''Riverdance'' is a

theatrical Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

show that consists mainly of

traditional Irish music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the

Eurovision Song Contest 1994 The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "In Your Eyes" by Niamh Kavanagh. It was the first time that any countr ...

, featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler,

Michael Flatley Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958) is an Irish-American dancer. He became known for Irish dance shows '' Riverdance'', '' Lord of the Dance'', '' Feet of Flames'', and '' Celtic Tiger Live''. Flatley's shows have played to more than 60 mi ...

and the vocal ensemble

Anúna Anúna (stylized in all caps) is a vocal ensemble formed in Ireland in 1987 by Irish composer Michael McGlynn under the name An Uaithne. Taking the current name in 1991,Allmusic Biography/ref> the group has recorded 18 albums and achieved a ...

. Shortly afterwards, husband and wife production team John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded it into a stage show, which opened in Dublin on 9 February 1995. Since then, the show has visited over 450 venues worldwide and been seen by over 25 million people, making it one of the most successful dance productions in the world.

Background

''Riverdance'' is rooted in a three-part suite of baroque-influenced traditional music called ''Timedance''. ''Timedance'' was composed, recorded and performed for the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted by Ireland. At the time, Bill Whelan and

Dónal Lunny Dónal Lunny (born 10 March 1947) is an Irish folk musician and producer. He plays left-handed guitar and bouzouki, as well as keyboards and bodhrán. As a founding member of popular bands Planxty, The Bothy Band, Moving Hearts, Coolfin, Mozai ...

composed the music, augmenting the Irish folk band

Planxty Planxty were an Irish folk music band formed in January 1972, consisting initially of Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guit ...

with a rock rhythm section of electric bass and drums and a four-piece horn section. The piece was performed, with accompanying ballet dancers, during the interval of the contest, and later released as a Planxty single. Whelan had also produced ''

EastWind ''EastWind'' is an album by Andy Irvine and Davy Spillane, showcasing a fusion of Irish folk music with traditional Bulgarian and Macedonian music. Produced by Irvine and Bill Whelan, who also contributed keyboards and piano, it was widely re ...

'', a 1992 album by Planxty member Andy Irvine with

Davy Spillane Davy Spillane (born 1959 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish musician, songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle. Biography Irish music At the age of 12, Spillane started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him ...

, which fused Irish and Balkan folk music and influenced the genesis of " Riverdance". Thirteen years later, Whelan was invited to do the intermission piece for another Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, and composed "Riverdance". In a book about Planxty (''The Humours of Planxty'', by Leagues O'Toole), Whelan says, "It was no mistake of mine to call it Riverdance because it connected absolutely to Timedance".

History

Eurovision performance and aftermath of interval act (1994)

''Riverdance'' was first performed during the seven-minute interval of the

at the Point Theatre in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

on 30 April 1994. The performance was transmitted to an estimated 300 million viewers worldwide and earned a

standing ovation A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. In Ancient Rome returning military commanders (such as Marcus Licinius Crassus a ...

from the packed theatre of 4,000 people. The performance is often considered the most well-known interval act in Eurovision history. Riverdance was later performed as an interval act at both the '' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'' (2005) and '' Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' (2015) anniversary events. As one report put it, lead dancers

and Jean Butler "transformed the previously chaste and reserved traditional dance form into something else entirely", and after witnessing the initial enthusiasm for the performance in Ireland, husband and wife production team Moya Doherty and John McColgan decided to invest over $1 million into producing a full-length show. The song "Riverdance" was released as a single featuring

and the

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

Concert Orchestra and entered the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

at No. 1 right after the Eurovision debut, staying there for 18 weeks—the longest amount of time a song has ever topped the Irish chart. It is currently the second highest-selling single of all time in Ireland, behind only

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

's 1997 double A-side "

Candle in the Wind 1997 "Candle in the Wind 1997", also known as "Goodbye England's Rose" and "Candle in the Wind '97", is a song by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, a re-written and re-recorded version of their 1973 song "Candle in the Wind". ...

