I wanted to know how many of you have seen Riverdance, or any like performances, and what was your favorite part about it?
I saw it on October 24th in the U S, and it was wonderful! My favorite was the music, then the dancing, then the lighting.
I surprisingly loved the Ullian Pipes more than I thought I would…they were very wonderful and I thought I could sit for hours and listen to this guy playing
who was “this guy” playing?
I LOVE Riverdance!!! Unfortunately, I’ve never seen it live— only videos. SOMEDAY!! I don’t even know what my favorite part was… I too, love the pipes… and the low whistle stuff… and I love it whenever they actually show the musicians on the video! I just love looking at all the different instruments and trying to figure them out. Riverdance was definitely one of the things that inspired me to get into whistle music.
I saw Riverdance and it too inspired me to get into the whistle. My favorite part was the dancing and the music. I loved the pipes and the fiddle. The best musical show I’ve ever seen. I would go again.
I have only seen the video, but between anything Jean Butler does on stage (or off for that matter) and Davy Spillane playing the intro on the LowWhistle and the number on the Uilleann Pipes, I was captivated.
As for the dancer Jean Butler, she’s the most beautiful woman on the planet, sorry JessieK, well, her and Liv Tyler and Gillian Anderson from X-Files, oh, and my wife of course (in case she reads this).
I have rewound the tape to hear the slow air on the uilleann Pipes so many times the tape is white, gotta get a DVD. Have to rewind it through Flatly strutting and puffing around.
Riverdance re-kindled my interest in Celtic and Irish Tradional music. Davy Spillane is one incredible piper. BTW Tommy Hayes is recognizable on the bandstand with that black hat of his. Great bodhran player.
Thom Larson at WhistleShop has a book of the music of RD for the whistle. Great book and acc. CD. I don’t remember the whistle player’s name off the top of my head, but he’s wonderful. Get that book and CD.
Whew, I’m outta breath…
Timmy
[ This Message was edited by: TnWhistler on 2002-11-04 14:54 ]
I loved it more than Cats. I want to see it again and again.
'70s Weekender
I love Riverdance!!! The music is WONDERFUL, and the choreography of the dancing is phenomenal! That was the reason I took up Irish Dance, which eventually led to my Whistle obsession… 
Great stuff!
Saw it at the local University auditorium last winter. I’d seen the video numerous times before that, but I have to say the live performance was so much more enthralling.
Every time I see it, I’m more and more enthralled by the theme or story line. I’ve known of my Irish great-great-grandfather for some time, but watching the stylized story of the Celts and the Irish migration to America actually gave me this odd feeling of ‘belonging’ that I never felt before. The slow dancing and slow music, and for some reason the voice-over, really touch me more than the step-dancing.
Supposedly there’s a DVD in the works, with the updated show and background stuff, which I’m really looking forward to.
Too bad the music and taps are almost all prerecorded. :roll:
Harry Bradley told a good story in the thesession.org forum about a show Riverdance did in Japan where they used the wrong sort of wax on the dance floor and made it super slippery. The music roared in fanfare for the grand entrance at the beginning of the show, out came the dancers, and almost every last one of them fell on their arses… while the taps continued!!
When the Japanese audience figured out what was going on they were none too happy, to say the least.
Best,
Chris
P.S. - Thanks Harry, for the good story and better music.
Humph! I knew Michael Flatley before he got his first artists grant from the Illinois Arts Council! Gaaa! I love name dropping!
Anna,
Is that supposed to be something to be proud of?
Chris
I much prefer Joanie Madden’s send-up of Flatley to the real thing
Can somebody please explain why they don’t use their arms in Irish dancing? I sort of envision ancient times with captive women having their hands tied to their sides with coils of rope and being forced to dance, but that can’t be right…
On 2002-11-05 17:18, curioso wrote:
Can somebody please explain why they don’t use their arms in Irish dancing? I sort of envision ancient times with captive women having their hands tied to their sides with coils of rope and being forced to dance, but that can’t be right…
Maybe not, but oddly alluring nonetheless! 
Here’s a ’ I remember when story…"
Was a student at Augusta’s Irish week in 1990- Jean Butler was teaching stepdance with Donny Golden…At one of the wilder sessions she took off dancing with no bra on. I thought all of the men in the room were going to spontaeneously combust or have massive coronaries. All of us women were just very very very jealous.
I will look at the program tomorrow and mention a few of the performers’ names.
I have been wanting to take a dance class…at least clogging, where it would possibly teach me something about it. Every time the classes are offered, it’s a night when I have to work or have a class.
Thanks to the person who said to get the Riverdance Cd and whistle music from someone who is from the WhistleShop! I will have to look into that…did you see that, Cees?
I bought the music book from Riverdance. The song, “The Russian Dervish,” in 15/16 meter, was one song that took a while to figure out, but just play 16th notes as the beat and forget about the barlines.
About “not moving the arms” - the dance you see on Riverdance is a relatively modern style developed for/out of competitions.
The old style, sean nos (that’s redundant), dancing does use the arms, and looks a lot like Appalachian clogging. It’s a lot more fun, both for the dancers and those watching/listening.
Best,
Chris
On 2002-11-05 17:18, curioso wrote:
Can somebody please explain why they don’t use their arms in Irish dancing? I sort of envision ancient times with captive women having their hands tied to their sides with coils of rope and being forced to dance, but that can’t be right…
This article doesn’t exactly answer your question, but it does give some history of Irish Dancing…
http://www.borntodance.ie/btmp.php?page=History&
talking about riverdance, i recently saw Lord of the Dance in Baltimore. Something was missing. Live musicians. Except for 3 scenes each with 2 live violinists (on electric violins, btw) all the music was prerecorded.
what is that about? do we not pay enough for admission? when I saw riverdance in Los Angeles, it was with a full complement of live musicians, and it was amazing. i see prerecorded music in a live show as an attack on my way of life. why not go the next step, skip the live dance, and just sell the video?
btw, the dancing in lord of the dance uses more arm motion than the slightly more traditional choreography in riverdance.
meir