In March 2020 Riverdance 25 th Anniversary Show began its run at the Royal Concert Hall before it came to a halt due to Covid 19, but they promised that they would be back, and that promise was kept as the first of three shows brought the house down on Friday night.
Just as it had when it filled the intermission slot at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, the Grammy award-winning music and thrilling energy had this audience in awe with this re-imagined show with its innovative and super quick toe taps performed at lightning speed and in perfect synchronicity.
Conceived by Moya Doherty and shaped by director John McColgan, the show opened with the classic Riverdance formation with their jerk precision of awesomely co-ordinated feet which drove home a beat which defied any member of the audience to keep still.
Accompanied by an extremely talented four person orchestra (down from the original thirteen) on exotic instruments which included a bodhran, fiddle and uilleann pipes, and performed against a video screen of gorgeous projections, the inexhaustible young dancers took us through scenes of ancient Gaelic dance, ballet, tap, and even a whirling dervish of delight that is The Riverdance Russian Ensemble whose hybrid of Russian Folk dance and ballet was jaw-droppingly flawless.
Against a firestorm backdrop, Magdalena Mannion emerged to perform an equally flaming flamenco, whilst lead dancers Bobby Hodges and Amy-Mae Dolan dipped in and out throughout showing their incredible skill.
There was even an astonishing dance off between Kenji Igus and Tyler Knowlin, tap dancing Harlem hoofers and a trio of Irish steepers.
With beautiful mournful musical interludes provided by the Riverside Singers who did justice to Bill Whelan’s mesmerising soundtrack the show was brought to an end with the same level of exuberance and joy with which they had started, earning them a well earned standing ovation.
