I am completely in love with Irish step dancing. Aside from the fact that I genuinely do like the music, I think the pageantry of things like Riverdance is hilarious. There’s always one moment in any Riverdance routine where the lead, alone on the stage, will do a step and then it will be repeated by A HUNDRED PEOPLE OUT OF NOWHERE. And then the curtain inevitably comes up and you’re supposed to be surprised even though they pull that trick on you at least five times during the show.Also, Michael Flatley is a god among men.
There’s some genuinely good dancing in the beginning, but I can understand how it might not be worth watching without the best dancer alive, so skip to the two-minute mark to see the Lord of the Dance.
I guess you have to understand how Riverdance really took the United States by storm in the ’90s, at least in Irish strongholds like Boston. But I find it hilarious that Michael Flatley was such an incredibly controversial figure. People were saying things like, “But those billowing shirts! And he moves his arms!” The horror!
Also, the man is incredibly conceited. He gave an interview with Diane Sawyer where he said, without a trace of irony, “I am the best dancer in the world.” Even after she named a number of comparable dancers, including some of his colleagues at Riverdance and another dancer who went on to break his taps-per-minute world record, he refused to back down. Eventually, he quit Riverdance because he STILL didn’t think he was getting enough attention. So he went on to form his own show, which he called “Lord of the Dance,” of course.
The man is wearing eyeliner and a gold lamé shirt. He’s dressed like a rock star for what is unquestionably the nerdiest form of dance this side of Swan Lake. How can you not love it?
