and their upper bodies still," he continues. "Or perhaps it was because the dancing took place in confined spaces like small bars, and you couldn't move your arms without spilling someone's drink." Whatever the reason, Dunne is happy to work within the confines of the form, while experimenting with ways of taking it further. Like Michael Flatley, whom he replaced as Riverdance's leading man in October 1995, Dunne is a choreographer as well as a performer.

Flatley parted company with Riverdance after a disagreement with its Irish producers, Moya Doherty and John McColgan. He said that they refused him artistic control; they said that the show was bigger than he was and rejected his demands for fees and royalties, amounting to some $75,000 a week, which would have made him the highest-paid dancer in the world. Riverdance has carried on successfully without him, earning more than 10 million [pounds sterling] (about $16 million) to date from box-office sales alone. Videotapes, compact discs, souvenir programs--even a Web site--have also added considerably to the enterprise's profits.

Flatley has sued the Riverdance producers, reportedly for 2 percent of the show's revenue, but the case has yet to go to court. Meanwhile, Flatley has created his own successful show, Lord of the Dance, which opened in Dublin in July 1996 and is currently touring fifteen U.S. cities through October [see the Performance Calendar] before traveling to the Far East and Australia. He, in turn, has been sued for money allegedly owed to several of his agents and collaborators.

Yet a third Irish dance spectacular, Spirit of the Dance, hopes to visit the U.S. next year. This sequin-clad show models itself on Riverdance (with which it has no connection), using similarly eclectic mix of Irish step dance, flamenco, tap, Ukrainian folk dance, and even a pointe-shoe number. Choreography is by Alan Harding, a British showbiz and television dance director. Two Spirit of the Dance troupes of thirty dancers each have performed for the past two years in English seaside resorts and middle-sized theaters that the two larger shows don't visit. Riverdance and the Lord of the Dance tour to arena-sized rock venues and major theaters, reaching deals with theater managements to avoid treading on each others' toes.

So far, at least, audiences on both sides of the Atlantic show no signs of being sated by Irish dance. Riverdance has split into two troupes, one touring Europe and the other the U.S., both performing the same show. By Christmas, the British one will be back in London for the fourth time. There are plans to set up a third troupe to tour U.S. theaters in 1998. Riverdance and Lord of the Dance have also both completed successful Australian seasons, performing to sold-out houses. Smaller, older troupes, such as Chicago's Trinity Irish Dance Company, are also enjoying success.

The extraordinary appeal of Irish dance in the closing years of this century is partly due to the skillful theatricalization of the folk dance form and its music. But it is also due to the spirit of the times. Audiences have gone crazy for percussive shows of all kinds: Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, Tap Dogs, Stomp, and the internationally touring flamenco companies of Joaquin Cortes, among others. People of all ages, not just the young, respond to high levels of energy and of noise, amplified to match the thumping rhythms of rock music. Production values are those of rock concerts, with look-at-me lighting and video effects. Dancers give attitude, borrowing stylistic devices from each other and from MTV videos. Folk art has become mainstream, overtly sexy, accessible.

The crossover happened first in world music, as modern musicians and recording technicians hybridized traditional tunes, rhythms, and instruments from different countries. Dance fusions followed, as choreographers reacted to changing musical styles. Several of the leading Irish dancers, including Flatley, Dunne, Jean Butler, and Daire Nolan, toured with the Chieftains, the popular Irish folkrock band, in the 1980s. Riverdance did not invent a new type of international Irish music and dance for the 1990s; it capitalized on what was happening already.