"/"

Something About the Way You Look Tonight "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" is a song by English musician Elton John, taken from his 25th studio album, '' The Big Picture''. It was written by John and Bernie Taupin, and produced by Chris Thomas. It was released as the album' ...

". On 11 August 1994, in response to the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

of May/June 1994, the RTÉ video 'Riverdance for Rwanda' was launched to help raise money for Irish relief agencies in Rwanda. The video raised $500,000 for the cause and sold 100,000 copies in a week. In November 1994, Riverdance, the original seven-minute version, was invited to perform in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

at the prestigious

Royal Variety Performance The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal ...

in the presence of

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

. The act, which took place on 28 November at

Dominion Theatre The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre and former cinema on Tottenham Court Road, close to St Giles Circus and Centre Point, in the London Borough of Camden. Planned as primarily a musical theatre, it opened in 1929, but the following year ...

, was introduced on stage by Sir

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 week ...

. Earlier that month, tickets went on sale for "Riverdance: The Show", exceeding IR£1million in three weeks.

Dublin and London (February–July 1995)

"Riverdance: The Show" opened at the Point Theatre in

on 9 February 1995. The five-week run was sold out within three days of the tickets going on sale, with tickets reaching record sales of over 120,000. Behind Doherty and McColgan, and composer Bill Whelan, the show starred Flatley and Butler, and featured many of the original Eurovision dance troupe. In April 1995, the video of the show was released in Ireland and went straight to No. 1 in the Irish charts. On 8 May 1995, Riverdance performed at the Royal Gala 50th Anniversary of

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

celebrations at the special invitation of Prince Charles. The show attracted a television audience of 20 million, introducing Riverdance to a whole new set of fans. On 5 June 1995, the video of "Riverdance: The Show" was released in the UK and went straight to the No. 2 position in the UK charts, moving to No. 1 the following week, and holding the No. 1 or No. 2 positions for the next seven months, becoming the all-time best-selling music video in the UK. A day later, Riverdance opened at

The Apollo The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in Ne ...

in London for a sell-out four-week run. On 17 July 1995, Riverdance performed at London's

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including perform ...

in the presence of

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was th ...

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, and

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

. Later that month, Riverdance returned, by popular demand, to the Point Theatre for a six-week sell-out run.

Flatley's departure and second London run (October 1995)

Despite the show's growing success, cracks were beginning to appear in the relationship between the producers and lead dancer

. Flatley had choreographed many of the numbers in the multicultural spectacle, but after the show took off, the two parties clashed over salary and royalty fees. At the end of September 1995, a contract dispute arose between Flatley and Riverdance. On 29 September, days before the show was due to reopen for a second sell-out run at The Apollo, Flatley's TV appearances suddenly became focused on rumours that he was about to walk out. Flatley claimed the dispute had nothing to do with money, but rather creative control of his own choreography. No contract was ever signed—despite media reports indicating he had—because Flatley and his management would not agree to terms. Negotiations reached a stalemate by 2 October, and with 21 hours to go before the show's opening, Doherty opted to sack her star, replacing him with Colin Dunne, nine-times World Irish Dancing Champion. Dunne, who had only just joined the cast and creative team of Riverdance, was initially invited to choreograph and perform the newly commissioned number "Trading Taps" with Tarik Winston. To make matters worse for the producers, Jean Butler turned up days before opening night with her leg in a cast and on crutches, and was unable to perform. As a result, Dunne paired up with original Eurovision troupe member Eileen Martin for the opening night, as they looked to salvage the show and make a name for themselves. On 3 October, Riverdance opened for another six-week sell-out run at The Apollo. By overwhelming public demand, the run was extended twice, making a box office record of 151 sold-out shows at the venue. During this extended period, Riverdance returned to the

, where they performed Dunne's choreographed piece "Trading Taps" in the presence of Queen Elizabeth and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

on 20 November 1995.

