Time In Focus Photography

The Riverdance Flying Squad were invited to perform at the 8^th edition of the Doha Watch & Jewellery exhibition. The exhibition was organised by the Qatar Tourism Authority, with over 450 designers and more than 50,000 people expected to visit.  Doha is the beautiful capital city of the State of Qatar, famed for their recent successful bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2022.

We performed at the prestigious Four Seasons hotel, a stunning complex with a private beach and a beautiful view of the Arabian Gulf. Rehearsals were tough, with the cast determined to do justice to the spectacular surroundings. With much of the preparation taking place on the day of the performance, over a twelve hour period, it was hard work, but the troupe did an amazing job tying up variations between the different companies

This flying Squad performance consisted of a cast almost large enough to perform the whole show and we were joined in Doha by the beautiful and talented Yolanda Gonzalez Sobrado. This was special for me personally as we have been great friends for many years and have performed together in Riverdance – Live from Geneva and the most recent Riverdance – live from Beijing DVDs. Yolanda is a brilliant and passionate performer who brings the best out of anyone fortunate enough to perform with her.

Yolanda Gonzalez Sobrado

Firedance rehearsals

Countess Rehearsals

We performed at a little past midnight, with the first number being Riverdance. Antony Fallon and Siobhan Manson, the principles, put in a fantastic performance which left many in the audience stunned. John O’Brien played Chu Chulainn on the traditional uilleann pipes, allowing the girls vital time to change quickly for the countess section. After a strong display by the girls, it was the boys turn to shake the room with Distant Thunder and Firedance. We finished the show with Heartland and a short reprise of Riverdance.

Clockwise starting from top left: Stephen Brennan, David Belwood, Damien Doherty, Andy O’Reilly, Siobhan Manson, Anthony Fallon, Yolanda Gonzalez Sobrado, Michael Maguire, Ben Devlin, Damien O’Neill, Jason O’Neill, Deirdre Dowling, Gillian Madders, Jordan Osborne, Claire Doyle, Mairead Masuda, Ellie Maguire, Orla Keane Grant, Aoife McDarby, Lisa Murphy, Sarah Hopkins.

Half way through Heartland, as the troupe formed an impressive line at the front of the stage, the excitement appeared too much for most of the audience as we received a standing ovation during the number accompanied by cheers and even a few tears.

Time In Focus Photography

www.timeinfocus.co.uk

Read this on the Riverdance website: Riverdance Flying Squad Gig in Doha

Columbus is the capital city of Ohio, the home of one of the world’s biggest college campuses (Ohio State University) and the home city of one of the Riverdance greats; Joe Moriarty! Joe has performed with the show for quite some time, performing the lead role for many years. It’s most certainly a treat when you can attract such a large audience following to any show and an even bigger one when you can dance for your family and friends. The stage door of the prestigious Palace Theatre in Columbus was flooded with dancers, family members, fans and on lookers. Such a warm and welcoming crowd appeared to our performances in Columbus, many with the intention of seeing their favourite show and many with the added excitement of watching a native of this hip and happening city perform the lead role.

Joe toured dancers some of us around Columbus, driving us to some of the finer points that this city had to offer. He brought us to the Horse Shoe Stadium. This is home to the Ohio State Football team. Commonly referred to as the Buckeye’s. It has a capacity of 105,00 seats.

Buckeye's Stadium

After our trip to the large campus area, we walked through the “Short North” district. This was filled with alternating styles of bars, galleries, restaurants and shopping and was only a twenty-minute walk from our hotel. It was also fantastic to witness dance studios around this city with a flair for differing styles.

Example of the artsy areas that Columbus has to offer

To add to Joe’s hospitality, he invited the cast and crew of Riverdance to a dance studio after one of our shows. They put food on for us and displayed their own genres of dance, all in this new age studio. Some of the cast tried out our new ballroom skills and passed the test of competency with flying colours.

We now move to West Virginia, I have not yet been to this State so I’m ready to explore.

