Patricia Henry, Dancer, Corrib Company

Monday we flew to Copenhagen, but we weren’t sure looking out at the plane weather or not we would be able to take off as it had started to snow heavily again. Thankfully they are used to this weather here in Scandanavia and it doesn’t create any problems for them… unlike at home.

After arriving into Copenhagen we all made our own way into the city to have a wander around and get something to eat - there were plenty of options to choose from with even three Irish Bars on the main street. Unsurprisingly a few of us ended up staying in The Dubliner for a few hours as the staff were very kind to us.

There is plenty to do in Copenhagen if the weather was suitable, the Big Wheel (where you can get breathtaking views of the city) was located right next to the hotel and come night time was very pretty to look at from our bedroom windows as it was all lit up.

We preformed at The Forum Theatre to full houses every night, with shows on Tuesday, Wednesday and two shows Thursday and Friday. The capacity of the theatre is close to 5000 so we were delighted that we sold out for the few days.

After four shows in two days we were all shattered so we are delighted to have two nights off, but first we travel to Madgeburg in Germany, which involves a very long travel day. We have to get a bus, then a Ferry, then back on the bus, so the two nights off will be welcomed by all of us.

That’s us finished in Scandinavia for the time being; now we will be in Germany for a few weeks. So check back next week to see how our days off went and what its like to be back in Germany.

Until next week, bye!!!

Patricia

Laura Yanez, Soloist, Boyne Company

Hi everybody! This week in L.A. was a rainy one! After a whole first week of sightseeing, the daily rainstorms were encouragement enough to take it a bit easier around the town. On Monday, we had a rare “Golden Day” in which we didn’t have to travel, so we took advantage of it! Myself and friends dined at Ketchup on Sunset Boulevard and spent the evening on Santa Monica Boulevard, while others visited the beaches of nearby Santa Monica or went shopping on Rodeo Drive.

Lead dancer Liam Ayres and myself admiring our delicious desserts at Ketchup

On Wednesday, Dancers Liam Ayres, Meghan Lucey, Patrick Barnett and myself went to a taping of “Chelsea Lately”. If you have seen her show on E!, I’m sure you could imagine how funny she is in person. We even got our picture with her sidekick, Chuy!

At the E! television studios with Chuy from “Chelsea Lately”

A group of us also toured the Paramount Studios as well. This is where the hit show “Glee” is filmed, so everyone was hoping we would catch a peek at their set. Our tour guide was great and kept sneaking us into different parts of the 65 acre lot. We saw Lucille Ball’s old dressing room and gardens as well as the skyscraper Tom Cruise jumps off in Vanilla Sky. In actuality, it was only 4 stories high!

The “skyscraper” from Vanilla Sky

And at the very end of our tour as our guide was dropping us off, who should drive into the studio but some of the cast of “Glee”! I had my camera close at hand, so I was able to try my hand at being a paparazzi. They didn’t seem to mind a cart full of crazy fans waving at them! This was our best celebrity sighting of the week, and I have pictures to prove it!

All of us huddled under my umbrella for a very rainy studio tour

“Glee” actor Kevin McHale waving at some crazed fans…us!

This week we had quite a few deputies in to cover for some of our dancers taking the TCRG, the qualification to teach competitive Irish dance. Rachel Mulvihill, Craig Ashurst and Christina McGrath have been studying all tour quite diligently for this three-day exam. Dancers Cara Casey, Ryan McCaffrey and Siobhan Burke filled in during this time. Best of luck to our dancers as they get their results later this tour!

As the weekend approached, I found myself sick in bed so I missed out on all the weekend fun, but there were some great times had! Irish dancer Nick Yenson’s had a birthday party at West Hollywood’s O-bar that was a blast. Former Riverdancers Scott Doherty and Owen Barrington among others flew in to visit and were able to arrange invites to a Screen Actor’s Guild Awards after-party for everyone. It was a memorable time and I was very sad to miss it! Los Angeles has been amazing and more than I could have expected. It was so rewarding to be a part of this magnetic city, if only for a little while. I definitely have to come back some time after tour to experience even more. On Monday, we head to Phoenix, Arizona for some desert relaxation at the Biltmore Spa and Resort…and for shows of course!

