Riverdance — which comes to Tucson next week — woke the world up to traditional Irish dance — step dancing.
Sure, the dance has been around since the 17th century, but it was an “Irish thing” and not well known beyond Ireland, the Irish, and lovers of Irish culture.
And then, during the 1994 “Eurovision” television contest, Riverdance burst onto the stage as the intermission entertainment. It was seven minutes long. The European audience — both in the theater and watching television — fell in love, and the world woke up to step dancing. Though, really, Riverdance is like step dance on steroids.
By the next year, Riverdance set off on its first tour and became an international phenomenon. And why wouldn’t it? Dancers move their feet with an astounding speed and grace. They seem to float through the air. The original music rings of the Emerald Isle and pounds with drama — composer Bill Whelan won a Grammy in 1997 for the music. And the whole production is so riveting, so gleeful and so visually thrilling that Riverdance has snagged followers from around the world.
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Even today, the Riverdance tour is packing in dance lovers and thrill seekers.
While Riverdance is definitely about the fancy footwork, there is a theme that runs through it: The life of a river. The dance evokes falling rain, gentle trickles of a flowing river, then rushing water, the spilling of the sea into the ocean, and the joy of renewal that water symbolizes. It takes that theme and adds the idea that as the sea and rivers merge, so do cultures. That makes sense: Dancers in the troupe come from around the world.
Riverdance has racked up some impressive numbers over the years:
- 11,000 — Riverdance performances.
- 25 million — people who have seen the production.
- 46 — countries it has performed in.
- 3 million — sold copies of the Grammy-winning CD.
- 2,000 — dancers who performed with the company.
- 20,000 — dance shoes used.
- 15,000 — costumes worn
- 75,000 — gallons of Gatorade downed.
- 6 million — pounds of dried ice used in the productions
- 70,000 — pounds of chocolate company members have consumed to keep up their energy.
