‘Riverdance’ is back, kicking things up a notch

In the Sunday Eagle a couple of weeks ago, an advertisement for Denver tourism touted “Riverdance” as one of the attractions coming to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in 2016.

But while Wichitans definitely will have to head to the Mile High City to see the Rocky Mountains on the horizon, they need only go up the road to Hartman Arena to catch the 20th-anniversary world tour of “Riverdance.”

The thunderous, goosebump-raising, Irish-step-dancing company will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in Park City.

And if you wonder what version of “Riverdance” this is and where it’s been the past several years, the answer is: It’s the same show that’s never stopped touring – it’s just been in countries such as China and Japan. And the athleticism of a new generation of dancers has kicked it up a notch.

Since 2012, “the focus has been on the other side of the world, because the market there has been growing,” Julian Erskine, senior executive producer, said in a telephone interview from Dublin. Erskine was named executive producer of “Riverdance” in 1995, the year it became a phenomenon abroad. It came to the United States the next year. It finally made its way to Wichita in 2000, where it had an eight-show run at Century II. It returned there in 2011.

“We were 16 years nonstop through North America,” Erskine said. “No harm to take a break. We’re back for the 20th anniversary.”

The original beloved show is at its heart the same, but the audience will notice fitter dancers; new costumes, lighting and technology; and one new number when it hits Hartman Arena.

“It’s stayed very true to its origins,” Erskine said.

And audiences are thrilled, said Ciara Sexton, one of the three female principal dancers on this U.S. tour.

“I’ve been taken aback by how we’ve been received,” Sexton said from a stop in Cheyenne, Wyo., earlier this week. “People are so appreciative that we’re back.”

The Spanish flamenco dancer returns, as do the Moscow folk dancers, American tappers and the Irish dancers, all authentic, Julian said. Most of the Irish dancers are from Ireland, but there are also members from the main countries to which the Irish emigrated during the 19th-century potato famine in Ireland: the United States, Canada, England and Australia. Sexton is from Coventry, England; her Irish parents had her in Irish dance lessons at age 3, before it was cool.

“The extraordinary thing about Irish dancing is that it’s exactly the same the world over,” Erskine said. Even in Japan.

A Japanese man who became so consumed with “Riverdance” that he gave up his job and moved to Ireland to learn to dance, finally becoming a member of the company, now runs Irish dance schools back in Japan.

“There is that odd legacy that there are people all around the world in Irish dance, in countries where there otherwise was no connection with Ireland,” Erskine said. (Except Guinness, of course, he added.)

In its 20 years, “Riverdance” has done much more than expand its reach worldwide. It has led to other Irish music shows, such as “Lord of the Dance” and “Celtic Woman.”

“ ‘Riverdance’ was the first professional Irish show; there hadn’t been one touring. There hadn’t been such a thing as professional Irish dancing before ‘Riverdance.’ It had been a hobby. We turned it into a career. There are now thousands of people earning a living” in Irish dance. Even Russia has 60 Irish dance schools.

“I was about 7 when it came out, and I remember just being mesmerized,” Sexton said. She then became grateful for her earlier training. “When I was growing up, quite a few people were brought to Irish dance, and it’s all thanks to this one show and how it exploded. It just made Irish dance so cool and accessible.”

“Riverdance” even made Irish dancing more common in Ireland itself. Irish festivals have sprung up, and Irish dancing is featured in pubs, where it wasn’t before until people started clamoring for Irish dance after seeing “Riverdance,” Erskine said. “Riverdance” also plays at a small Victorian theater in Dublin every summer.

One new number has been added to “Riverdance” for its anniversary: “Anna Livia,” an a cappella song with hard-shoe rhythms featuring female dancers. “Riverdance” composer Bill Whelan worked with the choreographer so that the number is visual and aural, Erskine said. “If you close your eyes, you can almost see the number with your ears.”

Whelan’s jazz bent is what gives “Riverdance” an edge, Erskine said.

“It is at heart traditional Irish music,” and the dancing is traditional, “but it’s like you’ve never seen it. There’s more room to move and breathe and experiment.

“The other thing that people maybe don’t even think about is the cast turns over all the time, and that’s what I think keeps it constantly fresh is that there’s a lot of young new dancers in this company and they’ve brought the show to yet another level because they’re very fit, very strong. It’s one of the best companies we’ve ever had,” Erskine said.

Dancers are bringing in a lot of techniques from the world of athletics, Erskine said, and that makes them faster, “especially the lead dancers when they can accelerate if they want to. Trading taps with the African-American tappers, where there’s that free form and free flow ... some of the stuff they pull off there is extraordinary.”

The 27-year-old Sexton, whose partner is James Greenan when it’s their turn to be the lead dancers, said that the rigors of the road and the performance schedule make it very important for the performers to take care of themselves.

“I believe it’s something that you really have to be built for,” she said of travel. “It’s very hard on your body.” Sexton says she is built for it and loves it. She swims to relax and use all of her muscles, and all the performers drink lots of protein to repair their muscles, she said.

There are no plans to end “Riverdance’s” run. Over all the years, the No. 1 comment Erskine hears about the show is that it’s “uplifting. People go away from the show feeling good. If we can send out an audience into the night trying to dance, we feel we succeeded. If you want to dance, then we’ve made you happy.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 3:34 PM with the headline "‘Riverdance’ is back, kicking things up a notch."