Whirling dancers clad in sparkling, vivid colors swept over the Wharton Center stage in an enthusiastic opening to their 20th anniversary “Curtain Call” season.
An energetic, lushly designed performance, “Riverdance - The Show,” attempts to introduce East Lansing audiences to Irish dancing while tossing in flamenco, American tap and Russian ballet for good measure.
Michael Patrick Gallagher and Tara Barry lead the North American touring cast of “Riverdance,” a show that opened in Dublin in 1995 and last played Wharton three years ago.
Despite its recent visit to MSU, “Riverdance” packed Wharton’s Great Hall for its first performance.
The international scope and appeal of the show are noticeable immediately, as the narrator begins speaking in a slightly English, slightly Dutch sounding accent.
Low lighting and a see-through scrim at the front of the stage create the illusion of a river flowing around a giant, glowing moon.
The first act introduces Irish dance with “Reel Around the Sun.”
The lines are impeccable, the movements razor-sharp and the symmetry breathtaking. Dozens of feet tap staccato rhythms like bullet shots as the troupe seems to move as a single unit instead of 16 individual dancers.
“Where the river foams and surges to the sea/Silver figures rise to find me,” Sherry Steele sings in “The Heart’s Cry.” Her voice is pure, open and floating, but also light and strong in the clear, rich tone that only English (and Irish) singers seem to be able to manage effortlessly. A choir of seven others blend their voices in a seamless backdrop to her solo.
“Riverdance” features its female dancers in “Women of Ireland” and male dancers in “Thunderstorm.” The latter culminates in a shouted “Ha!” as the dancers turn sharply toward the audience.
“Shivna” is a beautiful piece featuring a female dancer silhouetted in the moon, echoing the movements of a man in the foreground. Their interaction is even more poignant because Irish dance typically involves very little of it. Dancers’ arms at their sides and high kicks distance them from each other even as they move in unison.
A fiddle tune featuring Niamh N