Until then,

Laura

Kevin Horton, Dancer, Bann Company

With Shanghai being such a busy city of sightseeing and nights out, we were all looking forward to a nice relaxing week. Relaxing, but hectic as we traveled to three different cities this week. We started off in Souzhou. This city is ranked the second highest annual income city out of 69 Chinese cities, and everything seemed a bit different from the other cities we had visited prior. The streets were very clean and there was a gorgeous shopping center just walking distance from the hotel. We were happy to know that this complex contained a Starbucks; something we have become accustomed to living without in most cities! The hotel was pretty far from the downtown area and this shopping center seemed out of place. Almost like a “if we build it, they will come” type of deal…only no one showed up and the place was a dessert town. But we enjoyed the restaurants and other shops it had to offer.

The Humble Administrator’s Garden is one of the largest and most famous gardens in all of China. Located just off the center of Suzhou, it boasts of bridges and stone pathways interwoven with Chinese architecture similar to buildings that would have been found throughout the Qing Dynasty. It was built starting around the year 1513 and holds history important to the city of Suzhou. We often forget how lucky we are to be able to be part of such amazing history and taking a stroll around these gardens really made you think of what people did there thousands of years ago. A real treat to see!

Dancers Deirdre, Shonna, and Lauren at the Humble Administrator's Garden

A pic from the garden

We were only in Suzhou for two days then it was off to Nanjing. Nanjing has a metropolitan area of over 6 million people and acts as the second largest commercial center in the East China region, only after Shanghai, where we were last week. The city had a great downtown area that contained a huge array of different specialty shops and side alleyways where you could get noodles! To be honest, we were only in Nanjing for two days, so not much was done there, but it was great to be able to relax for a few days before off to our third city of the week.

Claire, Anne, Deirdre, and Maeve enjoying a night out

Dancers Sean and Ryan on the train to Chongqing

Last Saturday, we flew to Chengdu at 5:30 in the morning, nothing like an early start to get the day going! We were happy to have a few days off in Chengdu since our first show wasn’t until Tuesday. We were informed earlier in the week about two press conferences that we had to do on Sunday. One was in the hotel in Chengdu and another was in Chongqing, a two-hour train ride away. I was part of the group that went to Chongqing and it was definitely interesting. I have never been part of a press conference before and it was exciting to be the main guest for many television stations, radio stations, and newspapers. It was a long day for all of us, but worth the trip. We will be making a stop to Chongqing later this tour, so it was nice to get a forecast of what was to come. We are spending the rest of the week in Chengdu, so check back to see what we get up to the rest of the week!

Kevin

Patricia Henry, Dancer, Corrib Company

Before we knew it we had our first week done in Stockholm and we were back on the bus for our first travel day of 2010. Luckily it wasn’t too long a day as we were staying in Sweden but heading to Jonkoping. Jonkoping is a lovely quiet little town with loads of coffee shops and restaurants to relax in. Unfortunately for us it was still very cold so we didn’t feel like venturing out much.

Before I forget I have to welcome a new company member to the Corrib, Marita Martinez – Rey. She is the new Spanish dancer and was trained in by Yolandez Gonzalez in Stockholm. Two weeks into tour and she has settled right in.

Flamenco Dance, Marita Martinez–Rey

This was to be an unlucky week for the Irish dance troupe as two of the female cast got injured and couldn’t dance for a few days. Luckily they weren’t serious injuries so it just meant everyone else rallied round and done extra numbers for the few days until the girls were able to dance again.

We weren’t long in Jonkoping as we only had 2 shows there, then it was back on the bus for a long travel day to Oslo, Norway. Our prayers weren’t answered here either as it was still really cold with lots of snow on the ground. It was even a venture trying to get to work as the venue was a 10 minute walk from the hotel, so trying to keep on your feet was a mission.

Oslo is such a beautiful city it was hard for the snow to deter us from seeing it. Right next to the hotel was The Royal Palace which is used as the official residence of the present Norwegian Monarch.

The Royal Palace

Also close to the hotel was a really interesting Viking Museum which went into great detailing about the Vikings and their reign in Norway, this was very interesting to us as Ireland has such a strong history with the Vikings also.

Barry John Gallagher at the Viking Museum

After a successful weekend performing at the Concert House in Oslo, we were packing our bags again and heading to Copenhagen. This time we had to catch a flight to it was a very long travel day. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer in Copenhagen.

Check back next week to see!!

Patricia

Laura Yanez, Soloist, Boyne Company

Hello all. This week we arrived in Los Angeles for a two-week run at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. I have never been to L.A. before, and it has been such an exciting week being an absolute tourist around the town. There was so much to do, I don’t even know where to begin with this blog!

