10 years of pounding feet, flashy outfits

NEW YORK -- Young women in matching T-shirts laugh and talk in a corner of the Radio City Music Hall studio. One shares her folding chair with a young man decorated in chains, who casually strokes her leg as an older woman hurries by with a clipboard.

It could easily be a bunch of high schoolers on a tour -- that is until the lively group snaps into a straight line and dance shoes strike the floor with such percussive unison that the wooden boards vibrate alarmingly.

"We will not go down. We will not be beaten down like grain," an Irish-accented voice intones on a recording, thunder booming.

That's right, they're back -- just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Still stomping strong after 10 years, the "Riverdance" spectacle has returned to New York to kick off its anniversary tour in North America.

Over the past decade, "Riverdance" has gone through 1,200 dancers, 9,000 costumes, 12,000 shoes and -- this is key -- 4.5 million pounds of dry ice.

The "mists" were billowing at Radio City last week, as the two-hour show opened to an energetic, almost-full house.

Sisters Kelly and Emma Conover made the trip in with their dad, Jim, from Danbury, Conn. The girls, 9 and 10 respectively, were impressed by the high-energy dancing and by the flashy background screens and costumes -- glittering shirts and leather for the men and low-cut, flouncing dresses for the women, with hemlines exposing miles of shapely thigh.

"I like the sparkly purple one with the crown," Emma enthused.

Kelly hypothesized that the female dancers' flowing tresses were hair extensions.

"I love it," their father said. "I wanted to see it when it first came out 10 years ago."

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By now, the story of "Riverdance" is the stuff of theater lore.

With Ireland as the host of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, Moya Doherty was asked to produce a short filler segment for the televised presentation. She decided to focus on traditional dance and music, bringing in Irish-Americans Michael Flatley and Jean Butler, both Irish dance competition champions, to choreograph and lead the piece. Composer Bill Whelan wrote the music.

The response was overwhelmingly positive.

"The Irish papers overstated it a bit -- 'The seven minutes that shook the world,"' Doherty recalls. "It was six minutes and 40 seconds to be precise."

Working from the short act, Whelan, Doherty and her husband, director John McColgan, created the world's first full-length Irish dance show, incorporating various rhythmic traditions (including tap and flamenco) and a very loose mythical-historical narrative in one sexy, easy-to-digest package.

Just as Whelan blended numerous musical cultures, Butler and Flatley had to adapt the hard- and soft-shoe routines they once performed in competitions to a more theatrical arena. Arms, always rigidly held at sides, had to be incorporated. The chorus line, never used in Irish dancing, became a "Riverdance" staple.

"Riverdance" opened at Dublin's Point Theatre on Feb. 9, 1995, at a time of renewed Irish optimism and pride surrounding the onset of the booming "Celtic Tiger" economy. Since selling out for its initial five-week run, the show has rolled on like a well-oiled, glitzy machine, touring the world to acclaim and huge ticket sales, conquering Broadway and earning Whelan a Grammy in 1997.

Three companies formed -- the Avoca, the Boyne and the Foyle, named after Irish rivers. They have given more than 8,000 performances, drawing more than 18 million audience members in more than 250 theaters in 30 countries on four continents. Germany, for reasons that seem to mystify all involved, is particularly enraptured by the show.

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Not surprisingly, "Riverdance" has produced numerous imitators -- not all of them created with an eye toward excellence.

"Just put 'Irish dance show' in the Internet and see what comes up," Butler says. "It's hilarious. There's one new one where none of the dancers are even trained Irish dancers."

Still, reputable or not, the mere existence of commercial outlets astounds those who remember a pre-Riverdance era when few professional opportunities existed.

"Back then, there was nothing to work for -- you just danced for pure hobby and love," says Eileen Martin, a four-time world champion who performed in the original Eurovision piece and went on to the lead role before becoming dance director.

Despite some criticism from the Irish dance community that the show strayed too far from its traditional roots, "Riverdance" sparked a resurgence of interest in the form; the co-star in the current Radio City engagement, Sinead McCafferty, thought her dancing career was over after winning five world championship medals. She was modeling in Japan when her father sent her a tape of "Riverdance" along with her shoes. She went back to train in Ireland and, six months later, in 1999, she earned a place in the show.

"Now, beginners just say they want to 'riverdance,' they don't even call it Irish dancing," she laughs.

The faces may change in "Riverdance" but the show's original structure remains virtually intact, and the river shows no signs of ebbing anytime soon.

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On the Net:

Riverdance: www.riverdance.com