His Legs Flail About As If Independent From His Body

This is from one of my favorite episodes of FRIENDS (The One with the Embryos):
Ross - What, according to Chandler, scares 'the bejeezus' out of him?
Monica - Michael Flatley. Lord of the Dance!!
Joey - The Irish Jig Guy?!
Chandler - His legs flail about as if independent from his body!

Ok, so if you couldn't tell from my sudden increase in blog entries, fall semester is over and I actually have some free time again. Soon I'll be back to reading scientific papers and my Radar for Meteorologists book, but for now I have been enjoying catching up on my YouTube videos and streaming online TV shows. This is also necessary because I am away from my DVR and missing new episodes of those few shows not yet affected by the writers strike (*twitch twitch*).

Anywho, a friend informed me that on a recent episode of 'Dancing with the Stars' (don't worry, not a show I ever watch), the aforementioned Mr. Flatley made a special appearance. Excited as could be, I hopped online to see what the Lord of modern Irish Dance had come up with now. I sat through Jennie Garth, a Spice Girl, some racecar driver, and Marie Osmond worrying about their chances to make it to the finals of the main show until 'ol Mike and his troop performed.

A small aside - I was so interested in 'the irish jig guy' because I am a former Irish Step Dancer. Really the only reason I have not fully gone back to it is because there was no dance school where I went to college and there isn't one where I live now. I got started in about the 6th grade and got really good. I moved up quickly and was dancing with the most advanced class a couple years later. Some of the girls I was in classes with have recently competed at the Worlds competition in Ireland. But just as I was starting high school, I lost focus during practice for a competition and basically broke my ankle while doing my rocks (those moves where the dancer is up on their toes and then look like they roll over from one side to the other on them). To make a long story short (too late!) the only time I have been able to return to this old love was when I lived on the East Coast for a semester and found an AWESOME school. I miss it a lot and hope that one day I'll get to dance to that lovely accordian music again.


Now back to our regular programming - so they started the irish dance number, which was a great acapella hardshoe number...and then I realized: This wasn't from the newest show that they were touting ('Celtic Tiger') but rather from the previous show - Lord of the Dance. They just put the people in new costumes and completely reused old choreography! This really got me worried. Had they just pulled and repeated choreography for this 'new' show? A little investigation online and I was able to catch most of the premiere of 'Celtic Tiger'. While no full numbers were repeated in this new show (they must've just like that old choreography better for the ABC appearance), there were a few things that bothered me.

- He hasn't lost his signature moves. These include the main line wave. In both Riverdance and Lord of the Dance these can be seen in the final numbers. The chorus is in one long line and Michael directs a wave effect of stomps with a head turn. In this one, we have a wave of salutes. Also, Flatley still parades in front of the chorus. It really bothers me because it seems so pompous. Yes, I tip my hat to this man for all he has done to bring what so many people call 'Riverdancing' into the mainstream. (For future reference NEVER, EVER!!! call it that. Please, call it 'Irish dance' or 'Irish Step dance'. Consider yourself officially informed that this irks true dancers beyond all get-out.) He is also extremely talented, I give him that. But for Lord's sake, don't strut. You seem like a prize idiot when you should be leading your cast by dancing with them instead.


- He has GOT to be a horrible womanizer. I overlooked in Lord of the Dance when the girls in one number strip off their regular dresses and do a powerful hardshoe dance in basically a black sports bra, biker shorts, and tights. But in this show there is just gratouitous skimpiness in the costuming of the girls. One girl even spends half the show strutting around the stage in an American Flag sparkling bikini. Considering he is choreographer, lead dancer, and mastermind of the entire thing, I'm sure that's his doing. The way he grabs some of the lead girls in the finale number also just make me think he's probably a big talented jerk.

- Hi-tech doesn't necessarily mean better. The backdrop of the stage is one big video screen, basically. It's really distracting from the dance at many times because there is too much going on behind them. If, on a video, I am having trouble focusing in on the movement of the dancers' legs, I can't imagine what it is like being in the audience and sitting any further back than about 15 rows.

At the same time, though, there were some great points to this show. The Capone number, Freedom (where they showcase the variety of dance styles that make up American culture), and Dancing in the Dark are particularly well done.

No matter what I get annoyed by with Flatley and his shows, I still can't help but practice some of my old steps after I watch them. Almost any dancer I know still gets that bug and hears their old teachers in their head as they one-two-three down the hallway or tap on that hardwood floor in the kitchen. It's an infectious love of culture and tradition that has also gotten all the non-dancers in the world interested in Irish Dance since the infamous interval at the Eurovision song contest that started the phenomena of Riverdance over 13 years ago. So thank you Mr. Flatley, from the bottom of my heart for bringing your crazy version of irish dance to the world. Farewell for now...I'm going to go practice my leap-2-3s, trebles, and fishies for awhile, in hopes that I'll find a new school soon.