Born in the United States to parents who had moved across the Atlantic from Ireland less than ten years before, Michael Flatley comes from a classic 'dual heritage'.
He was born July 16th 1958, so grew up during the 1960's and 70's, decades of rapid growth and change in both countries, and thanks to his family's continued close contact with Ireland, he spent considerable time in both countries. The lifestyles of the two family places must have been in dramatic contrast then, much more so than today, Chicago a big modern city, while the Ireland the Flatley family came from (Sligo and Carlow) remained very rural and traditional both in the amenities of life and in lifestyle and outlook. Life in a major America city would have been tough and fast-paced, that of rural Ireland quiet and relatively secluded from the outside world, yet in some ways the connections would still have been very close. In past years in Ireland, it was not uncommon to find those who had never been to Dublin, yet had been to America, because Irish families are such strong units that often the Atlantic Ocean might as well be a 'Pond', as it is sometimes nicknamed.
 | The second of a family of five, Michael came from a line of strong, high-achieving people, with both sports and the arts in his blood. Inspiration was strong within his family for all the areas of his own talents, with Champions in dance, music and boxing all close by. Michael, however, brought all the family gifts together with early high achievements in all three fields, in his mid-teens winning a Chicago Golden Gloves boxing title, the All-Ireland Flute Championship, and becoming the first American to win the World Irish Dancing Championships. |
Later, he would add such diverse achievement as becoming a Chess Master, and during a very short space of time, significant in that his aptitude for such a 'game of the mind' highlights a razor-sharp intellect, and requires creativity, ability to focus and take on challenge against the odds, and determination to succeed, all qualities that have shone out throughout Michael's life.
The Flatley family established strong roots in Chicago, developing their own successful construction company, against which background Michael and his brother and sisters were raised with a solid work ethic. Michael, however, was too creative and artistic to follow in the family business footsteps without also continuing to pursue his own true dreams. From the beginning, after leaving school, he was trying to find a way for Irish dance to be his life, at first through the only known channel of that time, teaching, but although he found immediate success with the dance school he started, that was not to last, since the creativity burning within him could not be fulfilled by teaching.
In
order to make a living, Michael utilized the construction skills his father had
taught him, and true to family tradition, his plumbing company became very successful.
As he continued to pursue his favourite sport of boxing, despite having given
up competitive boxing, he also continued to maintain the fitness of an athlete,
and all the while, deep inside, remained true to his dreams and continued to seek
artistic expression, both in dance and music. In his twenties, together with his
brother Patrick as bodran player, he produced his own flute album 'And then came
Flatley', of Irish traditional music, and included some of his own composition.
See
Music of Michael Flatley
HINTS OF THINGS TO COME
Whenever he could, Michael took his already innovative style of Irish dancing to the stage, touring on weekends with Irish traditional music groups in America, until his first big break came when he was asked to dance with The Chieftains, the internationally successful Irish group. They took Irish traditional music all over the world, and while staunchly preserving the homeland's traditions, they were also very open to other musical cultures and welcomed musicians of many ethnic backgrounds to share their stage, exploring the similarities and contrasts between the musical cultures, a blending that Michael's creative mind must have delighted in, and which shows in his dance performance to this day. The openness of The Chieftains to innovation encouraged Michael's wish to expand and develop the discipline of Irish Dance, and gave him the opportunity to test his innovations on audiences of substantial numbers.
Ireland first got a glimpse of the future when Michael danced with The Chieftains for the opening ceremony of the Paraplegic Olympics staged in Dublin in 1987. Although still presenting largely traditional Irish dance, subtle touches and the fiery skill that he displayed signaled a dramatic move forward, as film footage from the occasion shows. In that footage it is also easy to recognize pieces of distinctly 'Flatley steps' later to become famous in his shows.