New York City (March 1996)

Following phenomenal success in Dublin and London in 1995, Riverdance travelled to the United States for the first time in March 1996. On 13 March, the show opened at the legendary

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for ...

for the first of eight sold-out performances over five days. Costing about $2 million to bring the show from Ireland, Riverdance broke even in its first New York outing.

Continued success in Ireland and London (March–May 1996)

After returning to Ireland and incurring successful runs in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

and

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Riverdance made their way back to The Apollo in May 1996 for a three and a half month run; the show saw advance box office sales in excess of GB£5m. The show was later extended until the middle of January 1997.

US tour (October 1996 – February 1997)

On 2 October 1996, Riverdance kicked off its US tour at Radio City Music Hall, christening their new US company the Lee (after Cork's main river), while the company continuing to perform in the UK was dubbed the Liffey (after Dublin's main river). After 23 performances at Radio City between 2 October and 20 October, the Lee company moved on to Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston, as well as Detroit and Minneapolis.

Cast departures

A number of cast departures occurred following the halcyon period of early 1996. In September 1996,

left the show, which was followed swiftly by Jean Butler's departure in January 1997. Then in June 1998, Colin Dunne left Riverdance to begin work on a new project with Butler – '' Dancing on Dangerous Ground''.

Early 2000s

In March 2000, the show moved to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

Gershwin Theatre The Gershwin Theatre (originally the Uris Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 222 West 51st Street, on the second floor of the Paramount Plaza office building, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Opened in 1972, it is operat ...

and featured lead dancers Pat Roddy and Eileen Martin of the Shannon company, and singers Brian Kennedy and

Tsidii Le Loka Tsidii Le Loka-Lupindo (born April 3, 1968, in Lesotho) is an actress, vocalist and composer from South Africa and The Kingdom of Lesotho. She is best known for originating the role of Rafiki in the original Broadway production of Disney's stage m ...

. Colin Dunne briefly returned to Riverdance in July 2002 to perform his original choreographed piece "Trading Taps" at New York City's One World Jam at Radio City Music Hall. In June 2003, Breandán de Gallaí and Joanne Doyle featured as the lead dancers at the Opening Ceremony of the

2003 Special Olympics ) , Nations participating = 166 , Athletes participating = , Events = 23 sports , Opening ceremony = , Closing ceremony = , Officially opened by = Mary McAleese and Nelson Mandela , Torch Lighter ...

in Dublin. The Opening Ceremony performance also featured the longest troupe line ever seen in an Irish dance show, with over 100 dancers.

Legacy

''Riverdance'' continues to be performed all over the world, in a diminished format and in smaller venues. Current productions are geared towards smaller theatres, whereas past productions have been performed in large theatres and arenas. Sets have therefore been simplified and some numbers contain fewer performers than in past productions (such as those seen on the Live from New York City (1996) and Live from Geneva (2002) DVDs). Each production company is named after an Irish river: Liffey, Lee, Lagan, Avoca, Shannon, Boyne, Corrib, Foyle, Moy and Bann. On 21 July 2013, a record was set when a line of 1,693 dancers from 44 countries danced to ''Riverdance'' on a bridge overlooking the River Liffey, led by Jean Butler and Padraic Moyles.

Animated film

In February 2020, an animated feature film inspired by Riverdance was announced, titled '' Riverdance: The Animated Adventure''. The film is being produced by River Productions and

Aniventure __NOTOC__ Aniventure is a British content creation and intellectual property company based in London and set up in 2013 to produce family-oriented feature animation. Aniventure works with production partners to take feature film concepts fr ...

, and is being created by visual effects and animation studio Cinesite, in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

. In September 2020, it was announced that

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 ('' GoldenEye'', '' Tomorro ...

, Lilly Singh,

Jermaine Fowler Jermaine Fowler is an American actor, comedian, producer and writer. He is perhaps best known for his role as King Akeem Joffer's long-lost son Lavelle Junson in the 2021 romantic comedy film ''Coming 2 America'' and Franco Wicks on the CBS sit ...

