Riverdance returns with new additions

Riverdance will tour more than 20 cities and perform nearly 100 shows across China. Photo provided to China Daily

The Irish dance spectacular Riverdance has launched a three-month tour in China that continues through February, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the acclaimed production. The show will come to Beijing from Dec 26 to 30.

The production premiered at the Point Theater in Dublin in 1995. Zhang Ligang, the promoter who has brought Riverdance to China eight times previously beginning in 2004, says the current production delivers a fresh experience for old a new fans in the country.

Zhang, director of Beijing Beizhan Performing Arts Co Ltd, says this anniversary version of Riverdance will tour over 20 cities and perform nearly 100 shows in China. Besides the traditional Irish tap dancing, folk music, ancient Celtic mythology and Irish history, a Russian folk dance will return to the show after being cut from recent productions.

A new female group free dance, Thunderstorm, attracts a group of male dancers, who show off their impressive footwork and create their own musical beats with tap shoes.

"Ever since the show's China debut at Beijing's iconic venue, Great Hall of the People, in 2004, it toured in China almost every year and each show has received long ovations," says Zhang. "It's a miracle that the show has gone beyond countries and cross-cultural differences for two decades."

He notes that the show has evolved every year, with new Irish dancing champions and new elements being added.

The ongoing tour will feature two popular Chinese folk songs, Love Song of Kangding and My Motherland.

When Riverdance toured China in 2010, the Irish composer Bill Whelan, who created the original 7-minute musical in 1994 and later worked on the full-length Riverdance, adapted the two popular Chinese folk songs into the show.

"Riverdance originates from Irish music and dance. Ever since it became an internationally celebrated show, it has naturally developed into a production combining a variety of genres, from flamenco, rock to jazz and African percussion. All of them work in great harmony," the composer said when he was in Beijing during the show's 2010 tour.

Riverdance was born in April 1994, when Michael Flatley and Jean Butler, two Irish dance champions, performed a 7-minute tap dance at the Eurovision Song Contest, a TV talent show similar to American Idol. A year later, the full-length Riverdance went on stage at the Point Theater, Dublin, for a sell-out five-week run.

The kick-off performance for the 20th anniversary was staged at Limerick City of Culture, Ireland, in January this year.

Limerick native Whelan said in an interview: "When I was growing up in Limerick I used to dream about making music my life. I could never have imagined that one day I would be bringing a show, which had spent 20 years touring the world back to my own birthplace".

"When Bill and I started to work on the Eurovision interval act in 1994, little did either of us think that 20 years later, Riverdance would have grown into a world-wide phenomenon that has been seen by over 23 million people," says Moya Doherty, producer of Riverdance.

IF YOU GO

7:30 pm, Dec 26-30. Beijing Exhibition Theater, 135 Xizhimenwai Dajie (Street), Haidian district, Beijing. 400-610-3721.

7:30 pm, Jan 1-18. Shanghai Cultural Square, 36 Yongjia Lu (Road), Shanghai. 021-6472-6000.

7:45 pm, Dec 9. Sofitel Convention Center and Grand Theater, 319 Dongxin Jie (Street), Xincheng District, Xi'an. 029-8827-6638