Expo 2020 Dubai: Irish sensation Riverdance to make its World Expo debut

Gulf News

It’s a rapid fluttering of the feet with disciplined upper body strength. Yet, grace and elegance exude in every stomp of the foot and snap of the head, all the while the exhilarating smiles of the skipping ensemble never falter. Falling somewhere between ballet and tap dance, the Riverdance technique is a cultural spectacle that took the world by the storm in 1994. Now, visitors of Expo 2020 Dubai will witness the vibrancy of Irish heritage with a Middle Eastern touch in November.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/1.82793991  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #Expo2020Dubai #Ireland

Transcript

00:00The Riverdance started back in 1994 as the interval act for the Eurovision Song Contest.

00:13At that time, Moya Doherty, our producer, and our great, incredible female leader that

00:19she is, along with her husband, John McColgan, and our composer, Bill Whelan, they were the

00:24ones who effectively brought what was a seven-minute interval act to the full-scale production

00:29that we know as Riverdance today.

00:31It has toured the world for the last 26, 27 years now, and it has had global fame.

00:39No matter where we go around the world, there seems to be a connection between Riverdance,

00:43its music, and its performers with whatever territory we might be in.

00:48And we think that that is what is so unique and so special, and the reason why this global

00:52phenomenon continues to tour the world.

00:55For the first time in our history, we are now including Middle Eastern performers in

01:00this show.

01:01So we have terrific musicians that are going to join this show playing instruments unique

01:06to this area.

01:08So that's going to completely transform how we hear Riverdance, and Bill Whelan, who is

01:12our Grammy Award-winning composer, he's not only excited by that, he's interested to help

01:17the music evolve even more, if that's even possible, because it is a Grammy Award-winning,

01:23timeless piece of music.

01:24Yet we still have people in the organization who are open to thinking differently about

01:29how we can present it.

01:31So that's one area as to how Riverdance will be different.

01:34There's no intermission in this show.

01:36It's 90 minutes solid straight through.

01:38So for the performers, that is an extraordinary challenge that they are looking forward to

01:42being able to do.

01:44So this is a version of the show that we have never done before.

01:47One of the driving forces behind this collaboration between Ireland and the UAE has been Her Excellency

01:53Reem El-Hashimi, and it was mainly along with her vision and her perseverance and drive,

02:00she wanted to be able to ensure that we could share our culture and that we could learn

02:04from other cultures, and that's where the masterclasses would have come from.

02:07We've done them in other countries, but never here, and it became a pivotal part in having

02:12Riverdance at Expo.

02:14So we're excited to have around 45, somewhere between 45 and 50 masterclasses across the

02:19various different district stages, and in Dubai, where we are going to teach people

02:24to dance.

02:25Visitors can catch it on the Jubilee Park stage from November 3rd to November 27th,

02:31and you can find all the information on Expo.com.

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