Craig

Follow Craig on Twitter: twitter.com/craigashurst

Read this on the Riverdance website: Riverdance in Columbus, OH

by Fiona Mc Cabe, Irish Dance Troupe, Shannon Company

I am writing this from our Riverdance tour bus (Bus 1) from Waukegan, Illinois to Owensboro, Kentucky. We will have covered approximately 386 miles today to reach our new venue this afternoon.
After an early alarm call of 6:45am, we loaded up our suitcases and personal belongings to depart the hotel in Waukegan at 7.30am. We stopped for 30 minutes then at a rest stop at 12pm. After a brief drop off at the hotel we will go to the venue and head to catering which is normally provided for us on travel-show days like today.
Typically after eating, all the female cast will spend the next 30-40 minutes preparing for the show doing their own hair and make-up. At this stage we are all so experienced we could do it in our sleep!

Dancers Fiona McCabe and Jesse Baffa stretching prior to the show

We then change into dance tights and suitable warm-up clothing, typically tracksuit pants or leggings and light sweaters or tshirts.

At the one hour call (One hour prior to show time), we all do our individual warm-up on stage.

Some do yoga alone or in groups, some will skip to increase their cardiovascular fitness. Others will do some abdominal and core strengthening work and others will do upper body weights to stay in shape.

Today is like any other day for us. We will begin the task of preparing for the show in several hours.
At beginners call there will be a last minute rummage for dance shoes, elastics and electrical tape. The likelihood of laces snapping or tights ripping is as imminent as ever. The scent of tiger balm and bio freeze will fill the quick change room. The noise of saxophone scales and constant trebling and tapping will be as loud as ever. It is now ‘clearance’…We all rush to the teepees backstage like obeying children to the sound of a school bell. It’s Showtime……

To date on the Riverdance Tour USA 2011, we have travelled to and performed in 23 cities in over 11 states

Read this on the Riverdance website: Life on the road with Riverdance, Illinois to Kentucky, USA

The start of February brought about a calming change to our schedule. We were heading to Milwaukee, our first large city for the tour. Having experienced a blizzard soaring through the mid west for the last week, the winds had cleared, however still very cold.

Our shows here were amazing. Saturday Matinee brought back a former lead dancer to the stage, Sean Beglan. He had his dancing school of 250+ in the audience. They were all seated in the one section. Their energy in the crowd was fantastic and makes this all worth while.

The Riverdance cast looked forward to a day off due to the super bowl coverage, with some of the cast members venturing out to Chicago only a mere hour away. Others stayed in Milwaukee to watch the local team of Green Bay take on the Pittsburgh team on their quest to be Super bowl champions. The green and yellow colours were flooded around this fantastic city. On the streets, you could see the residents dressed in these colours, whether it be clothes, paint or beads.

Preview of the Super Bowl

Hoping to make the most of my day off, I wandered the halls of the Milwaukee Museum of Art. This unusual shaped building is a picturesque landmark of this great city and a certain must see for any visitor. We did not make it around all of the floors before it closed, however we certainly did appreciate what we did see. Walking around this Museum with Riverdancer, Nicole McKeever, was a bonus as her knowledge for all different styles of art and artists was impeccable.

Milwaukee Museum of Art

The local Green Bay team became Super Bowl Champions whilst we were in town.

A fitting celebration of Riverdance’s time in Milwaukee, WI!

Craig

Follow Craig on Twitter: twitter.com/craigashurst

Read this on the Riverdance website: A super time with Riverdance in Milwaukee, WI

We have made some changes recently to the travelling arrangements for Riverdance.
One of the changes is that sometimes we use local lights and sound equipment instead of carrying our own.
This means that we move the entire show in just one large sea-container.

To achieve this requires extraordinary planning on the part of our Production Manager Brendan McLoughlin and for our crew to have Tetris-like packing skills.
We are very lucky to have David Murphy and Howard Brunton on our Moy tour to pack the proverbial quart into a pint pot, and as you can see from the photos from the Singapore get-out it’s a very tight fit!

Read this on the Riverdance website: Riverdance on the move….

Hi Riverdance fans. My name is Marcus Maloney and I have been a full time dancer with Riverdance since 2005 having previously been with the Flying Squad since 1999. We are currently finishing our Irish tour with dates in Killarney and Castlebar before some of us depart for America to be part of the Riverdance on Ice extravaganza in Lowell, MA on October 16th. Riverdance recently returned to Killarney for a prestigious 7th run over the last number of years.

