Geography Project Part 5 - Michael Flatley

In my last post I talked about Chicago and its nickname, 'The Windy City'. Now I'm linking this post to Michael Flatley.


Michael Flatley was born on the 16th of July 1958. He grew up on the south-side of Chicago with his Irish parents. At 12 he began dancing lessons and in 1975 he became the first non-European resident to win the World Championship for Irish dance. He can play the flute. In dance, Flatley was taught by Dennis Dennehy at the Dennehy School of Irish Dance in Chicago, then went on to producing his own show. After graduating from secondary school, he opened a dance school.

Michael Flatley was the first American to win the World Irish Dance Championships and also won numerous All-Ireland Flute Championships. From 1978 to 1979 he toured with Green Fields of America. He then toured with The Chieftains in the 1980s. In May 1989, Flatley set a Guinness Book world record for a tapping speed at 28 taps per second. 

Flatley choreographed the original Riverdance with Ms. Jean Butler. This led to amazing success after it was first performed as the intermission act in the Eurovision Song Contest on the 30th of April, 1994. He then starred in the full-length show that was developed from the original seven-minute act. He also took a starring role in the show's UK debut. After this he left the show following a disagreement to do with creative control in 1995. 


Flatley then went on the choreograph and direct his own show called 'Lord of the Dance'. In 1998 he put on a dance production called 'Fleet of Flames'.

He broke his own record for tapping speed in February 1998, by achieving 35 taps per second. Flatley also received Guinness Book recognition in both 1999 and 2000 for being the highest paid dancer, earning $1,600,000 per week and for having the highest insurance policy placed on a dancer's legs at $40,000,000. In 2004, Flatley received an honorary doctorate degree from University College Dublin and that same year received the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in New York.

Michael Flatley's newest Irish dance show is called 'Celtic Tiger', which opened in July 2005. It explores the history of the Irish people and Irish emigration to the US. It fuses a wide range of dance styles, like jazz. The show also includes popular elements from his previous shows, such as Flatley's flute solos and the line of dancers in the finale.


In March 2006, Flatley released his own autobiographical book titled Lord of the Dance: My Story. Flatley and Niamh O' Brien, (one of the dancer from Celtic Tiger) were married in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Fermoy, County Cork, on October 14, 2006. Niamh Flatley gave birth to a son, Michael St. James Flatley, on Thursday April 26, 2007.

In April 2010, he announced that he would be returning to headline the Lord of the Dance show. In March 2011, to celebrate St Patricks Day, Lord of the Dance 3D, the movie, debuted in cinemas worldwide. Filmed during Flatley’s return tour in the fall of 2010, the movie featured new sets, new costumes and state-of-the-art lighting.


Here is the intermission act of Eurovision from youtube, where Riverdance first became famous.

 Picture Sources:
http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/dailyrecord3/mar2011/5/5/michael-flatley-image-1-858147904.jpg
http://www.scannain.com/media/lord-of-the-dance.jpg
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2010/10/13/1286992857094/Jean-Butler-and-Michael-F-006.jpg
http://www.nndb.com/people/599/000025524/michaelflatley03.jpg