[Thomas Close] Riverdance.

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Mr. President

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Dec 13, 2009, 11:35:18 PM12/13/09

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Incredible. To be completely honest, that word is really an understatement for how amazing Riverdance was. Yesterday, one of my good friends and I went to see Riverdance while they were touring through Austin. We actually bought our tickets a couple months ago. The wait was really agonizing considering I've wanted to see this show since I was about eight or nine years old. For those of you unfamiliar with Riverdance, it is basically a theatrical show that incorporates a great deal of Irish step dance and traditional Irish music. Although Riverdance is the original format of this style of production, there have been others that have come after such as Lord of the Dance.

We watched Riverdance: The Journey. The title refers to the history of the Irish people. Essentially, the performance starts out with a verbal narrative of how the Irish were once spiritually connected with the planet. Then, with a bang, the audience is launched into an extraordinary story of the Irish leading up to the great famine, immigration to America, and reconnection with their homeland. The pitter-patter sound on stage grows to a phenomenal booming thunder as the Irish dance troupe powerfully performs the visual tale. The remarkable ability to maintain such precision amongst several dancers all at the same time is almost beyond belief. One of my favorite parts of the the show was when they show the interaction of mixing cultures once the Irish are in America. The Irish step dancers have a dance off with two Jazz tap dancers. Simply awesome. In the end, their love of dance reveals how similar they are.

Although I was primarily engrossed with the speed and agility of the dancers, I must acknowledge how talented the singers were. Their voice were flawless and their ability to sing Irish music during such as production is definitely unparalleled. At parts, their voices were quite haunting as they found a way to express the mystical aspects of Celtic cultures. That takes incredible talent.

The band was quite exceptional too. However, I must say that the fiddler, Patrick Mangan, was the best. If anything was moving faster than the dancer's feet it was definitely this guy's fingers. He plays Irish music very well... and we all know that if there is anything I love as much as Native American music, it is definitely Irish/Celtic music. I'm actually thinking about buying his CD.