We are staying in the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel and Spa on Hollywood and Highland. My room is on the 15th floor, so I have a spectacular view of the Hollywood hills and of course the famous Hollywood sign! This hotel is also housing the cast of this season’s “American Idol”, which just started taping this week. No sign of Simon Cowell though! We are also on the same block as the Kodak Theatre, and the day we got in they were debuting Denzel Washington’s new movie “Book of Eli”. We saw the beautiful red carpet and several prop vehicles from the movie, but no celebrities (yet!)

Lead Liam Ayres, myself, and dancers Patrick Barnett and Meghan Lucey outside the Kodak theatre on our first day in Hollywood

Walking to sound check at the Pantages Theatre was a lot of fun, because the journey is part of Hollywood’s “walk of fame”, with different celebrities’ names in golden stars on the sidewalk. Seeing famous stage and screen stars like Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Gypsy Rose Lee and Bernadette Peters was quite the inspiration on the way to the show. On our opening night, there was a great Los Angeles surprise before the show. A red carpet was set up and paparazzi were taking pictures of various celebrities who were seeing the show. I snapped a few for all of you!

Actress Kay Panabaker and Model Derek Theler on the red carpet at our opening night

Dancer Andy O’Reilly and myself with High School Musical dancer Kaycee Stroh after our show

The audience was fantastic our opening night, and every day thereafter. One night, we even had a standing ovation for the entire ten-minute finale! It is such a pleasure to perform in such a beautiful venue to such appreciative audiences after a day full of taking in everything L.A. has to offer. You really couldn’t ask for any thing more.

A group of us on our opening night!

I wish I could list all the activities everyone has been up to, but if you have been to L.A, you know there are so many different things to do. I went to a taping of the Craig Ferguson show, which was pretty hilarious. Almost everyone has gone on a Star Tour, taking a tour of all of Hollywood and seeing where various celebrities live. We saw the final homes of Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, to name a few. The landscaping and hilltop settings of these beautiful houses make them seem a bit like American castles!

Some notable places we’ve been are the Farmer’s Market at the Grove, Rodeo drive and the Chateau Marmont. The Chateau Marmont seems to be the place to go for celebrity sightings… just today tapper Jason Bernard saw Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard as he was leaving the restaurant! Irish dancer Chloey Turner even had the unique experience of a one on one training session with her favorite fitness celebrity, Jackie Warner (of Bravo’s “Work Out” fame). Our eyes are always open for celebrity sightings, but I have yet to see anyone I have been really star-struck by… next week is my chance, I hope!

On Thursday, we all went to a lounge on Hollywood Boulevard called “East” for Irish dancer Ellie Maguire’s birthday. It was a beautiful spot, and a special birthday surprise for Ellie was a conversation with singer James Blunt, who happened to be in the same spot!

Dancers Meghan Lucey, Ciara-Lee Jenkinson, Birthday girl Ellie Maguire, Lexa Hickey and Jessie Baffa celebrating at “East”.

There is such an energy to this city, and it seems like something amazing could happen at any minute. Perhaps the most fantastic story of the week goes to tapper Jason Bernard and flamenco dancer Rocio Montoya, who attended a taping of “The Price is Right”. I can’t reveal what happened during the show, BUT I will say watch the show when it airs on March 5th for a Riverdance surprise!

Rocio Montoya and Jason Bernard at “The Price is Right”!

I hope I haven’t left anything out of this lengthy blog entry, but we have another week in this city to have even more adventures if I did!

Signing off until next week,

Laura

Kevin Horton, Dancer, Bann Company

We arrived in Shanghai with great expectations for what was hoped to be an amazing city full of diversified culture and unbelievable sightseeing. Our expectations were met in every way. Shanghai is one of the coolest cities I have ever visited and our week here was definitely a high point of the tour so far. We didn’t know where to start, there was so much to be done!

The weather was not as dreary as the past few weeks, but there was still a large quantity of fog that covered the city and made for not so great views from the Shanghai Financial Building. This building was praised as being the tallest building in the world, but during our visit it became the second tallest, losing to the brand new Burj Dubai building in Dubai. Well, at least I can say that I went to the top of the second tallest building in the world… The view from the top was masked by a layer of fog, which was somewhat disappointing, but through the fog, a mass of buildings could be outlined in what seemed to continue forever. It is often hard to grasp just how big China is until you get to see it from way up there!

