Lord Of The Dance Michael aiming for Hollywood stardom

 IN 1994, the intermission act in the Eurovision Song Contest was simply intended to keep the audience entertained while the judges considered their scores. 
A young Irish-American led a troupe of dancers out onto the Eurovision stage after the final song had been sung. Seven minutes later, the audience in Dublin were on their feet in a standing ovation, and audiences around the world realised that they had just seen something extraordinary. 
The remarkable story of Riverdance had just begun. It made a star of its choreographer and principal dancer, Michael Flatley. Now his new show, Lord Of The Dance looks set to be an even bigger hit. And then Tinseltown beckons, with Michael lined up for a movie role. 

 One of five children of Irish parents, Michael grew up in Chicago, where his father established his own building business. He credits his late grandmother, Hannah Ryan, with instilling in him a passion for Irish dance. ‘‘I was only four years old when my grand-mother, a champion Irish dancer from Carlow, Ireland, taught me my first steps,’’ he recalls. 
‘‘It wasn’t until I was 11 that my mother — also an Irish dancing champion — took me, my brother and three sisters, to classes. 
‘‘They all dropped out, one by one, but I stuck at it and at 17, I became the first American to win the World Irish Dance Championships.’’ 
Not only that, he also entered the record books as the world’s fastest tap-dancer. 
‘‘In the beginning, my dad was upset that I didn’t join the family business like my brother, Patrick, but now that my dancing has taken off, I think he’s proud of me,’’ says Michael. 
But dancing hasn’t always paid for a roof over Michael’s head. He recalls, ‘‘I’ve worked on building sites with my dad on and off for years in all weathers, from 40° below zero to 110° in the shade. 
‘‘I’m not a six-foot giant, and it was really hard graft, but I just mucked in and got on with whatever needed doing, from plumbing to laying bricks and digging trenches.’’ 

 Michael’s first break came when he was offered work with the Irish group, The Chieftains. ‘‘I jumped at it,’’ he says. ‘‘I toured with them for seven years. After that, it was impossible to go back to regular work.’’ 
All the while he was touring America, Michael was preparing for Riverdance. ‘‘For a long, long time, I had that dance in my head,’’ he says. ‘‘Every night on tour, I would try out new things and go a litle further, a little wilder, and see how the audiences responded. 
‘‘Going by their reaction, I knew that with a troupe of 24 dancers behind me, it should take off, and it did.’’ 
On the night of the Eurovision Song Contest that launched Riverdance, Michael was unfazed by the 300-million-strong television audience. ‘‘I wasn’t nervous at all,’’ he says. ‘‘I was just like a tiger in a cage and raring to go.’’ 
Riverdance was an overnight success, but there wasn’t ever time for Michael to get swept away by it all. 
‘‘After our first night, I didn’t have a chance to take it all in because the next performance was looming and I just kept on working,’’ he says. 
Thanks to Riverdance, Irish dancing is enjoying a comeback, but it hasn’t always had such a huge appeal. 
‘‘When I first started Irish dancing, most people didn’t even know that I was doing it,’’ says Michael. ‘‘Irish dancing used to be uncool, so I didn’t go around bragging about it, but all that’s dead and gone now. 
‘‘There’s very few people in the dance business that make the money that Irish dancers do right now.’’ 
Michael’s departure from Riverdance last October stunned Michael as much as his fans. He received a phone call to say that he was being replaced by Colin Dunne. 
‘‘Two days later, however, I was planning out my new show and happily got my teeth into that,’’ says Michael. 
‘‘I was already working on Lord Of The Dance the July before the Eurovision, but leaving Riverdance gave me the impetus I needed. 
‘‘As far as I’m concerned, it’s over and it’s history.’’ 
All Michael’s energy is now channeled into his latest Celtic dance spectacular, which promises to blast Irish dancing into the 20th Century. 
‘‘I’ve been working 12 hours a day, six days a week, in preparation for the show,’’ he says. ‘‘My day starts at 9 am, when I run a mile to the gym, work for an hour on the weights, 30 minutes on the punchbag, run back to the dance studio, and choreograph up till eight in the evening.’’ 

 With such a punishing schedule, Michael gets very little time to himself. ‘‘My one diversion is the flute,’’ he says. ‘‘I carry it in my suitcase wherever I go, and take it out when I want to unwind and get rid of some stress. 
‘‘I was recently in Leitrim, staying in this old cottage in the middle of nowhere. I pulled out the flute and got to play it for a few hours non-stop on an isolated beach along the River Shannon. That was a very rare and special moment.’’ 
The opening night of Lord Of The Dance in Dublin was a sell-out, yet one seat in the front row remained empty. Every opening night, the show’s star saves a seat for his late grandmother. 
Now aged 36, Michael knows his gran would be proud of his new show. ‘‘She would have loved it,’’ he says. ‘‘I always say a prayer before I go out on stage and I truly believe she’s looking down on me now and helping me with every performance.’’ 
Lord Of The Dance was scheduled to open at the London Coliseum on July 23, his grandmother’s birthday. Adds Michael, ‘‘It’s no coincidence that we wanted to open in London on that day. It was going to be a big night and I wanted to dedicate it to my grandmother.’’ 
The pace won’t be letting up for a long while, though. Plans are already underway for Michael to be the star of a Hollywood film, with the working title, Dream Dancer. 
He’s keeping mum on that new project, but if his other ventures are anything to go by, it should be a box-office smash. So will the music ever stop for the Irish-American dance supremo, who holds the fastest tap dancer record? 
‘‘I certainly won’t be dancing until I’m old and grey,’ he says. ‘‘I only have one speed and I can’t dance any other way. The day I slow down, I’ll hand it all over to the young fellas.’’