''Riverdance'' is a

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

show that consists mainly of

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

and

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler, Michael Flatley and the vocal ensemble Anúna. Shortly afterwards, husband and wife production team John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded it into a stage show, which opened in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

on 9 February 1995. As of 2025, the show continues to tour the world.

Background

Riverdance is rooted in a three-part suite of baroque-influenced traditional music called ''Timedance''. The suite was composed, recorded and performed for the Eurovision Song Contest 1981, which was held in Ireland. At the time, Bill Whelan and Dónal Lunny composed the music, augmenting the Irish folk band Planxty with a rock rhythm section of electric bass and drums and a four-piece horn section. The piece was performed, with accompanying dancers from Dublin City Ballet, during the interval of the contest, and later released as a Planxty single. Whelan had also produced '' EastWind'', a 1992 album by Planxty member Andy Irvine with Davy Spillane, which fused Irish and Balkan folk music and influenced the genesis of " Riverdance". After composing "Riverdance", Whelan said, "It was no mistake of mine to call it Riverdance because it connected absolutely to Timedance".

History

1994

Riverdance was first performed during the seven-minute interval of the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 at the Point Theatre in

on 30 April 1994. The performance was transmitted to an estimated 300 million viewers worldwide and earned a standing ovation. The performance is often considered the most well-known interval act in Eurovision history and is credited with transforming Irish dance from a chaste and reserved traditional dance form into a new, modern form. The original seven-minute version was invited to perform at Dominion Theatre in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

at the Royal Variety Performance in the presence of Prince Charles in November 1994. The song "Riverdance", featuring Anúna and the

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

Concert Orchestra, was released as a single and subsequently topped 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 ...

for a record-setting 18 weeks. As of 2010, it was still 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, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

's 1997 double A-side " Candle in the Wind 1997"/"

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 (Elton John album), The Big Picture''. It was written by John and Bernie Taupin, and produced by Chris Tho ...

1995

After witnessing the initial enthusiasm for the interval act performance in Ireland, husband and wife production team John McColgan and Moya Doherty invested over $1 million into producing a full-length show. Tickets for the show were released for a five-week run and sold out within three days of going on sale. "Riverdance: The Show" opened at the Point Theatre in Dublin on 9 February 1995. The show starred lead dancers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler. The video of the show topped the Irish and UK charts in 1995. The show moved to London in June 1995, where it had a sell-out four-week run at The Apollo. During its time in London, 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; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

celebrations at the invitation of Prince Charles and at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) 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 pe ...

in the presence of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. The show returned to the Point Theatre in July 1995 for a sell-out six-week run. The show's growing success coincided with lead dancer Michael Flatley clashing with the producers over salary and royalty fees. By early October 1995, a contract dispute over creative control led to Riverdance parting ways with Flatley on the eve of reopening for a second sell-out run at The Apollo. He was replaced by Colin Dunne. At the same time, female lead Jean Butler was unable to perform due to an injury. As a result, Dunne paired up with Eileen Martin for the opening night. The initial six weeks at The Apollo was extended twice. During this extended period, Riverdance returned to the Royal Variety Performance at Dominion Theatre.

1996–1998

Riverdance travelled to the United States for the first time in March 1996. On 13 March, the show opened at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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. Upon returning from New York, Riverdance went on to have another notable extended run at The Apollo between May 1996 and January 1997. By late 1996, Riverdance had created separate companies in order to tour multiple cities at the same time. The Lee company began a U.S. tour in October 1996. Riverdance toured Australia for the first time in 1997. In 1997, Bill Whelan received a Best Musical Show Album

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for his recording of 'Riverdance'. A number of notable cast departures occurred around this time, with Anúna leaving in September 1996; Butler leaving in January 1997; and Dunne leaving in June 1998.

Early 2000s

In 2000, Riverdance performed on Broadway in New York at the Gershwin Theatre. In 2003, Riverdance featured at the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics in Dublin and toured China for the first time.

Legacy

In 2020, Riverdance's 25th Anniversary show began touring. As of 2023, Riverdance has played more than 15,000 performances across 49 countries and six continents. The show has been seen live by more than 30 million people. In 2021, an animated feature film titled '' Riverdance: The Animated Adventure'' was released.

Dance numbers and songs performed

Notable lead dancers

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

Other notable dancers

* María Pagés (flamenco dancer) * Michael and Matthew Gardiner (troupe dancers)

Musicians

In the spirit of traditional sessions, the musicians play on stage without sheet music. * Anúna - vocal ensemble * Máire Breatnach -

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

* Ronan Browne - uilleann pipes * Anthony Drennan - guitar *

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 nin ...

- fiddle * Declan Masterson - uilleann pipes, low whistle * Katie McMahon - vocals * Máirtín O'Connor -

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"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 Reed (mou ...

* Michael McGlynn - choral director * Rafael Riqueni - guitar * Davy Spillane - 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 websiteRiverdance
at tyroneproductions.ie
The Insiders, the Riverdance story (2014)
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{Authority control 1981 compositions 1994 in Irish television 1995 in theatre Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Irish dance Irish stepdance Eurovision Song Contest 1994 Flamenco Tap dance 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music