Prior to travelling to Killarney I had the pleasure of attending two Riverdance weddings. On August 30th a number of the Irish dancers including Ellie Maguire and Rachel Mulvihill travelled to Rome to be part of the wedding ceremony of Christina McGrath and Steve Woods. They were both members of the Boyne Company which toured North America over the last seven years. We all had a wonderful time in Rome. Congratulations to Christina and Steve!

Marcus Maloney, Ellie Maguire, Steve Woods, Christina Mc Grath, Rachel Mulvihill and Chris Eather

Myself and a number of fellow dancers also had the honour of attending former Riverdancer Michelle Buffini’s wedding in Donegal in early September. Michelle toured with the Lagan, Liffey and Foyle companies of Riverdance and her sister Maria is currently a lead dancer in the show. Congratulations to Michelle & Nicky!

Michelle & Nicky

After attending Michelle & Nicky’s and Christina & Steve’s weddings, which now must take the number of Riverdance weddings into the 40’s, it was a long trek to Kerry to begin another successful run at the INEC in Killarney. I am lucky to have performed most of the Killarney runs with Riverdance over the last 4 years and as always this trip was no different in terms of feeling at home in Killarney. The audiences in Killarney never fail to impress and there seems to be just as many locals as tourists coming to the show! For those of you unfamiliar with Killarney it is predominately a tourist town with breath taking local scenery attracting hordes of tourists from both home and abroad.

Chloey Turner, Padraic Moyles, Niamh O’Connor and I will be heading to America in October, after our final Irish dates in Castlebar, to take part in the Riverdance on Ice event in Lowell, MA. This new exciting event is a first for Riverdance and we are all very excited to be part of it. The concept of intertwining Ice Skating with Irish dancing is a novel idea. The combination of both is sure to be a show stopper. We are all looking forward to meeting the Olympic skaters. Our build up to the event is continuing in Ireland as we finish our Irish tour. Killarney has been fantastic as always and now onwards to Castlebar next week. Until then make sure you all get your tickets to Riverdance on Ice in Lowell, MA on October 16th.

See you in Castlebar,

Marcus

Female Dressing roomFiona Mc Cabe busy stretching prior to the showLead dancer Chloey TurnerSurprise Marcus!

Riverdance wardrobe mistress Nikki Connor busy at work!

Fiona Mc Cabe busy stretching prior to the show

Lead dancer Chloey Turner

Surprise Marcus!

A wave goodbye on the closing night from the cast of Riverdance in Killarney

Read this on the Riverdance website: Riverdance Returns to Killarney

The Cast and Crew of Riverdance were recently invited to perform at the prestigious International Festival of Byblos. This fascinating city is reported to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world; it has been conquered by at least nineteen different civilisations and boasts some of the world’s most fascinating ruins, which are literally part of the city. The architecture of the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, the Crusaders and so many more are woven in to the fabric of the city.

St John's Church

Shona Cobbe, Fiona McCabe, Deirdre Dowling, Sarah Lou, Damien Murphy, Rachel Mulvihill, Ben Devlin, Mairead Masuda, Ciara McGillan, Ryan MaCarthy, Niamh Eustace

Dancing the show in high temperatures over the sea with high winds was challenging. The odd gust of wind certainly kept everyone on their toes, and big smiles on our faces (even at more serious points of the show). Backstage was very hot, but luckily we had a couple of air conditioned cabins, which seemed freezing after coming off stage. There was a great troupe of Riverdancers in Byblos, who spent all their time together exploring the city, sunbathing and enjoying the vibrant nightlife.

Rotations and run through while looking at the Mediterranean Sea

It was humbling to know we were performing 100 yards away from ancient ruins including remarkable castles, fortifications, homes of these ancient civilisations and a Roman Amphitheatre. The crew and everyone backstage worked hard, on what were essentially ancient coastal caves and rocks, to produce a great set with quality sound and lighting in difficult conditions. It was an honour to perform the show in such a culturally and historically important city. We performed the show in the open air directly on the beach in front of over seven thousand-years of history to a capacity crowed and standing ovations from enthusiastic audiences.

