Aoife Ni Bhriain, Fiddle Player, Foyle Company

As a first-timer in Riverdance, I honestly did not know what to expect!
To say I was petrified about the whole thing would be a huge understatement! It has to be said, however that I was pleasantly surprised as to how it all went.

The first step of joining Riverdance was getting the music and learning it all. Even after growing up with the music all around me - my Uncle John (John O’Brien) played Riverdance on Broadway and my Dad (Mick O’Brien) played Riverdance on Broadway and in the Gaiety - It was no mean feat.
Every note has to be there no matter what speed it’s at!

After learning the music it was time to get kitted out with the costume. I went to Abhann wardrobe to Monica (Ennis) who took my sizes for the American Wake costume and a few days later it was time to go shopping with Monica and Joan (Bergin). Having seen Joan on the television just the night before the shopping trip I was very excited to get to meet her and see what she had in mind for the costumes. We found two dresses easily enough, Joan having picked up one herself beforehand, and then they went off to be altered in wardrobe where Monica did all the needlework.

Band rehearsals at the Gaiety

Rehearsals were next, so after doing the shopping I went straight to the Gaiety to play for Declan (Masterson), Julian (Erskine) and Louise (Byrne). Although I was quite nervous about it they put me completely at ease and seemed happy enough that I could play the tunes!!

The show itself was one of the most nerve-wrecking experiences of my life!!! It’s one thing playing in the Gaiety, it’s another playing live for dancers to a full house! Even after being close to having nightmares about making a mistake in the live performance the realisation that the show was a lot of fun hit me almost immediately and I was able to enjoy myself and admire what was going on around me between musicians, dancers and everyone backstage. It was such an honour to be involved in such a professional performance and to be in such a relaxed atmosphere!!

All in all it was an unbelievable experience, nothing like anything I’d done before and yet probably the most fun I’ve had on a stage in a very long time!
Next stop Riverdance Tour China!!!
Until then..
Aoife

Hi, Patricia here!

I just wanted to tell you about how the fundraiers Anthony Fallon held for St. Luke’s Hospital in Dublin. He came up with the idea that we should do a danceathon, so we all got involved. We danced continuously for two hours in the Gaiety Theatre on Thursday 20th of August. We started by getting each fully qualified TCRG to teach a celli and the deal was that if they had to look at the book to remember the dance they had to pay five euro, we had some none Irish dancers (Steve Woods, Lee Payne, Caroline, Michelle and Paula from wardrobe) take part in this as well so it was good fun watching them.

This took up about an hour and a half and after that we then decided to have some fun. Orla Griffin performed the Male lead solo part in Reel Around the Sun which then followed by Mark Gorman performing the Female Lead solo from Countess with six members of the male troupe also dancing the part of girls and Niamh McDarby, Aoife McDarby and Christina Havlin acting out the part of the Male Russians. Then it was the girls turn to perform Distant Thunder, which is the Male accapella piece in the show. We had fun performing these numbers, as it was something new for all of us.

Steve

On the same night we also had our annual pub quiz with the proceeds also going to the same charity. The team that won was made up of Marcus Maloney, Niamh McDarby, Niamh Eustace, Lorraine Gallagher and Laura Mulligan. There were loads of spot prizes given out as well, so a lot of people won.

Anthony

We raised over 3000 euros, so we are very proud of ourselves and we want to take this opportunity to say a big thanks to all that sponsored us. A big thank you also to Anthony Fallon from all of us, he worked so hard in organising the event. Also thanks to Padraic Moyles who organised the Pub Quiz.

Bye for now

Patricia

Well we have nearly come to the end of our ten week run in the Gaiety and I have to say that I think everyone had a great time this year, as always.

The last few weeks have been pretty busy for us, as we have had a few more birthdays to celebrate – Donna Marie Boyle and Anthony Fallon along with a few more. Our normal routine for celebrating a birthday would consist of us meeting in the Green room after the show for a few drinks and heading out somewhere after.

Donna

Over the last few weeks we’ve had a lot of people coming and going as we had a good few injuries along the way but its always nice to catch up with them. Brendan Campbell was in performing as a lead with us while we also had a few visits from Maeve Donohue, Claire Doyle, Laura Minogue and Michelle Buffini.

As some of our dancers are from England and Scotland, and other countries we decided to arrange a day where we all headed off to Croke Park to one of the Gaelic Double Headers. The teams playing on the day were Mayo v Meath in the Football and Waterford v Kilkenny in the Hurling. They were both two excellent games and the atmosphere in the stadium was unreal. Both Donna and Andy had never been to a GAA match before so they really enjoyed themselves - except that Andy thought he was going to see a Lacrosse game!!!!!

Croke Park

Our closing night party was held on the Thursday night in the Gaiety Theatre as this was the last suitable night for us to enjoy ourselves, and that we did. We ate and drank plenty, everyone was chatting to everyone finding out what our plans were for the few weeks off.

Andy, Ciara, Christina & Mark

We were a little sad to reach the end of the Gaiety as it meant saying goodbye to a lot of friends as we will all be going on different tours in a few weeks but at the same time we are looking forward to spending a few weeks with our family and friends. So until next tour goodbye, and I hope you enjoyed finding out what we got up to in Dublin.

Patricia