The next time Ireland experienced the coming eruption in the Irish dance world was June 1993. To celebrate the opening of the Heritage Centre at the five thousand year old archaeological site in Co. Mayo, the Ceide Fields, a special concert took place in Dublin's National Concert Hall, in front of a packed audience of VIPs, including our President, Mary Robinson. The line-up of production and performers was key for what was to come the following year - Moya Doherty and John McColgan, producers from RTE, the national broadcasting network, Bill Whelan, composer, Anuna, choral group, and Irish-American dancers Jean Butler from New York, and Michael Flatley.
Michael's performance at this concert, the so-called 'Mayo Five Thousand' (properly titled The Spirit of Mayo), received an electric reception, prompting the producers to ask him what he would like to do with his dance - the chance to present his answer in reality on stage came unexpectedly soon after, as the same producers worked on the interval for the Eurovision Song Contest, and 'Riverdance' was born, in the form of the now legendary 'seven minutes that shook the world', at Dublin's Point Theatre, on April 30th 1994.
FROM DUBLIN
TO THE WORLD STAGE
That seven minute event, was one of those defining moments in history, when almost every Irish person still remembers where they were and what they were doing when it took place. Those seven minutes were the start of monumental change in the Irish Dance world. Its impact reached far beyond Irish shores, thanks to an estimated TV audience of 300 million across Europe and beyond, and sheer public demand dictated that a full stage show named 'Riverdance' follow. To all involved it was a new world of uncharted territory, to Michael it was the realization of his life's dream, to put Irish Dance centrestage for the world.
Others involved could not accept Michael's unshakable belief that, as he put it: 'Ireland could stand on her own two feet' in terms of our national dance holding an audience for an entire evening. Elements from other world cultures were incorporated into the show: Russian folk dance, Spanish Flamenco, American tap and gospel singing. Thus, as an international mix of dance traditions with Irish Dance at the forefront, 'Riverdance the Show' was formed, and remains successful to this day. However, the core that established its success was its Irish heart, with its breath-taking sequences of Irish Dance which were the creation of Michael Flatley.
| For the first time able to choreograph a full dance troupe in a modernized style of Irish Dance, and free not only of the Feis world's competitive rules but also of its rigid costuming, Michael dazzled audiences with the spectacular 'Reel around the Sun', and introduced his hallmark of accapella dance in 'Distant Thunder', the powerful all-male number that used only the sounds of the taps for its music. |  |
Looking
back, Michael has said that by the time the show hit the stage, within weeks he
had 'Riverdance II' and 'Riverdance III' in his head, his creative mind exploding
with more ideas, while nightly he gave his heart and passion in performing the
'Riverdance' numbers on stage. And while his electric performances filled the
Point Theatre to 'standing room only' capacity week after week on it second run
there in the summer of 1995, having had a sold out run in London after the first
term in Dublin in February, no-one watching would ever have known that backstage,
everything was by then in crisis.
Initial informal agreements had to be
formalized into hard paper contracts, and suddenly the unified 'family' of 'Riverdance'
no longer existed. Much has been written and said of the details of the problems,
but whatever the 'ins and outs', no artist who had spent a lifetime creating such
a distinct individual style as Michael had, could ever have signed away copyright
of his work. To do so would have meant he could not use his own dance steps in
future work, which would have been inconceivable. As a creator, also, he could
not stand still, his work had to continue to evolve and go forward, so a parting
with 'Riverdance' was inevitable. That it happened as it did was tragic for Michael
and for the show, which had been such a fairytale creation. Nevertheless the breakup
paved the way for Michael to present his own true artistic identity on stage.
THE BIRTH OF LORD OF THE DANCE
Within
months of his parting from 'Riverdance', on December 30th 1995, Michael appeared
on Irish television as the interval act on the annual Irish Radio and Television
Awards (IRMA), broadcast live from the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Announced
as the first glimpse of 'his new show, Lord of the Dance', Michael and an all-male
troupe showcased 'Warlords' for the first time, to rapturous applause. That applause
was as much the support of an audience celebrating his re-emergence on the Irish
stage as it was for his new creation. For all the media coverage that had taken
place since October, when he was fired from 'Riverdance', he himself had remained
silent, choosing to fight back in his own dignified way, by working on a new creation,
and as he put it 'getting up off the canvas', so the public did not know if they
would ever see him again, until that late December night.
