Flatley, Michael

▪ 1998

      At the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Point Theatre in Dublin, the most successful act was not even entered in the competition. An intermission entertainment entitled Riverdance, starring American dancer Michael Flatley, captivated the audience with a modern interpretation of traditional Irish dancing. His arms flying, Flatley leapt across the stage, transforming Irish dance from a rigid, tradition-bound art form that placed a premium on discipline and control into an expressive, buoyant celebration. The jubilant response to the seven-minute performance was overwhelming, and the producers of Riverdance soon expanded it into a feature-length spectacle that thrilled audiences in London and Dublin. Following a bitter creative dispute with the show's producers, however, Flatley was fired in October 1995. His response was to develop Lord of the Dance, a spectacular Las Vegas-style Celtic dance show that featured Flatley at his most flamboyant.

      Flatley was born on July 16, 1958, in Chicago to Irish immigrant parents. Flatley, whose grandmother was a champion Irish dancer, began taking dancing lessons at the age of 11. His first teacher told him he had started too late to achieve real success, but Flatley persevered. When he was 17, he became the first American to win the all-world championship in Irish dancing. Flatley was also a Golden Gloves boxer and a champion flute player. None of these skills, however, seemed likely to help him earn a living, so he went to work for his father's contracting business and performed with local Irish dance groups in his spare time.

      In the early 1980s Flatley was invited to tour with the traditional Irish musical group the Chieftains. It was on these tours that he developed and refined the progressive style of dance that became his trademark. He was soon recognized as a rising talent, and many awards and honours came his way, including a National Heritage fellowship and recognition by the National Endowment for the Arts for his contribution to dance. By the 1990s Flatley's reputation as a performer with incredible tap-dancing skills was firmly established.

      Though Riverdance had established Flatley as a star, Lord of the Dance turned him into a one-man entertainment empire. In the spring of 1997, the show opened its U.S. tour in New York City with 13 sold-out performances at Radio City Music Hall. Although some critics considered Lord of the Dance to be an overblown exercise in self-indulgence, and dance purists cringed at the sequined jackets and tight pants that Flatley favoured, his talent and stage presence were undeniable. The public response was overwhelmingly positive, and by 1997 international sales of his live video, Lord of the Dance, had passed three million copies, and sales of the soundtrack CD that featured the music from the show approached 500,000 copies. Flatley also performed at the 1997 Academy Awards, a fitting stage for a performer who, having conquered the dance world, was now setting his sights on Hollywood and film stardom.

JOHN H. MATHEWS

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