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RIVERDANCE
Alisha Green
The phenomenon dance show RIVERDANCE premiered in Feb. 1995 at the Point Theatre in Dublin. Now, 13 years later, the show is on its final tour and will be at the Wharton Center April 4 through April 6. This may be the show’s farewell engagement, but its list of achievements is certainly a testament to how successful the last 13 years have been.
RIVERDANCE has had over 10,000 shows in over 300 venues, in 32 countries across four continents, with over 21 million people total who have viewed the spectacle. Over 2.5 million copies were sold of its Grammy Award-winning CD, and over nine million videos of the show have been sold.
Discussing the success of RIVERDANCE, Wharton Center public relations manager Bob Hoffman said, “It’s not just an Irish troupe. It’s a spectacular.”
The show has five musicians, and the drummer plays more than 25 different percussion instruments throughout the show. There are 478 costumes used in the show. Each Irish dancer goes through 10 pairs of shoes in one year – a testament to how much use the shoes are put through. Altogether, the Irish dancers have 494 years of study in step-dancing, and the dancers usually rehearse for 10 hours per week. Each dancer takes about 10,000 steps per show (give or take a few hundred).
“The music is compelling and that energy is transferred to the audience. The dancing is awe-inspiring and also carries energy to the audience. That’s an experience,” said Hoffman.
In order to create this experience for the audience, the dancers put their bodies through a lot of physical strain, so the show travels with one medical officer. The most common injury is shin splints, and the physiotherapist uses 32 rolls of self-grip tape each month. They also have a masseuse to give 48 hours of massage per week.
Part of what makes the success of the show so amazing is that it developed from a seven-minute dance piece that was created for a 1994 European TV special. RIVERDANCE has become popular partly due to word of mouth, and the PBS special on the show contributed to that effect. If it were not for this word of mouth, stereotypes of dancing might have kept many people from going to view the show.
Hoffman said that many people tend to think that an Irish dancing show is not something they would want to see.
“Before I started working here [at the Wharton Center] I never would have paid to see a dance show, but dancing is now my favorite genre,” said Hoffman. “I encourage everyone to come see a dance.”
RIVERDANCE has more to it than Irish dancing, though. The show incorporates a variety of dancing styles, from Spanish flamenco to Russian dancing, and uses a storyline of Irish heritage and history to tie all of the songs and dances together. Special effects are also used to captivate the audience and enhance the experience.
The show builds a special stage on top of the existing stage at the Wharton Center and takes two days to set up. It requires four trucks to transport the show, and 15,000 pounds of dry ice are used each month in the special effects.
“There’s lots of staging, lots of special effects, lots of lights,” said Hoffman. “What you’re going to see is a unique show.”
Tickets are still on sale at whartoncenter.com.
Questions? Comments? Contact Alisha Green at greena11@msu.edu
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