Student Bloggers
Riverdance
Date
June 25, 2015
By Colleen H., University College Dublin Internship, Ireland
One of the most popular shows returned to Dublin for the 20th anniversary at the beautiful Gaiety Theater. The Arcadia students were all fortunate enough to get tickets for the opening night as a part of our free included excursions. Of all the events provided by Arcadia, this was the one I was looking forward to the most.
Growing up, I did competitive Irish dancing from third grade to the beginning of eighth grade. I always loved to dance, but I had to choose between soccer or dancing. As an Irish dancer everyone dreamed of one day being in Riverdance as the lead because the dancers were so incredibly skilled. Every move was to perfection, and understanding how hard the moves really are gives me so much more of an appreciation for what they are doing.
The show was amazing!!!! All of us had a great time and the show was consistently entertaining without any dull moments. The footwork was incredible. All the fast and loud movements of the feet in hard shoes look almost impossible to do. The soft shoe dances were so elegant and the dancers would do beautiful jumps with one foot up and one foot back along with other footwork.
The show tells a story of what the people of Ireland faced and also how elements of Irish dancing have been incorporated into other forms of dancing like tap, salsa, and Russian dancing. Other than the traditional Irish dancing during the show, the tap dancing with a scene based in New York was my favorite and the funniest part of the show. The scene is meant to be a face off between traditional Irish dancing and tap dancing. The two sides make fun of and imitate the other and show how they do their own style.
I am so happy I got to see Riverdance and relive the dreams I had when I was younger.
Colleen Hess is a student atWashington State University and is blogging from her summer abroad with the University College Dublin Internship program in Dublin, Ireland.