July 1, 2021
“ Hi everyone , I am Amy-Mae Dolan, a Principal Dancer in Riverdance.
Since the pandemic hit I have been at home in Aghyaran, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. In March 2020 I was with my Riverdance team and family at the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, England when we were told that our 25th Anniversary Tour was coming to an end due to Covid19. As a team we had worked extremely hard with the new 25th Anniversary Show. We could not wait to show the world, Riverdance – like they had never seen it before.
At first when I came home I felt a little lost and questioned what am I going to get up to now? But I had to adapt very quickly and I took on new jobs, responsibilities and worked on maintaining my fitness and performance levels for Riverdance and chased some goals that I had. One of those goals was to create a YouTube channel with the intention to vlog my life on tour again some day. But I had to learn a lot. How to film, edit, create branding, promotion and once I learnt all these new skills I was able to start creating. And I love connecting with my audience on YouTube.
Another creative outlet for me has been dancing and creating short videos for Instagram Reels and TikTok. I absolutely love this and sometime I have to bring family and friends onboard to film the videos. I also create fashion, food, fitness and mindset content. Last year I also trained to be a Reformer Pilates instructor with the local business called Pro Physio NI. I have used Pilates over the last 10 years to help my dancing so it is really nice to work with clients a couple of times a week. I have been very fortunate to work with Irish dancers. I have given motivation talks and have worked closely with a number of dance schools, teaching Irish dance. It’s something I hope to keep up going forward.
It has been incredible to be able to spend so much quality time with my family and friends here at home. I have enjoyed having extra time to go walking with my family, heading to the beach and even more time in the house to cook and bake: something that I absolutely love to do.
Right now I am just working really really hard to maintain and increase my fitness and performance to return to Riverdance. I’m cross-training with dancing, yoga, Pilates and going to the gym. I cannot wait to be back on tour with Riverdance and I am so excited to be reunited with my Riverdance family and to entertain audiences from all over the world. And hopefully I will see you in a theatre soon.
The Gardiner Brothers
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