Taking Irish dancing to the limit

In the past three years or so, there has been a growing tap dance craze in Taipei. On TV, a young girl does a solo tap dance on the balcony of European-style apartment, for a chicken stock commercial. In another ad, for instant coffee, a dancer taps his way through rainwashed streets while performing Gene Kelly's Singing in the Rain. Irish dance group The Spirit of Dance visited two years ago, as did Gaelforce last year. And this year, it is the turn of Lord of the Dance, which was founded by the renowned dancer Michael Flatley.

The group has already completed two shows, on Wednesday and yesterday, and there are five more shows to go. As expected, tickets are selling like hot cakes. So far 80 percent of the seats are gone and only a few that cost NT$3,200 are left. The attraction of Irish dance is obviously still powerful for Taiwan audiences.

Some traditional Irish dancers may be turning in their graves, but Celtic dance mixed with modern choreography and pyrotechnics is now popular in both Broadway and Las Vegas. Dancers now wear heavy and vivid make-up and proudly show off their bodies. They dance in orderly lines and raise their arms and a burst of fire erupts from the stage. It has come a long way from the traditional Irish dance previously performed in a pub, town hall or square.

In 1998, Michael Flatley and the Lord of the Dance group of 120 dancers drove an audience of 25,000 in London's Hyde Park crazy with the groundbreaking production Feet of Flames. It then packed out Wembley Stadium for 21 consecutive nights.

Lord of the Dance is so popular around the whole world that it takes three troupes to meet with the demand for shows. In just seven years, Lord of the Dance has performed in more than 30 countries, achieving box office returns of US$400 million, 12 platinum record awards for their VCD/DVD sales, plus CD sales of 10 million.

Michael Flatley, the founder and artistic director of the Lord of the Dance (and the man who became the fastest tap dancer in the world in 1996 at 35-steps-per second; a record later broken by Michael Donnellan with 40-steps-per second), was without doubt the inspiration behind the world-wide popularity of the show.

The former lead dancer of River Dance, Flatley left the troupe in 1996 and formed Lord of the Dance. In conjunction with composer Ronan Hardiman, Flatley developed a dance style that was more Irish, more powerful and more energetic than River Dance.

Flatley's charisma is a key to the popularity of Lord of the Dance. When he shows up on stage, he likes to run into the center of the stage with force and is greeted by cheers and screams from the audience. He has rock-star status.

In Taiwan, a fanclub and Web site dedicated to Flatley was started three years ago. Hundreds of his Taiwanese fans voluntarily translate information and news about the troupe into Chinese. For the first visit of Lord of the Dance to Taiwan, the club encouraged its members to promote and buy tickets.

Because of the fervor of his fans here perhaps, although Flatley could not make it for the Taipei performances, he sent a message: "Our show allows us the unique opportunity to bring a little touch of Ireland to the international stage and lets our audience savor the excitement and enjoy it for themselves. Although I will not be in Taipei, I am pleased that our show has been invited to perform there," the message from Flatley said.