It took Riverdance just seven minutes to captivate the world.
The performance was intended as a mere interval act to fill time at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin – but the global audience of 300 million was instantly hooked.
The haunting music combined with the enigmatic grace of lead dancer Jean Butler, the energy of Michael Flatley and the synchrony of Irish dancers beating the stage in unison to create a jaw-dropping stage show like no other.
Riverdance became an overnight phenomenon and, suddenly, Irish dancing was sexy. For Bill Whelan, the show’s original composer, helping make Irish dancing popular with a new generation is one of his greatest achievements.
Michael Flatley
Jean ButlerHe says: “It is so gratifying to celebrate 30 years in the life of Riverdance. What’s even more uplifting is the growth in the numbers of young people actively engaging in Irish music and dance since Riverdance began in 1994.
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“This new breed of performers is not only rooted and respectful of their tradition but also fearless in exploring music and dance forms from all over the world. For me, in a world that seems to grow increasingly narrow and insular, this is a powerful cause for celebration and hope.”
On Friday, tickets go on sale for a 30th anniversary Riverdance tour of 30 UK venues, kicking off with a gig at Swansea Arena on August 12. For Charlie McGettigan, who with Paul Harrington won the 1994 Eurovision for Ireland with Rock ’n’ Roll Kids, witnessing “the birth of Riverdance” as he waited in the interval in the green room is a moment he’ll always treasure.
He says: “Jaws dropped all through the room as we saw Jean Butler and Michael Flatley strut their stuff across the stage. It was amazing to see Irish dancing presented in a completely different setting.
On Friday, tickets go on sale for a 30th anniversary Riverdance tour of 30 UK venue (Stedman Photography)“I remember thinking how sexy it was and how entertaining. There was a huge reaction from the audience but also in the green room everyone stood up and applauded what they had just seen – the birth of Riverdance.”
Paul adds: “It was absolutely out of this world. You knew this wasn’t only changing the face of Irish dancing but it was making a very bold statement to the world.”
Susan Ginnety, 45, was 15 when she performed with Riverdance on Eurovision night 1994. She says: “Irish dancing wasn’t cool and a lot of the kids in school were like, ‘I can’t believe you are going to embarrass yourself doing Irish dancing on TV’. I remember saying to my mum, ‘I don’t want to do it’. After the Eurovision performance it went wild and no-one said anything to me at school after that!”
Riverdance principal dancers Amy-Mae Dolan and Fergus (Stedman Photography)Susan performed with Riverdance for 10 years, understudying for Jean Butler and eventually taking the lead role. She adds: “It was phenomenal. I met my husband in the cast also. It changed my life.” Many of the dancers in the new tour were not even born when
Riverdance first took the world by storm. Lead dancer Fergus Fitzpatrick, who has stepped into Michael Flatley’s role, says: “I started dancing because of Riverdance. Touring the world as the lead dancer, I am literally living my dream.”
Amy-Mae Dolan, 26, who has taken on Jean Butler’s role, adds: “All of us are Irish dancers because we watched Riverdance, so to say it is an honour is a huge understatement.”
Riverdance was created by husband and wife TV producer team Moya Doherty and John McColgan. John has always maintained he knew they had something special in rehearsals but he was still stunned by the audience’s reaction.
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He recalls: “By the time the number finished, 4,000 people jumped to their feet without hesitation. I had never seen that before.” So, after waking the next morning to headlines such as “Seven Minutes that Shook the World”, they took a financial gamble and turned the seven-minute dance into a two-hour show that sold out at Dublin’s Point Theatre before moving to London and selling out again.
On Friday, tickets go on sale for a 30th anniversary Riverdance tour (Stedman Photography)Since then, Riverdance has earned the couple more than £40million. It has been watched live by more than 30 million people at some 15,000 performances in 49 countries and six continents, won awards and sold over 10 million DVDs worldwide.
The lead dancers were mobbed by fans wherever they went, with Flatley saying: “The harder we worked, the luckier we got.”
Jean Butler’s initial expectations that doing the Eurovision performance would help clear her overdraft and pay for “a little holiday with my university boyfriend” now seem ridiculously modest. Flatley left in 1995, having clashed with bosses over contracts and pay. His new show Lord of the Dance upped his fortune to around £300m.
Butler left a year later, creating a show with Colin Dunne, Flatley’s Riverdance replacement. But their original stunning performances set the scene for today’s lead dancers like Fergus, whose sister Anna Mai is also in the show.
Fergus says: “When we were kids we would go around the house doing what we thought was the choreography and pretending to be the lead dancers. Now, we are doing it for real.”
Amy-Mae Dolan had planned to become a doctor – until she got the call to say she had won the Riverdance lead. She says: “It was the easiest decision I’d made in my life.”
The show’s legacy is best summed up by Paul Harrington, the other Irish winner of that Eurovision 30 years ago, who says: “That night felt like the beginning of the roar of the Celtic Tiger and I was right at the epicentre.”
- Riverdance will visit 30 UK venues from this August to December 2025. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday at livenation.co.uk and riverdance.com
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