Riverdance:
The Show
Civic
Auditorium 1500 SW 3rd Ave., 241-1802
7:30 pm Tuesdays-Sundays. Ends Sept. 5
$22.50-$65
In seven years as dance captain for the Celtic step-dancing
sensation Riverdance, Kevin McCormack has seen it all.
In the midst of his third world tour, the man responsible
for keeping the company's Gaelic horde on point paused to
let WW in on the phenomenon's history and the mayhem
behind the scenes.
Willamette Week: Where are you from?
Kevin McCormack: Dublin, in Ireland.
How long have you been with Riverdance?
Since the beginning. It started as a seven-minute piece
in 1994 for the Eurovision song contest, broadcast all over
Europe. We were the interval act. The tune went to No. 1
in the Irish charts for 18 weeks. The producers put a show
together around that seven-minute piece, and it opened in
February 1995 in Dublin.
So you have something in common with ABBA.
Yeah, they started at the Eurovision song contest. And
Julio Iglesias, and Celine Dion.
Do you think that traditional Irish dance has been watered
down to appeal to the American mentality?
I think the people we most had to try to appeal to are
the Irish people. In Ireland, Irish dance certainly wasn't
a cool thing to do by any means. Irish dancing is purely
done at home, only on St. Patrick's Day, or during the summer
for tourist groups. It was shown off as part of Irish culture,
but really only for tourists, and it wasn't appreciated
by the Irish people themselves until Riverdance happened.
And there's been such a turnabout in attitude. It had to
be presented in a different way--you had to have the glitz
and glamour for the Irish people to accept it again. The
Irish were the most difficult to please because they had
almost forgotten about Irish dancing.
Do people bust out in traditional jigs in pubs in Ireland?
Sometimes,
if there's plenty of Guinness involved. The traditional
music session is for everyone to get up and do a "step about."
Everybody takes a turn and does a step. That still happens.
There's different types of step dancing. Sean Nos,
which is the Gaelic word for "old style," is much flatter.
They still shuffle their feet, but it's much more casual.
Their arms wouldn't be by their sides, either.
What's your favorite scene of the production?
There's
a number at the beginning called "Caoineadh Chú Chulainn,"
when the girls dance, and they start in the soft shoe. The
other one is "Trading Taps," which tends to be the showstopper.
To watch, I really like the girls, because the dance is
more balletic.
Least favorite?
The one I least like to dance is
"Thunderstorm," which again is really popular with the audience.
It's the one where the guys are all dressed in black and
come down the steps. As a dancer, it's very repetitive.
It's the same rhythm over and over again. It goes on well
with the audience, but it gets a bit tiring after a while.
Have you had any embarrassing moments onstage?
There's
a number near the end where everybody comes down the steps.
In London, I fell down the stairs and landed on my backside.
A few of the girls have had their skirts fall off in the
first number, because those skirts are just wrapped around.
A girl had her hair fall off. She was wearing an extension
piece, and they had to dance around it.
Any bizarre tour stories?
Well, we had a drama at
the airport here on Monday. Somebody yelled from the back,
"Can we have a doctor?" I thought they were pulling a pisser
again, that it was all a joke. Somebody said, "Paul is bleeding."
I thought he got a nosebleed or something like that. I didn't
realize one of the other guys had opened an overhead bin,
one of the cases fell out and split a guy's head. So he
had passed out in the back of the plane. Blood everywhere.
Then one of the girls who was sitting beside him fainted
at the sight of the blood. Another girl fainted--so, two
girls fainted, one guy out cold. And one of our singers
is a nurse, so she was tending to him. She'd been in hospital
the last weekend herself because she had collapsed at one
of the shows. She had to look after this guy as well. So
this is all going on. The ambulances were there and they
drove him off eventually, and he was fine. He wasn't even
concussed.
Is any part of the show a pet peeve?
I think the biggest gripe you'll find amongst the cast
are the costumes.
Let me guess: the purple spangly one?
No, that's quite popular! I like that one, it fits very
well. I think the one I least like is the "American Wake"
costume, the party scene.
The bowling shirts and baggy pants?
The guys' aren't as bad as the girls'. I just think
the girls look like something from The Flintstones.
They're supposed to be people who are emigrating from Ireland
during famine times.
It seems like some of the guys' pants are really tight.
How can they dance?
In some parts, they're meant to be, especially in "Thunderstorm."
It's meant to be very sleek and tight, but they stretch.
The leather is hard to dance in. You just dance for one
number and put up with it.
I heard the Riverdancers party 'til 3
am every morning.
I haven't been, but some of 'em had a great time. Usually
when we arrive in a city, we find out where the Irish pubs
are straight away. You'll find somebody from the show there
every night for the next few weeks.
Are you doing "step abouts" in pubs here?
Last night there was a step about at Kells. There was
a guitarist and a bodhrán player there. Some of the
dancers got up and did steps and got free shots. That was
the incentive. It was a good bargain as well, one step for
a shot!
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Willamette Week | originally
published August 25,
1999
|
