Last dance for “Riverdance” as show says farewell to America after 16 years

New horizons await Ireland’s most successful dance show ever

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"Riverdance" dancers in action on stage

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“It couldn’t have happened five years earlier. It just wouldn’t have happened. I don’t think we would have had the courage to." An estimated 22 million people have witnessed “Riverdance” since that beginning, with the show seen in 40 countries, from Red Square to the Great Wall of China.

The two hour show made its American debut in 1996 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and packed the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway for 18 months in 2000-2001.

Erskine told AP that the show’s success is down to the fact that it isn’t a cookie-cutter experience.

“It wasn’t pulled together to make money, but to blow the dust off Irish folk music and dance,” he said.

“That purity of creation shines through. Plus, the sound seems to touch a very human part of us.

“That pounding out of rhythms I suppose is quite primal. That goes back into all our cores, no matter where we’ve come from. The beating of drums is how we first communicated.”

Moyles believes that the strong immigrant culture in America has helped the show attract audiences.

“Many of them have their own folk dances. They probably see their own heritage within “Riverdance”, he said.

Chicago, Kansas City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Boston all feature on the farewell American tour which will conclude at Wolf Trap National Park in Vienna, Va.

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