RIVERDANCE – THE 25th ANNIVERSARY SHOW: LIVE IN DUBLIN
Where were you on the night of 30 April 1994? Chances are, like millions of others, you were watching the Eurovision Song Contest live from Dublin. No one remembers the winning song;* everyone remembers the interval act, seven minutes of explosive Irish dance choreographed to an infectious score by composer Bill Whelan. Later expanded to a full-length show, ‘Riverdance’ was the start of an international phenomenon.
Twenty-five years on, it’s still packing them in. This DVD captures an anniversary performance in Dublin in 2020. The original principals – Michael Flatley and Jean Butler – have long moved on, but they find worthy successors in lead dancers Bobby Hodges and Amy-Mae Dolan. Although the core elements are the same, it’s a new treatment. As before, there’s a vague storyline drawing on Celtic mythology and the experience of Irish immigrants to the New World. However, the thematic connection is really in the feet. Irish traditional dance, flamenco, Russian Cossack, a balletic pas de deux, tap and breakdance: when you see these disparate styles juxtaposed, you realise they’re all dancing on common ground. A vaudevillian dance-off between the Irish settlers and three New York hipsters is a rare longueur in a show where the energy level never flags.
Between the dance scenes are musical interludes of great sophistication, some choral, some featuring soloists. I was very taken by the shifting combinations of uilleann pipes, soprano sax, fiddle and bodhran. DVD extras include interviews with the show’s creators and behind-the-scenes footage.
------------
*Ireland won the contest for the third year in a row, represented by the song 'Rock'n'Roll Kids', written by Brendan Graham and performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan.
(First published in RnR magazine.)
