Stage and Performing Arts
The Splendour and Music of Riverdance
Riverdance Performers
Irish Dance is an Irish cultural style of dance. The dance encompasses a wide range of different styles and intricate leg and foot manoeuvres that have made it such an intriguing phenomenon around the world.
The Irish Dance technique consists of only the use of the legs and feet. The body kept is straight and tall with the hands held rigidly by the sides of the body. It is a dance of ethnicity and pride that has become a worldwide phenomenon following its debut as the Irish performance for the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.
There are many different styles of Irish dance that you can perform including the:
- Irish Céilí Dance
- Irish Set Dancing
-Irish stepdance
-Sean-nós Dancing
-Old style step dancing
Following it’s performance in the Eurovision Song Contest the became known as
Following Riverdance’s debut 7-minute live performance at the Eurovision Song Contest (earning them a standing ovation), ‘Riverdance’ became the known term for the Irish Step dance they performed. The dance was renowned for taking Irish Dancing to a new level by using modern sounds and allowing the dancers to use their hands, as well as the legs and feet. Since their 94’ debut, The Riverdance Group have gone on to sell albums, videos, dvds and tour the world with live shows. Their performances enlighten their global audience in their fusion of tradition Irish dance with contemporary twists, putting on a magnificent show.
Irish Dance is a spectacular show to the eyes but is nothing without the Irish Music that accompanies it.
Bill Whelan
Bill Whelan
Bill Whelan, born May 1950 in Limerick, Ireland, is a renowned Irish musician, arranger, producer and composer. He has worked in television, theatre and film and is most known for the piece he composed for the 1994 interval show at the Eurovision Song Contest that accompanied ‘Riverdance’. He then composed the album for the The Riverdance Group’s tour, ‘Riverdance: The Show’, which won him a Grammy and certified Platinum in Australia, UK, America and Ireland. Throughout his career he has worked with such artists as Van Morrison, U2 and Kate Bush.
Today, Whelan serves on the boards of the University of Limerick Foundation, Berklee School of Music in Boston, The Irish Traditional Music Archive and composes for The Crash Ensemble.