Riverdance Romance

April 30, 2009

Romance has most certainly been in the air for the 15 years that Riverdance has been touring. Is it the long hours spent practicing and touring together or simply the romantic notion of travelling the world and seeing the most beautiful places together? We find out what’s behind all the Riverdance Romances.

Melissa and Declan

Having been close friends for a year before, we got together while on tour in Australia/New Zealand in 1998. In NZ our apartments were next door to each other. Melissa wasn’t getting the proper nourishment, so I started out being her personal Chef.

We have been together since 1998 and got engaged whilst on tour in New York in October 2005 and got married in May 2007.

The craic is great within the cast and everyone gets to know each other quickly. It can be a lonely experience without a close friend, on what can be long tours. It is generally a very happy, carefree time and experience.

Getting engaged in New York is high on the list of my fondest Riverdance memories. New York is such a special place for us, having lived and worked there with Riverdance (it was where Melissa made her debut as Principal dancer ) on Broadway. We actually hope to live there as Melissa plans to open a dancing school there shortly. We are also proud to announce that we had a baby boy named Rian on 3rd February!

Orla and Gary

Gary and I met whilst working with Riverdance on Broadway. We had always been friends but the first kiss happened at a Pogues concert in New York on St. Patrick’s night 2001. We have been together for eight years now and we just got married last July!

We still work together but not too often. We are both doing Flying Squad work together and heading to Salzburg this weekend with Riverdance to do a television show. I think the main cause of Riverdance romances is that there’s so many young single people out touring the world together, away from home. But maybe they sneak something into the water! My fondest memory of being a Riverdance couple is falling in love in New York together. Gary also proposed in front of the Sphinx in Egypt on a Riverdance Flying Squad trip in 2007, which was extremely special, not only for it’s location but the purpose of the trip itself and due to our long history with the show.

Maeve and Darren

We met on my first tour with Riverdance whilst touring Japan and China with the Liffey company in 2003 . Our first date was in Tokyo! We have been together for over five years now but we don’t work together anymore as Darren doesn’t tour now. Instead, he has set up his own school in Arizona, the Maguire Academy of Irish Dance, so I teach with him on my down time from the show, which works out great for us.

I think romance blossoms amongst cast members of Riverdance because you spend so much time with each other travelling, working, socialising and visiting all these fantastic places that it’s nice to have someone to share it with. 

There are so many fond memories of being a Riverdance couple as we have been all over the world together and seen the most amazing sights, including the Great Wall of China – one of my favourite places.

Deirdre and Michael

We met in Killarney in 2006 as we were both dancing in the Riverdance show at the time. We clicked straight away and have been together ever since!
We have now been together for two and a half years and are both currently studying for degrees in London but still find time to perform on Flying Squad gigs. We have performed all over the world, and have just returned from a show in Austria where we met Placido Domingo, Johnny Logan, Enya and Chris de Burgh.
Riverdance is a great way of doing what you love and seeing the world. The members of the show spend so much time together, and you meet so many new and interesting people with common interests – romance is always on the cards.

Our fondest memory is difficult to distinguish from so many great Flying Squad gigs. We are just back from Beijing, where we performed for the Chinese New Year in front of a television audience of 1.3 billion people. The whole experience was amazing; we walked the Great Wall of China and visited the Forbidden City. We were with a great group of people and the celebrations for the Chinese New Year were spectacular.