“YES, WE CAN DANCE”

November 2, 2009

Anthony Fallon, Corrib Company

Hey everyone!
This is my blog on my time teaching Ross Anthony aka Rossy on the hit German dance show “YES WE CAN DANCE”.
I taught Ross Anthony, the male principle role of “Riverdance” for a Live performance on prime time television.

September 25th, I arrived in Germany with the Riverdance cast to begin our Farewell tour by dancing on the “Carmen Nebel show”.
Before rehearsals for the show Julian Erskine and myself set off to the sports hall in Duisburg to meet Ross for the first time. I must say Ross is a bubbly character. We got straight to business – I don’t think Ross realised what he had put himself up for .
We started with the basics. This first dance class was recorded as part of the “YES WE CAN DANCE” rehearsals – it put both Ross and myself under a lot of pressure – but the laugh we had was worth it . Gradually, Ross started to get the hang of it and just as he got comfortable, he was surprised with the appearance of ten of the Riverdance troupe, who had come to dance alongside him. We started slowly but gradually he was getting more and more into it. But unfortunately for Ross, we had no time left as we had to leave for the our performance on the “Carmen Nebel show”.

 

 

Whilst the rest of the Riverdance Corrib company headed to Slovenia for the tour, I headed to Berlin for a week’s rehearsal with Ross.
We had a lot of work to do and not a lot time considering our busy schedules. I met Ross on day one of our four day rehearsals and began going back over the basics that we had done in Duisburg.
All was looking good, so it was time to start the good stuff – The solo routine! We started slowly with a few high clicks here and there. I think Ross was quite shocked when he realised it was not at all as easy as he had thought and the shoes were getting more and more painful . Gradually after a few days of rehearsals, it was time to meet the Riverdancers from the Riverdance ‘Flying Squad’ who had flown in from Ireland and the UK.
Before we knew it we were in tech rehearsals and dress rehearsals and then it was Showtime. We were all so excited and considering the hard work Ross had put in, we really wanted to do our best. The show was brilliant and Ross had done us proud and now it was time for the good stuff. The Results!
Ross, of course, wowed the audience. Presenter Kai Pflaume announced Rossy as the winner by the public vote. We were all so excited – we had qualified for the final.
October 15th, Riverdance was playing in Berlin Tempedrom for the week and it was also the week of the final of ““YES WE CAN DANCE” also in Berlin.

 

Thursday arrived and I was on the way back out to the studio to meet with Ross for a rehearsal for the final.
Ross had been busy with work commitments and I was on tour in Zurich and Vienna so it was a well needed rehearsal.
We got straight into it and thankfully Ross had been working on his material. Once again before we knew it the Riverdance Flying Squad troupe had flown in and we were in dress rehearsal for the final. We were all so excited as we had won the previous heat with Ross and wanted to do it again.

 

We were all pumped up and it was show time. The audience went crazy for Ross and we had a standing ovation the whole way through the performance. It was such a good buzz, we all came off on a high. Then it was results time. It got down to the last two acts and one was to be named the winner. It was so intense.
Unfortunately for us it was Stefan the ‘Michael Jackson Act’ who won. We were disappointed.
But it was good to know Ross and Stefan split the prize money 50 / 50 between their chosen charities.

We had a great night at the after show party and it was such a great experience
Congrats Rossy and on behalf of “Riverdance” it was a pleasure.
Thanks to all who voted!
Anthony