Riverdance Evaluation

I decided to watch The Best of Riverdance for my investigational response. The video I watched included 18 best of Riverdance performances. Riverdance is considered a stage show featuring Irish step dancing and Irish music. The first original piece referred to as “Riverdance” was performed in 1994 at the Eurovision Song Contest in Ireland. The piece was well received and prompted Moya Doherty (Producer), Bill Whelean (Composer and Musician), and John McColgan (Director and Producer) to create a full-length show known as Riverdance.
Several of the dance performances included Michael Flatley who is well known in the dance community as the “Lord of Dance.” There were several collaborative pieces throughout the video. Two of my favorite pieces were danced by Riverdance and the Russian Folk Ballet Company. The first piece it’s self was a mixture of Irish Step Dancing and Ballet. The dance told of the legend of Shivna. Shivna is a Chieftain or King who loses his mind and lives deep within an oak forest. Shivna is possessed by the moon goddess who torments and tempts him and eventually leads him to his …show more content…
The dance drew its inspiration from Celtic poetry from the 17th century. The piece represents female strength in death and rule as Countess Cathleen and her court of ladies’ dance to a happy tune in the first few minutes of the piece, but then are encountered by invading males. The ladies of the court escape the men and Countess Cathleen battles the men on her own; however, the ladies come back to the court and join Countess Cathleen and defeat the male dancers once in for all. Dancers wore both hard shoes and soft shoes in this piece and used a variety different technique. I noticed that Irish Step Dancing has similar steps that could be compared to tap and