Concerning heartstopping music and dance... and an ego
The ego part is, of course, Michael Flatley. For those of you who don't know, Michael Flatley is a MAJOR celebrity in the Irish dancing world. He was the first to star in Riverdance (actually he choreographed quite a bit of it!), and he went on to create his own shows which have been almost as popular, if not more so (Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames). However, I feel like taking the opportunity to rant. My apologies to anyone who likes Michael Flatley. SO...
Michael Flatley... where do I start? He is quite a character. I will say this: Irish dancing would not be where it is today without him. But the fact is, he knows it. Very well. Halfway through the first Riverdance tour, he got mad and walked out because he didn't get everything his way. Mere weeks later, he was already working on his own show, Lord of the Dance. Riverdance and Lord of the Dance are like apples and oranges. I LOVE Riverdance, but Lord of the Dance, and Feet of Flames both... to sum it up: girls doing moves that... um... make Irish dancing something it was never supposed to be, lots of gaudy costumes showing lots of skin (occasionally being thrown off to reveal a costume showing MORE skin), and a dancer who's full of himself strutting around on stage. Now don't get me wrong, lots of people love Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames, and I can see why: the dancers are very good, the music is incredible (I actually like a lot of it more than Riverdance's music!), and so on. But I really have a problem with a lot of the stuff in it. With the attitude that it's all about Michael Flatley, and he gets what he wants, and that girls are just things to play around with pretty much. I also have a major problem with the fact that he took a hymn about the true Lord of the dance and made a show about himself as the lord of the dance.
Another thing: I have to say I don't admire his dancing much. Sure it's incredible... he's in the Guinness Book of World Records for getting the most taps per second. He's incredibly talented. But I have never really liked all the "look-at-me" arm movements he does in his solos. And sometimes, when I look at him doing one of his solos, it looks more like prancing around on a stage with a few Irish moves mixed in. I know that that's not really true, and I'm no expert on any of this, not at all, but that's just how it looks to me sometimes. He also seems to add in a lot of tap-like moves (which I'm definitely no expert on either, but still that's what it looks like). I MUCH prefer Colin Dunne or the like.
I have a video clip for you all to check out. It's the second dance in one of the Feet of Flames shows. I personally LOVE this clip... mainly because of the music. It's INCREDIBLE music. And mixed with the troupe dancing together, a lot of it reminds me of the ceilis I think we'll have in Heaven. There are some parts I don't like, though, namely a lot of Michael Flatley's solo. And everything he does in general (seriously, what's the deal with the crawling across the stage?!?). Here's where you can see an illustration of what I was talking about earlier. Also, I don't like the jester person much. I don't know what she's doing but it's not Irish.
WARNING especially for the guys: At the very end, when everyone gets into one line, put another window on top or something so you can still hear the music but not see the video. Let's just say the girls shake their hips, a lot, and the ending pose reflects the whole of Michael Flatley's shows all too well. Watch that at your own risk... it makes a beautiful thing sickening.
Hehe, if I didn't scare you off too much, here's the clip: http://james.theirishdanceplace.com/video/fof1.wmv
Oh one more thing, sorry guys but it's in Windows Media (grr...), and it was taken (legally) by an audience member at one of the shows, so the quality is very poor. If you make the window smaller it will be clearer, but it will be... smaller. :D
Edit: If you want to see more, here's a clip that I like just as much, from the same show. This one's a duel between two groups of girls. The music is amazing!!!! It really gets good when the brunettes come out (not that I'm prejudiced or anything... hehe). And the dancing... awesomeness!!! When it's Irish that is... basically if they move their upper body or shake their hips (which thankfully they don't do as much of on this clip), that's not Irish, hehe. I do think the arm movements are kind of cute here, though.
Another WARNING for the guys: Let's see... um, VERY short costumes, the occasional suggestive move scattered here and there (okay, well, a few times more than occasional), the ending pose where the two lead girls pose like models, yeah it's really weird and out of place.
