Riverdance in Tallahassee and Melbourne

February 26, 2007

Marcus Maloney, Dancer, Boyne Company

Late Monday afternoon we arrived in Tallahassee, Florida, the first stop of our month long, much anticipated Floridian leg of the tour. On arrival it was a little chillier than we had expected, but there were clear skies all the same! Tallahassee is the state capital of Florida, and although it seemed relatively small initially, it turned out to be a pleasant stop on the tour.

We welcomed back two seasoned Riverdance performers to the company here, the wonderfully talented Fiona Wight (Singer) and the charismatic Paul Booth (Sax). We were performing in the Leon County Civic Centre, an amazing 30,000 seater sports arena that had been modified to fit out our show. There was a great shopping mall across from the hotel as well as a cinema, where most company members could be spotted during the days, starting their 2007 fashion collections and catching up on the latest flicks. I took a visit on one of the days to the state capitol vicinity and climbed to the 22^nd floor of the observatory of the new Capitol Building. On a clear day I was informed you can see all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

From Tallahassee we travelled south to Melbourne. Many of you might be thinking the Boyne is in Australia! Unfortunately not this time around, there’s also a Melbourne in Florida. Many of our Australian cast members got great fun out of calling and texting home to tell family and friends they were in Melbourne! It may not have been Australia however we did get our first view of the ocean this tour and to top it off our hotel was located right on the beach.

Melbourne was a little warmer than Tallahassee, so the shorts and t-shirts got their first airing of the year. You’d never of thought it was mid February. The city of Melbourne is located on east central Florida’s Space Coast and is about an hour’s drive south of the Kennedy Space Centre, America’s busiest launch and landing facility. The beach hotel was great and it provided the first opportunity for people to sunbathe. At night many of the singers, dancers, and band members played card games on the terrace by the sea. The sound of the crashing waves of the Atlantic at night going to sleep was breathtaking. The highlight of our weekend in Melbourne was a beach party that took place Sunday night after the shows

It was great fun to all be together and to relax and enjoy ourselves by the ocean. Some company members brought along their instruments and a singsong was had. Here’s a picture of dancer Aisling’s new found talent, the guitar, or ‘Giita’ as it’s now known in the Boyne!

All our shows in Melbourne were sold out and although this was our first time performing here, I’ve a feeling we will be returning due to popular demand!

Monday morning bright and early different groups decided to make use of the day off and also the proximity to Orlando, and hit the theme parks. 2 separate groups went to Universal Studios and Disneyworld. Both are always a great day out here’s a picture of Lisa, Angela and Claire on Main Street USA in Disneyworld Orlando.