Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting mainly of traditional Irish music and dance.
Riverdance was first performed as an interval act during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler, Michael Flatley and the vocal ensemble Anúna. Shortly afterwards, the husband and wife production team John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded it into a stage show which opened in Dublin in February 1995. Since then, the show has visited over 450 venues worldwide and been seen by over 25 million people, making it one of the most successful dance productions in the world. The music composed by Bill Whelan is rooted in a three-part suite of baroque-influenced traditional music called Timedance. Timedance was first composed, recorded and performed for the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted by Ireland. At the time, Bill Whelan and Dónal Lunny composed the music, augmenting the Irish folk band Planxty with a rock rhythm section of electric bass and drums and a four-piece horn section. The piece was performed, with accompanying ballet dancers, during the interval of the contest and later released as a Planxty single. Thirteen years later, Whelan was invited to do the intermission piece again for another Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin and composed Riverdance. During the seven-minute interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest at the Point Theatre in Dublin, the performance was transmitted to an estimated 300 million viewers worldwide and earned a standing ovation from the packed theatre audience. The performance is considered the most well known interval act in Eurovision Song Contest history. Lead dancers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler transformed the previously chaste and reserved traditional dance form into something else entirely. The song Riverdance was released as a single featuring Anúna and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and entered the Irish Singles Chart at No. 1 right after the Eurovision debut, staying there for 18 weeks.Bill Whelan, (born May 1950 in Limerick) is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing Riverdance and spawning a worldwide craze for Celtic music and Irish dancing. Riverdance also won him a Grammy. Whelan has been involved in many ground-breaking projects in Ireland since the 1970s. As a producer he has worked with U2, Van Morrison, Kate Bush, The Dubliners and fellow Limerick man Richard Harris.
