For this the stage at the Ukraine Palace will have to be rebuilt
After the summer concert and drama dead season, the fall promises much excitement. At present, final adjustments are made in the plans of the nation’s number one stage at the Ukraine Palace in Kyiv.
There will be traditional concerts by popular performers, stars and starlets from the former Soviet republics, among them veterans and groups being promoted by producers, concerts to coincide with various official celebrations, song, music, and dance parades of all kinds. This is nothing out of the ordinary, although our public wants a serendipity. There will be surprises, we were told at the palace manager’s office. Without letting us on all their secrets, they said that there will be tickets for a superstar at the Kyiv box office in mid-October; for the first time Ukraine will be toured by the world-famous Irish Lord of the Dance tap dance group, led by their originator and choreographer Michael Flatley.
To let them show all they can do, the stage at the Ukraine Palace will have to be refurbished, placing a special cover on the floor. Installation is rather labor-intensive, lasting over ten hours and requires a crew of 70. The group’s rider reads that transporting stage equipment takes six 15-meter trailers. The show’s wardrobe consists of 300 costumes.
There are 49 Lords of the Dance averaging 26 years of age. Flatley has succeeded in putting together a unique group. The corps de ballet and soloists are former Irish dance champions collected all over the world. In every show the dancers tap 151,200 times and every such show is remembered long afterward. Their blockbuster number is the line dance done by thirty performers doing fantastic things with their feet. The ensemble’s astonishing popularity came after a Christmas show five years ago. The live CD topped the lists of bestsellers in Great Britain, winning twelve platinum awards. The soundtrack crowned the Billboard & World Music Chart and is still in the top ten in a number of countries. The Irish Recording Music Association called the CD the best traditional music album. Over a million and a half copies have been sold in the UK alone, some 9 million bought worldwide.
Michael Flatley is a living dance legend. He started by doing 28 taps a second, now it is 35. Incredible but true, as evidenced by two entries in the Guinness Book of Records. He says he loses up to five kilograms after a show.
He was born in Chicago to an Irish family that had immigrated to the United States in 1947. He started dancing at 11, but that was no way to earn a living, so he had to work in construction, dig ditches for sewers, later assisting a broker, and in a word doing various odd jobs. He says it was his belief in himself and his talent that kept him from breaking down. There is a vacant seat in the audience at every show in memory of his grandmother Hannah Lannigan Ryan, his supreme inspiration who gave him her blessing when he told her he would dedicate his life to the dancing. At 17, he was the first American winning the prestigious Irish Dance Championships in Dublin. He spent several years dancing with the Chieftains. His appearance [as an interval filler] at the Eurovision Song Contest of April 16, 1994, was an explosive success. The Riverdance show, with Flatley dancing the lead, started at the end of that year, and two years later he organized the Lord of the Dance. Its number at an Oscar awards ceremony was met with a standing ovation.
Michael Flatley became a world star only at 36, an age when most dancers’ careers are drawing to a close – another unique occurrence in show business. His legs are called the fastest in the world and they are insured for $40 million. People Magazine’s poll pointed to him as one of fifty handsomest men of the world. President Reagan called him a US national treasure. He has been conferred over 120 best dancer awards in 13 countries.
Michael Flatley is the target of endless gossip. On the one hand, he exhausts himself with rehearsals and training; on the other, heaps of books have been written about his tough disposition. He does the casting himself, more often than not selecting one or two dancers out of several hundred applicants. He upholds cast-iron discipline, for otherwise there will be no sync, no filigree technique. Apart from him, lead parts are danced by Deira Nolan, Bernadette Flynn, Gillian Norris, and Helen Egan.
In practically every interview he is asked to explain how he architects his numbers, a combination of tap and ballet. He replies that he has borrowed much from the Irish dance that has existed for hundreds of years. Plus the jig, plus movements of the hands, and most importantly, there is passion in every dance. Regarding the Irish as cold is a very bad mistake.
He says he has no words to describe his dancing. The impact of the feet is important, but that is not tap dancing. His dances rely on discipline and rhythm.
His shoes have uniquely designed custom-made sole taps and aluminum heels. He assures everyone that he dances much better in high heels than in conventional tap shoes. He takes twenty pairs of shoes with him on every tour, along with twenty spares just in case. He wears two or three pairs thin in a week.
Michael says he feels much better now than ever before. His muscles are like rubber, and his leaps are considerably higher than at 20 (he is 43).
You can see it all for yourself by visiting the Lord of the Dance show in Kyiv, being organized by the W.P.I. Company.