The audiences’ view of Riverdance directly in front of fascinating ruins

Byblos is famous for the discovery of the oldest written alphabet dated around 1250 BC. An inscription on the sarcophagus of King Ahiram, written by his son Ithobaal, warned of curses against any who disturb the final resting place of the King. The Phoenician alphabet, which contained 22 letters, inspired the Aramaic alphabet, which was the ancestor of the modern Arabic and Hebrew scripts. The Greek, Latin, and modern alphabets also include characters from the Phoenician alphabet. The name ‘Bible’ in fact comes from the city’s name Byblos.

A Roman road at the top of the picture, at the bottom are well preserved dwellings dating back to the earliest urbanized period in Byblos, around the 3rd Millennium B.C.

The people of Byblos are warm and welcoming and made every effort to make us as comfortable as possible. They are proud of their amazing and unique history and happy to tell the amazing stories that shaped this city. Our guide in the ancient ruins of the old town, Zahid, showed us artefacts that were over five thousand-years-old. The oldest part of these Phoenician ruins is an ancient eight thousand-year-old path, which is believed to be the main path to the beach from this ancient settlement of fishermen.

Inhabitants of Byblos have been fishing here for at least 8000 years and still do today

The manager of the Hotel Ahriam, Karim, generously gave me a personal gift of an authenticated two thousand-year-old small perfume pot, from his museum, which is under construction at the Hotel. The beauty of the architecture, history and location of Byblos is difficult to overestimate and it was a privilege to perform here. The Cast and Crew all enjoyed a fantastic week and want to sincerely thank everyone who was involved in bringing us to Byblos as well as every member of the audience.

Performing Distant Thunder in high winds felt amazing and the audience loved it

Deirdre Dowling and Michael Maguire
Time In Focus Photography
www.timeinfocus.co.uk

Read this on the Riverdance website: Riverdance Conquer Byblos

For the last two weeks of tour, we made one last trek up to Canada and ended up at Riverdance’s favorite venue, Wolftrap Farm Park, in Vienna, Virginia. We only had 4 shows in Rama, Ontario at Casino Rama last week, so it was great to have some time off towards the end of such a long tour. Since Rama was only about 2 hours from Toronto, many of the cast opted to hang out in Toronto for the few days off, some went home for a few days, and the rest of us tried our hand at a few days of gambling. I should have done anything other than gamble, because I lost a couple hundred, but others had a lot more luck! It’s funny how the casino has no windows or clocks and pumps extra air in to keep patrons awake, because it works! Many late nights at the tables and slots made for a few enjoyable nights off!

Here we are on the party bus to Toronto for Natia's birthday

Some of the girls with Natia at Ultra Supper Club

On the Wednesday night, a bunch of us headed in a party bus to downtown Toronto to Ultra Supper Club to help celebrate dancer Natia’s birthday. It is the same club we spent her birthday at the year before during our 5-week run in Toronto, so it was great to return a year later and all be together to celebrate again. It was such a great night and a great way to spend the day off. The rest of our time went by quickly and before we knew it we were on the way to our last week of tour.

A group of us at the Riverdance closing party

Dancers Rachel, Caterina, Ellie, Marty, and Maeve enjoy our closing party

The troupe…only missing a few!

I can’t believe how fast the last week of tour snuck up on us. Since Riverdance has played at the Wolftrap center for so many years now, and the Lagan company closed there, it was only fitting that the Boyne company finish there as well. We had our company closing party on Thursday in the hotel banquet hall. Associate company manager Ryan Parliment planned an excellent party including a slideshow, drinks, an amazing selection of food, and pictures from the tour in frames on each table. After the party, we all gathered at the hotel bar’s patio and spent the rest of the night enjoying each other’s company.

Some crew and management enjoy the closing party

Some of the troupe enjoying our last rotations of tour

The week seemed to fly by, as all good times always seem to do. The crowds were amazing and everything just seemed to fall into place. Touring for such a long time is not easy, neither is being away from family for so long, so we have all been each other’s family. We have all gotten so close, it is hard to say goodbye, but all good things must come to an end. So, it is bittersweet in saying good-bye to the Boyne company, but exciting for all of us to venture out on new endeavors. Thanks to all of my cast and crew members for giving me some of the best memories of my life, I will never forget my time in Riverdance. Good luck to each and everyone of you in all you do in the future! Also, thanks for reading my blog over the past couple of years, it has been a great run.

