Paula Xiberras spoke to the lovely Peta last week fresh from a successful performance at Newcastle as Riverdance begins its farewell tour of Australia. Peta is sad that this is being billed as the farewell tour as she would like nothing more than to be touring with this show ‘forever’.

Cast and crew are reunited at Dublin airport. Hugs, kisses and lots of chit chat fills the air, as we all catch up on the past few months. It’s been a while since the Moy Company have travelled together. It’s also an exciting day for new dancers Patrick O’Mahony, Emma Warren, John Lonergan, Louise O’Sullivan and Shaun Kelly who will perform with Riverdance for the first time ever on the upcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand. Peta Anderson from Sydney will also join the company when we land in Australia.

Riverdance is a young Irish boy’s dream come true.
For Belfast native Jason O’Neill, being an audience member at one of the iconic show’s performances was a moment he’ll never forget.
I saw Riverdance when I was 10, and it just changed my life, said O’Neill, who now works as a lead dancer with Riverdance.

Riverdance: The Music of Bill Whelan – NCH Dublin – 17 May
featuring the WORLD PREMIERE of the RIVERDANCE SYMPHONIC SUITE
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
David Brophy conductor
Thursday 17 May, 8pm
National Concert Hall

Meanwhile, our male troupe had an early start as they performed live on Canada’s largest TV show, Canada AM. Their PR duties must have paid off as the audiences in Toronto were the most memorable of the tour with a whopping near 10,000 people attending our shows!

Boston itself ,being a city quite influenced by the Irish, makes it a hub for many Irish Dancing Schools. We were so thrilled to welcome Irish Dance students from many different dance academies to our performances over the weekend period. Autograph signing and partaking in group shots with throngs of young dancers and enthusiasts makes my job on the road as exciting as ever.

“Je suis heureuse et fière d’avoir la chance de participer au dernier show en Amérique du Nord, même si ça va être émouvant pour nous tous et un peu triste. Je ne sais pas quand ni où, mais je suis certaine que je vais retravailler avec Riverdance un jour. ” Niamh Ní Charra

From Saginaw to Syracuse, between easter eggs and new fiddle players, It is only now I’ve had a minute to come up for air and share with you some more stories from our life on the road. We have come past the half way point of our final farewell tour and things are still as exciting as ever! Indulge in my tales from our home away from home.

We work on methods of improving fitness and core strength but I also introduced weights and resistance training, something a lot of us girls wouldn’t dream of doing! Chloey comments “A lot of women think that by lifting weights it will make them bulky. It won’t! There are many benefits including the fact that it can raise your metabolic rate which is an important factor in maintaining body weight. By just aerobic training you’ll struggle to get a lean, toned body.