A view of Shanghai from the top of the Financial Building, all covered in fog!

Here are dancers Claire Doyle, Anne Toner, Deirdre Dowling, and Deirdre O'Reilly before heading to a cast party

Shanghai has the second largest metropolitan area in the World with over 20 million people. This number did not go unnoticed, as every where you looked, there were people! In fact it is known that every minute in China there are 34 births, and if you were to have the entire population of China walk by you in a single file line, that line would never end due to the reproduction rate! No wonder there is a government mandated limit as to how many children each family are allowed.

Another group of cast members at a cast party

The city has a very rich mix of architectural styles and one section of the city, the Bund, was very popular among the cast. The early 20th century buildings transported you out of China into a vast array of architectural styles. Another great place I recommend was this great off the beaten path art section called Tianzifang, which was riddled with small galleries, tiny shops, and cafes. It was great to be able to walk around and see all of the different styles of Chinese art for sale. Another great thing this week was that the hotel was located directly behind Old Town Shanghai. In fact, the lobby overlooked the entire area. Even just taking a stroll and intertwining down the alleyways gave such a feel for the history. It is hard to fathom the idea that we could be walking down a street that could possibly be over a thousand years old!

Tianzifang Gallery

I Love Shanghai

Everybody was wishing we had more time in Shanghai, but it was time to move on to our next adventure. Check back soon to hear about the three cities we visited next!

Kevin

Patricia Henry, Dancer, Corrib Company

Hi everyone, and a very Happy New Year and I hope you all had a lovely and peaceful Christmas.

Well its back on the road for us again here in the Corrib, but we were lucky to get a nice two weeks off to spend with our family and friends over Christmas, unlike our colleagues in the Boyne and the Bann who had to work all over Christmas. So with us all rested and ready to go we found ourselves all back in Dublin Airport on Monday morning the 4th of January catching a flight to Stockholm. Even though we were use to the cold from all the snow we got at home we still were not prepared for the cold in Sweden, it was even as low as -18 during the day so unfortunately it meant that we didn’t get to see very much of the city.

Water fountain outside the Hotel

All lot of us were here before but those who were not did manage to brave the cold weather conditions one of the days to see the sights of the city. Stockholm is such a lovely city I would definitely suggest coming to visit - but maybe wait until a little later in the year so it won’t be so cold. Luckily everything we needed was right beside the venue so we did have to venture to far.

Caroline and Michelle

Annexet, Stockholm

A lot of the cast and crew got sick here in Stockholm because we were going from heat to extreme cold so in general it was a very quiet first week back on tour. The last day in Stockholm was on Sunday when we only had one show so it meant that we were able to go for dinner and head out after the show. The band had organised a session in one of the Irish bars in the city so that’s where everyone ended up after getting some food and checking out the unique Absolut Ice Bar, this definitely is a must for people visiting Stockholm.

In The Ice Bar

As always there was some press work to be done and the lucky ones chosen this week were Aoife McDarby and Darren Casey. They had to do a radio interview with a local radio presenter - they even had to dance on the radio. This was done so that the show would be also promoted in the next city as we are performing in, Jonkoping.

Other than everyone catching up and finding out what we all got for Christmas there wasn’t a lot more going on for the first week. Hopefully the weather will soon get a little warmer so that we will be able to get outside and exploring the beautiful cities that we visit. Check back next week to see what we get up to.

Happy New Year,

Patricia

Laura Yanez, Soloist, Boyne Company

Hi everyone! This week we were in gorgeous, sunny San Diego, California. As everyone back in my home on the east coast (and in Ireland!) is having snowstorms and record lows, San Diego was among the hottest American cities this week. What a good time to be here! Our hotel was located in the Gaslamp Quarter of the city, which was where all the entertainment, dining and shopping was to be had. It was a little too easy for some of the girls and myself to find any excuse to pop into stores on the way out of the hotel! On Monday night, we celebrated Piper Declan Masterson’s birthday with an Irish music session at a local pub. He even broke out the guitar for the occasion!

Fiddler Pat Mangan and Piper Declan Masterson at Declan’s birthday

On Tuesday, we went to the beach on Coronado Island and spent the day playing in the surprisingly warm surf. It seemed so surreal to be enjoying such heat in January! This beach was made famous by the Marilyn Monroe film “Some Like it Hot”, which was filmed partially in the Hotel del Coronado. It was quite the resort to see in person, with the most beautiful hotel balconies I’ve ever seen!

