Riverdance announce their 20th Anniversary UK tour in fine style with a very special performance on ITV’s hit prime time show ‘Ant & Dec’s Saturday Takeaway’. Both Ant and Dec joined in with the Riverdance troupe with amazing results, wowing the audience in the studio and at home with their mastery of the routine.
This 20th Anniversary UK Tour, gives Riverdance fans old and new, the opportunity to celebrate an incredible milestone for an incredible show. Twenty years after it took its first steps, a truly phenomenal piece of theatrical entertainment is back by popular demand. Don’t miss this anniversary tour!
On the road; one suitcase, one carry on. So what do we pack and how do we manage to squeeze it all in? Well, here in Riverdance we are forced to condense all our favorites and essentials into one small bag. So when we do it, we do it good. I have once again picked several cast and crew members to pour their hearts out and divulge their most personal item which they feel they cannot live without.
Moving onto one of the most memorable moments on tour, a visit to the Great Wall of China in Mutianyu. We were extremely lucky to visit the day after Chinese New Year celebrations since we experienced an un-crowded and sunny trip to this magnificent “Wonder of the World”……………
This has been a wonderful tour of China and I hope you have enjoyed my visual documentation of this colorful, diverse and welcoming country.
Sitting in my hotel room in Changsha, it made me wonder about Riverdance in 1994 “back in the day” and how difficult it was keeping in contact with loved ones when lets face it, there were very little methods of overseas communication. Speaking to Niamh O’Connor, my dance captain and the only original dancer from the show from its inception, I try to gain an understanding of how things have changed. “There was no such thing as the internet. The only thing we could do was buy phone cards to phone home with…..
We were welcomed to Chengshu by a huge sign at the entrance to our hotel referring to us as “The Hoofers of Riverdance”. A girly afternoon followed as me, Nicola, Nicole and Fiona took a wander through the hutongs of Chengshu. Later that night after a long search for food, we were once again propped on little stools at an intriguing little family restaurant. We returned on the second night and although it is impossible to tip in China, we sneakily left double our bill amount (£6.60 for 6 people!!) and exited quickly.
We had a few great days in Heifei……we enjoyed some fantastic street food outside our hotel and were glammed and ready in preparation for Emma Warren and Niamh O’Connor’s birthdays. The local German bar named Bacchus was the party spot, chosen of course after much research on TripAdvisor (A note to anyone visiting, VPN for accessing Facebook, Twitter etc, TripAdvisor and any free translation app you can find are your best friends!).
The Opening Ceremony of the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival will take place in Dublin’s Mansion House of Friday 8th February. Now in its 6th year, the opening ceremony is an evening of Intercultural Sino-Irish celebration and Riverdance will perform two numbers as part of this spectacular showcase.
The Riverdance cast at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin, join Jedward’s Dream Factory to fulfill one little girl’s dream to meet and dance with Riverdance. Broadcast on RTE 2 on 3rd January 2013.
First there is a visit for 9 year old Irish Dancer, Sofi-Mei Lally to Riverdance wardrobe department to be dressed in her very own specially made Riverdance costume.
Then lead Dancers Maria Buffini and Jason O’Neill bring Sofi-Mei to the Gaiety Theatre Dublin to dance as part of the line up on stage with the Riverdance Troupe.
After carefully selecting my images for this week’s blog, I realized they all share one common theme. All of them convey how I have encountered different aspects of Chinese culture on tour. Whether it’s through a bus window or during a ravenous search for street food, I happened upon some intriguing and foreign aspects of daily life here in China.