Irish-American dancer and producer Michael Flatley created and performed in the Irish musical and dance production called ‘Lord of the Dance.’ Music for ‘Lord of the Dance’ was created by Ronan Hardiman. Actors were auditioned in the SFX City Theatre in Dublin and the play took six months to materialize from a story to a full fledged production. Preview shows of the ‘Lord of the Dance’ were held at Point Theatre in Dublin from June 28 to July 1, 1996 with the premier being held on July 2, 1996.
‘Lord of the Dance’ is the story of the Lord of the Dance and his battle against the evil lord ‘Don Dorcha’ from taking over Planet Ireland. Lord of the Dance defeats Dorcha’s attempts with the help of a little spirit. Along with the conventional hero and villain scenario, there is also a ‘love vs. lust’ theme in that Saoirse, the Irish Cailn fights for the love of the Lord of the Dance against the wicked Morrigan, the Temptress. Lord of the Dance is an interesting mix of Irish folklore and Biblical references.
‘Lord of the Dance’ was performed at the Oscars in 1997 and expanded its team by forming various troupes of dancers. These troupes were to tour North America and Europe. Michael Flatley also signed a deal with Disney allowing the play to be staged at pcot in Walt Disney World in the summer of 1999. Keeping in view its popularity, Disney called it back to perform ‘Lord of the Dance’ in the next summer. Troupe 4 also performed at the Disneyland Paris Resort in 2002-03. Currently, a total of four troupes of the ‘Lord of the Dance’ are touring the world.
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Determined to cash on his original production’s ever increasing popularity, Flatley created an expanded version of the Lord of the Dance. The expanded version included over a hundred dancers from all four troupes and is called the ‘Feet of Flames.’ The extended version was a grand version with a stage 180 feet wide with multiple levels and an audience numbering to 25000 at Hyde Park alone. A dance solo by Flatley was eagerly looked forward to. Although it was supposed to be his last live dance on the stage, Flatley toured with the show once again in 2000-01.
In 2008 two troupes of the play were still touring around the world with troupe 1 performing in Europe and Asia and troupe 2 tours the US, Canada and South America. Unfortunately for his fans, Michael Flatley, while still the creator, producer and director of the production does not perform with either since his performance at the Hyde Park was the last time he performed the ‘Lord of the Dance. Flatley threw the Lord of the Dance 10th Anniversary Party in June 2006. Almost all actors included in the original cast of the play have left the show except for Bernadette Flynn who is still touring with a troupe. Gillian Norris left in 2000, Daire Nolan left after its first run in Disney Land Paris, Nesbitt performs with the Celtic band Celtic Woman, Smyth now performs Celtic Tiger with Flatley and last but not the least Buckley left the show and released her solo album.
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