Dancers Meghan Lucey and Liam Ayres at the Hotel del Coronado

We were performing at the Civic Theatre in downtown San Diego. This theatre had posters of various touring shows backstage signed by the companies with candid pictures of the cast. I counted five Riverdance posters already on the walls! They threw an opening night party for us at a beautiful hotel near the venue. Eating hors d’oeuvres on a grand terrace under the California night sky was a great way to unwind after our first show!

On Wednesday, a group of us went to SeaWorld San Diego for the day. It was a great time seeing all the aquatic animals and seeing the pet show and the Shamu show “Believe”. We also went on a water ride but got completely drenched in the process…not the best decision but quite hilarious!!

In the shark tank at SeaWorld San Diego!

The week went along quickly with so much to see around the city. Everyone seems to walk around with a bit more spirit backstage when they’ve been having fun all day! Whether from whale watching, walking along the seaport, or exploring Naval ships and submarines, everyone was busy until our four-show weekend! On Saturday, the theatre threw us their traditional between show barbeque, complete with a Riverdance cake. After lunch, they had set up a ping-pong table, along with Frisbees, hula-hoops, footballs and jump ropes. Some of us spent a good while afterwards remembering how to double-dutch. It turns out that Irish dancer Dan Triggle and Tappers Jason Bernard and Kelly Isaac were the masters at double-dutch! I can’t remember having that much fun in between a show. I hope I get another chance to perform at the Civic Theatre…if just for the fun and games!

As the week wound down, everyone started to focus on our upcoming two weeks in Los Angeles. Who knows what the city of angels has in store for us! Check back next week to see how we are settling in. Until then,

Laura

Kevin Horton, Dancer, Bann Company

With an amazing Christmas week under our belt and a deeper understanding for the Chinese culture, it was time to continue our worldly adventure with two more cities. What was supposed to be a two city week, ended up with us traveling midweek to Zhoushan for one show and then on to Hangzhou. I have never done more than two cities in a week, so I was interested in seeing how the week would pan out. I will say our travel day to Zhoushan was very different. We had an hour bus trip to the airport, flew to Ningbo, then took a two hour bus journey to a ferry port where we were supposed to take a boat to Zhoushan. We ended up not having to get the boat, which was a nice surprise, because the day was long enough! But we arrived safe and sound and ready for our one show.

Picture this…New Year’s Eve 2009, you are in a country that celebrates their New Year’s in February, playing to 6,000 people in a sold-out stadium, and the temperature on stage is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (simply because the designers of the building forgot to add a heating system)! It makes for one heck of a stop on tour! The buzz from playing in a stadium is great, but I have never been so cold dancing in my life. But the show must go on! It was very comical to see the entire cast and crew in complete winter gear backstage before each number. Taking off that winter coat to go on stage was tough!!

Here is a group of us backstage in our winter gear during the show

Since it was New Year’s Eve, the promoter held a party for us in the hotel bar with food and a few drinks! Of course we had to ring in the New Year in style. A great night was had by all, even though the thought of traveling on to Hangzhou in the morning loomed over all of our heads. It was kind of surreal to be in a city for only one show and it felt like a small blip on the tour schedule, but we will always have great memories of the time we spent in Zhoushan to ring in 2010.

Here we are ringing in 2010!

On New Year’s Day, we traveled by bus for a couple of hours to Hangzhou and arrived to find a bustling city full of great things to keep ourselves busy. We were right in the middle of downtown and right next to a shopping district. The girls in the troupe were very happy! Unfortunately we were only here from Saturday to Sunday before we moved on to Shanghai, so we did not have much of a chance to see the city. We did however get to visit West Lake, which is a massive lake community in the center of Hangzhou. Beautiful buildings and picturesque sceneries lined the shoreline and made for a great stroll down the boardwalk. We often forget how massive each city can be, and while looking out over the lake, the abundance of buildings and mountains can sometimes be overwhelming!

Traditional Chinese boats at Westlake

Dancers Deirdre Dowling, Myself, Ben Devlin, and James Keating at West Lake in Hangzhou

Just yesterday we arrived in Shanghai and so far this is one of the coolest places I have ever been to! Next week I will tell you all about it…until then…

Kevin