In celebration of the diversity of the cultures of the world, Riverdance performed at the Education Without Borders 2009 Gala Dinner and Desert Night at the Atlantis Palm, Dubai on the 30th March 2009

Joan is one of Ireland’s best-known film costume designer DFGs working at home and abroad. Film credits include My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father and Dancing at Lughnasa. She began her career in Theatre and Architectural Design, winning awards in both areas. She designed Brian Friel’s Translations starring Brian Dennehy on Broadway, and returned to New York’s Lincoln Center in 1999 for their Friel season.

Female Lead Maria Buffini and Male Lead Joe Moriarty are interviewed in the March 2009 special Riverdance issue of Irish Dancing Magazine.

“I did have a successful competitive dancing career winning most of the major titles such as Great Britain’s, British National’s, All Scotland’s and placed in the top 3 at All Ireland’s and World’s. That came with a lot of hard work and determination over the years and it also helped that my mum was my dancing teacher.”

“We are often on long tours and far from home so of course we miss our families and friends. We try to keep in touch with them as much as possible and many people have family come to visit while on tour. We also have great friends within the group so we all try to support each other while on the road.”

“When I’m on a long tour I do get homesick… I miss my family and close friends but with things like Skype it is made much easier and my family do try and visit which gives me something to look forward to also.”

“The best Riverdance moment for me was my first. The first city I danced in was Omaha, Nebraska. Everyone was so welcoming & I was excited to be there.”

Opening night went very well. We sold out for the entire week in Beijing and there was great energy among the cast. In attendance to the show were the Irish Ambassador of China and the Irish Olympic Boxing team. They took time out from their vigorous schedules and were able to see the show and meet the cast afterwards.

It was hard to believe that we reached our final city in Japan, but Osaka was a great place to end our run in this wonderful country. Osaka is often dubbed the second city of Japan and boasts of a population in its metropolitan area of 17.2 million people. It was a switch to be back in such a large city after our split weeks, but a good one at that.