The audience
response that night must have been a good boost to Michael, and told him that
the public was more than ready to welcome more of his creations. During the first
half of 1996, amid considerable difficulties with assembling a team, since many
in the industry in Dublin had 'closed ranks' against him and 'were not available'
to him, he put together his now world famous show 'Lord of the Dance'. During
this time, Michael first met and took into his new company the two key Dubliners
who remain to this day his closest co-creators, Marie Duffy, leading Irish Dance
teacher and adjudicator, now Dance Director in all Michael's shows, and composer
Ronan Hardiman, whose musical genius is so in tune with Michael's work that it
is impossible now to imagine a Flatley show without a Hardiman soundtrack. In
both cases, it was the perfect meeting of talents, for Marie had been particularly
drawn to innovative dance drama throughout her career, and Ronan loved to create
music to a 'brief', in studio with state of the art equipment, and his love of
rhythm patterns had already led him to sitting in on Irish Dance sessions to record
the taps for study.
'Lord of the Dance' took to the stage at Dublin's Point Theatre on June 28th and July 1st with two previews performances, followed by a Gala Opening Night, Tuesday July 2nd, and four further nights. Every show was sold out. Some may have gone out of curiosity, and most probably wondered how anything could possibly compare with Riverdance. Contrary to popular belief, the general public at that time did not know if Michael had been the true creator of Riverdance or not. There had been so much press, full of accusation and negativity (none of it emanating from Michael) that many people simply did not know what the truth was. By the end of the opening number, 'Cry of the Celts', however, all four and a half thousand people were on their feet, and at least those present could no longer be in any doubt.
After the magic
of that Dublin week, Michael must have set off to Britain in confident and excited
mood. However, he was almost immediately faced with supreme personal challenge
when he was struck by crippling injury in the opening number of one of the first
British shows. Pre-show difficulties left him insufficiently warmed up for the
performance, and he tore a calf muscle within moments of flying across the stage
in his opening solo. He was quoted as saying it felt like he had been shot in
the back of the leg. Somehow, with extraordinary strength and courage, he finished
the dance and the audience remained unaware of his agonizing pain, but his understudy
had to take the stage for the rest of the night.
There was a four-day break
between that performance and the next - the very special milestone opening at
the Coliseum in London. Doctors talked variously about timescales from a month
to a year before Michael could expect to go back on stage, but they had not taken
into account the invincible determination of their patient, in whose vocabulary
the word 'defeat' did not exist. Neither had they heard his most famous words
about pain, recorded not long before on The Making of Lord of the Dance.
"Pain
is an unusual thing. You have to realize, it's always going to be with you. Whether
it's physical pain, or emotional or spiritual, it's always going to be there.
And you can't ignore it, you have to work through it. You almost have to make
it your friend… If you give up because there's pain, you'll never get anywhere."
Those
words have resonated around the world, proving literally life-changing for many
who have heard them, but no-one had to prove their truth more than Michael himself.
Taking on board a variety of treatments for the calf injury, Michael relied most
on his in-house Irish physiotherapist, Derry Ann Morgan, in particular her use
of Reiki, and against all the odds, he performed at the Coliseum four days later
and continued to tour with the show throughout the healing process. It would be
months before he could go on stage without his leg being strapped, but true to
his words, he never let pain stop him, and even though he was struck by the same
injury again early in 1997, he continued to perform without pause and gained more
and more acclaim for his outstanding artistry on stage.
After
the whirlwind success of the 1996 London run, by popular demand Michael brought
his show back to the Point Theatre in Dublin for a further week in September.
Then 'Lord of the Dance' proceeded to take three continents by storm within its
first year - Europe, Australia and the US, and in its second year added South
Africa to its list of conquered lands, making Irish Dance the most sought-after
form of stage entertainment. Even Hollywood wanted it, and Michael and his troupe
were the talk of the town, as well as the estimated three billion TV viewers worldwide,
when they performed the title dance from the show on the 1997 Academy Awards.