, Pauline McLynn, Aisling Bea, John Kavanagh and Brendan Gleeson would feature as voice actors in the film. It was announced that the film will be premiering on 28 May 2021 exclusively on Sky Cinema.

Dance numbers and songs performed

Notable lead dancers

* Jean Butler * Colin Dunne * Breandán de Gallaí * Joanne Doyle * Kevin McCormack

Other notable dancers

* María Pagés (flamenco dancer)

Musicians

In the spirit of traditional sessions, the musicians play on stage without sheet music. *

- vocal ensemble *Cormac Breatnach -

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria ...

Máire Breatnach Máire Breatnach is an Irish fiddle, violin and viola player. She also sings in Irish on some of her albums. Since the early 1990s, she has recorded five solo albums, participated in many collaborations, and developed didactic material for chil ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...

* Ronan Browne -

uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from thei ...

*Robbie Casserly - bass, drums *Áine Uí Cheallaigh - vocals *

Anthony Drennan Anthony "Anto" Drennan (born on 1 November 1958) is an English-born Irish guitarist noted for his involvement with the Corrs, Genesis and Mike + the Mechanics among others. Drennan is from a musical Irish family and was born in Luton, England ...

- guitar *Noel Eccles - percussion *Kenneth Edge - soprano sax *Juan Reina Gonzalez -

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

*Tom Hayes -

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or oth ...

spoons Spoons may refer to: * Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup * Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons Film and TV * ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show *Spoons, a minor character from ''The Sopranos'' ...

Eileen Ivers Eileen Ivers (born July 13, 1965) is an American fiddler. Ivers was born in New York City of Irish-born parents, grew up in the Bronx and attended St. Barnabas High School. She spent summers in Ireland and took up the fiddle at the age of ni ...

- fiddle * Declan Masterson - uilleann pipes, low whistle *Des Moore - acoustic guitar *

Máirtín O'Connor Máirtín O'Connor is an Irish button accordionist from Galway, Ireland, who began playing at the age of nine, and whose career has seen him as a member of many traditional music groups that include Skylark, Midnight Well, De Dannan, and T ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

*Prionsias O'Duinn - conductor * Michael McGlynn - choral director *David Hayes - conductor, piano *Eoghan O'Neill - bass guitar *Nikola Parov - gadulka,

kaval The kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout the Balkans (in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Southern Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Northern Greece, and elsewhere) and Anatolia (including Turkey and Armenia). The k ...

*Desi Reynolds - drums,

tom-tom A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though floor toms can go as l ...

* Rafael Riqueni - guitar *

- uilleann pipes, tin whistle

Recordings

CD

*'' Riverdance: Music from the Show'' (1995) *''Riverdance 25th Anniversary: Music from the Show'' (2019)

VHS

*''Riverdance: The Show'' (1995)

DVD

*''Riverdance: A Journey'' (1996) *''Riverdance: Live From New York City'' (1996) *''Riverdance: Live From Geneva'' (2002) *''Riverdance: The Documentary 10 Years'' (2005) *''The Best Of Riverdance'' (2005) *''Riverdance: Live From Beijing'' (2010) *''Riverdance: The Collection'' DVD Set(2010) *''Riverdance 25 Anniversary Show: Live In Dublin'' (2020)

References

External links

Official website''Finale of original 'Riverdance The Show', 9 February 1995''
at journalofmusic.com
''Other productions: Riverdance''
List of ''Riverdance'' DVDs at tyroneproductions.ie
''Riverdance 20 Years'', 2014 Press Information PDF
at forumcopenhagen.dk
The Insiders, the Riverdance story
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

{{Authority control 1981 compositions 1994 in Irish television 1995 in theatre Eurovision Song Contest 1981 Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Irish dance Irish stepdance Eurovision Song Contest 1994 Flamenco Tap dance