But anyway, here's the clip:
http://james.theirishdanceplace.com/video/fof10.wmv
Michael Flatley... where do I start? He is quite a character. I will say this: Irish dancing would not be where it is today without him. But the fact is, he knows it. Very well. Halfway through the first Riverdance tour, he got mad and walked out because he didn't get everything his way. Mere weeks later, he was already working on his own show, Lord of the Dance. Riverdance and Lord of the Dance are like apples and oranges. I LOVE Riverdance, but Lord of the Dance, and Feet of Flames both... to sum it up: girls doing moves that... um... make Irish dancing something it was never supposed to be, lots of gaudy costumes showing lots of skin (occasionally being thrown off to reveal a costume showing MORE skin), and a dancer who's full of himself strutting around on stage. Now don't get me wrong, lots of people love Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames, and I can see why: the dancers are very good, the music is incredible (I actually like a lot of it more than Riverdance's music!), and so on. But I really have a problem with a lot of the stuff in it. With the attitude that it's all about Michael Flatley, and he gets what he wants, and that girls are just things to play around with pretty much. I also have a major problem with the fact that he took a hymn about the true Lord of the dance and made a show about himself as the lord of the dance.
Another thing: I have to say I don't admire his dancing much. Sure it's incredible... he's in the Guinness Book of World Records for getting the most taps per second. He's incredibly talented. But I have never really liked all the "look-at-me" arm movements he does in his solos. And sometimes, when I look at him doing one of his solos, it looks more like prancing around on a stage with a few Irish moves mixed in. I know that that's not really true, and I'm no expert on any of this, not at all, but that's just how it looks to me sometimes. He also seems to add in a lot of tap-like moves (which I'm definitely no expert on either, but still that's what it looks like). I MUCH prefer Colin Dunne or the like.
I have a video clip for you all to check out. It's the second dance in one of the Feet of Flames shows. I personally LOVE this clip... mainly because of the music. It's INCREDIBLE music. And mixed with the troupe dancing together, a lot of it reminds me of the ceilis I think we'll have in Heaven. There are some parts I don't like, though, namely a lot of Michael Flatley's solo. And everything he does in general (seriously, what's the deal with the crawling across the stage?!?). Here's where you can see an illustration of what I was talking about earlier. Also, I don't like the jester person much. I don't know what she's doing but it's not Irish.
WARNING especially for the guys: At the very end, when everyone gets into one line, put another window on top or something so you can still hear the music but not see the video. Let's just say the girls shake their hips, a lot, and the ending pose reflects the whole of Michael Flatley's shows all too well. Watch that at your own risk... it makes a beautiful thing sickening.
Hehe, if I didn't scare you off too much, here's the clip: http://james.theirishdanceplace.com/video/fof1.wmv
Oh one more thing, sorry guys but it's in Windows Media (grr...), and it was taken (legally) by an audience member at one of the shows, so the quality is very poor. If you make the window smaller it will be clearer, but it will be... smaller. :D
Edit: If you want to see more, here's a clip that I like just as much, from the same show. This one's a duel between two groups of girls. The music is amazing!!!! It really gets good when the brunettes come out (not that I'm prejudiced or anything... hehe). And the dancing... awesomeness!!! When it's Irish that is... basically if they move their upper body or shake their hips (which thankfully they don't do as much of on this clip), that's not Irish, hehe. I do think the arm movements are kind of cute here, though.
Another WARNING for the guys: Let's see... um, VERY short costumes, the occasional suggestive move scattered here and there (okay, well, a few times more than occasional), the ending pose where the two lead girls pose like models, yeah it's really weird and out of place.
But anyway, here's the clip:
http://james.theirishdanceplace.com/video/fof10.wmv
posted by Rachel @ 11:42 PM
3 Comments:
At 8/14/2005 9:52 AM,
Anonymous said…
Ugh, why must people pervert dancing so much?
At 8/14/2005 2:29 PM,
Anonymous said…
Well said, Rachel! I've only seen 1 video each of Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, but I like Riverdance more. Even though the Riverdancers didn't always dress modestly, they didn't make me think of Las Vegas. I did think the beginning of Riverdance was a little weird, though, when the narrator was talking about worshipping the sun. But again, well said!
At 8/14/2005 8:39 PM,
Rachel said…
William, I know, it's incredibly sad. Everything beautiful and good and pure that God created on Earth... Satan has perverted it, marred it, stolen it for its own. That's why we as Christians have a calling to restore it and bring it back into the Light, back into the beauty it fell from.
Good description Estel. That's exactly what it's like... Las Vegas.
About Reel Around the Sun... whenever I see that I think of it as Reel Around the Son (yeah, I know it sounds cheesy in the title, but that's how I really think of that dance... a dance in honor and worship to the true God of the sun, the Son himself). It makes it 100x more beautiful. That's actually one of my favorite dances in Riverdance! Though yeah, I agree, you sort of have to ignore a few things said by the narrator. And also, the dance Shivna is really weird... but as for not-so-good things in Riverdance, that's pretty much it, if even that. Hardly anything when compared to LotD and FoF.
Post a Comment
<< Home