Take care…

Kevin

Read this on the Riverdance website: Riverdance Boyne Company Makes Two Final Stops!

This week we ventured on our last split week of a nine-month tour! Wow, we finally made it thru them all! It is crazy to think of how many cities we have visited and going to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Greenville, South Carolina this week added two more states to our tour list.

A train at the hotel in Chattanooga, TN

The first stop to Chattanooga was a first for Riverdance. This quaint little town in the Southern region of Tennessee was very unique. The hotel itself, the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, was an old converted train station from the early 1900s. In fact, the last train to ever depart the station left in 1973 and it became a hotel the year after. Themed after a train station, there are many shops and restaurants themed on trains, and the hotel even boasted of 27 actual vintage train cars converted to hotel rooms on the original tracks beside the hotel. Two dancers had the privilege of staying in a train car for a few of the nights, Paddy Coyne and Jason Bernard. They thought it was weird to wake in the morning and exit their room on a train platform from the early 1900s, but they were glad for the experience. We all helped them enjoy their room with a wine and cheese party one of the nights; some good “old fashioned” fun!

A group of us in a train car hotel room

Lead dancers Craig Ashurst and Mairead Masuda during their last show together as leads

The town itself was very cute and had many shops and restaurants. Just a quick free shuttle ride from the hotel was a downtown area that had a riverfront walk, aquarium, and trails through woods and such. We had some lazy days spent just wandering the town and enjoying the nice weather. Did I mention yet that it was very hot!!

Dancers Lexa, Mairead, and Jesse backstage in the physio office

A river next to the hotel in Greenville, SC

After our few days in Chattanooga, we headed to Greenville, South Carolina. I didn’t remember visiting this city until we arrived at the hotel and then it all came back to me. The hotel was located right next to the theater and in the downtown district that contained every type of restaurant and convenience that an out-of-towner could hope for. We have really been lucking out on hotel locations recently! The weekend went fairly quickly with five shows and before we knew it, we were off to Canada! Our second to last week was spent in Rama, Ontario in a casino. Check back to see how much money everyone won…and how much I lost!

Kevin

Read this on the Riverdance website: Riverdance Visits to Two More States!

Well we finally made it to the last week of tour, and its also the very last week of the Corrib Company so we tried to make it one to remember. It got off to a good start because we arrived in early into Nottingham so it gave us all plenty of time to get a short nap before we started getting ready for our big party. The company decided to throw us a lovely end of tour party where we were treated to a sit down meal and some drinks after. It was lovely to see everyone dressed up, the girls in their dresses and the boys in their shirts and ties.

The following day, Monday we had off also, so a group of us travelled to Sheffield (just an hour away) to see Westlife in concert. One of the perks of being from Sligo was that I was able to get 10 tickets from Shane as he’s also from Sligo. We all really enjoyed the show and I would recommend going to their concert if you like them as they put on a great performance.

Moscow Folk Ballet Company

Westlife

Patricia, Donna and Laura

So needless to say after those two busy days we were all very tired and spent the next few days relaxing. Although everyone was busy getting organised for going home. A lot of people were posting boxes of clothes home as they would have been over weight on the flight. We had some lovely sunny days in Nottingham also which made us feel very summery heading home.

Nottingham Square

On Sunday, the last day, we celebrated Maria Buffini’s birthday with her. We had lovely chocolate cake and sang her happy birthday. She got some lovely presents and she was delighted when we found out that we had to get the ferry home as the Ash cloud was causing delays, because this meant that we didn’t have to worry about excess baggage so, although the journey home would take a lot longer.

Maria

We were up early on Monday and all the Irish troupe headed off for the ferry at 8.30am. We departed Hollyhead at 2.05 pm and some of us didn’t get home until 10pm that night so it was a long day, but never the less we were delighted to be home. So for some of us that’s the end of Riverdance for more of us its just means a few weeks off until the Moy starts touring Ireland in June. So it gives us all to time to catch up with family and friends back home and maybe get a holiday in as well. I hope you have enjoyed reading my diary of tour life and hopefully you will hear from me again soon.

Patricia

Read this on the Riverdance website: Riverdance final week in UK – Nottingham