Greetings and welcome back to the Boyne’s North American tour. Mid December we descended upon Fresno, California, in a rather festive spirit to commence the next leg of the Boyne tour. We welcomed back both old and new cast and crew to a long 6 month tour across America and Canada. Many of us had been expecting a much warmer climate in California. To our surprise it was a little chillier than anticipated. Cold climates were something however that we would have to become accustomed to though, as in the coming months we were to experience a snowy winter chill for at least the coming 3 months. The show opened to a rapturous standing ovation. Some of us had forgotten how amazing the North American audiences can be, something that is universal across every city we visited in the past and no doubt it would continue onto the coming cities.

Capitol Building Sacramento

Christmas Eve we enjoyed a festive bus journey to Sacramento where we would be spending 2 weeks over the Christmas vacation. Carols and festive games were the order of the day on the bus.

Christmas would be spent at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. This hotel has an executive floor that Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger uses when he is in Sacramento for state business. Sacramento is the state capitol of California and home to all government activities. While Sacramento is often overlooked by tourists seeking the better know Californian cities, it still had an exciting range of educational and historic attractions sure to entertain anyone.

This is the first Christmas that the Boyne has spent on the road and although we all missed home and the traditional family day, we tried our very best to make it as special as we could. Christmas Eve Mass and Carol Services were quickly followed by traditional mulled wine. Waking up Christmas morning, we all exchanged gifts before descending upon the Inaugural Boyne Christmas Buffet. Wonderful food, great drinks and a special Kris Kindle exchange preceded an evening in the lobby where Christmas carols and Irish favourites took us well into the night.

Christmas in the Boyne; Deirdre Hamilton, Anne Toner, Christina Havlin and Christina Mc Grath enjoying the festivities!

New Year’s Eve involved the usual Riverdance showbiz lifestyle and limos were ordered for a special New Year celebration at the Supper Club in San Francisco. 2008 was counted in, in the most fashionable Riverdance style.

New Years Eve in San Francisco

January took us up further north from California to Idaho, Oregon and Washington State and to snowier and colder climates. Eugene, Oregon is a classic American college town. As most people are aware I’m sure there is quite a heated American Presidential election ongoing in America this year. And the tone of the election has also made it to tour life. Some banter between cast members is now ongoing through out the tour. To say the least Clinton, Obama and Mc Cain all have many loyal supporters in the Boyne! Idaho took us to its State Capitol of Boise and home of the famous Idaho potato! This tour we are lucky to have two Riverdance children on tour; the wonderful Mhia and Sasha. Mhia is the beautiful daughter of Michael Samuels (Baritone) and Gaby, and Sasha is the proud daughter of Russian dancers Andrei and Natalya. To say they are the most favoured members of the company would be an understatement.

Zara Curtis and our tour babies, Sasha and Mhia

As always I try to involve a little backstage banter and here is a photo of troupe checks which take place before each show every night. Included are some photos of rehearsals and rotations. Before every show we have what we call rotations, which basically means we set out the places for each dance for that specific show. No one show is ever the same, we swap places and routines almost every show to keep it fresh and interesting for both us and the audience. Before each performance we have a full cardio warm up and stretching class, which helps minimise injury. And again after the show we have a cool down stretching period that again assists in keeping our bodies injury free.

Troupe Checks in the Boyne

Gathering for Troupe Checks!

Join me next time for our tales from the wonderful American cities of Portland, Seattle and Salt Lake City. Until then......

The view on the bus on travel day from California to the more northern states.