Lords of dance

The highest grossing dance show performance in the world, "Lord of the Dance," performed Thursday night at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center.

The story of the show is based upon mythical Irish folklore.  It's a love story encompassing a classic tale of good versus evil – all fueled by the dramatic leaps and turns of dancers doing what they do best against a backdrop of Celtic rhythms.

"I was excited for the show because I had never seen it before," said Angela Jones, marketing director for the Marshall Artists Series.  "It never played in our market, and I think a lot of people were very aware of the show but didn't have to opportunity to see it because it had never played here."

Jones said an estimated 1,500 tickets were sold by the beginning of the show.  She said Lord of the Dance was a great conclusion to the Marshall Artists Series and its just good for people to be exposed to a variety of new things such as this event.

The average age of the dancers in the show is 22.  There are more than 40 dancers whose style is unique to Irish dancing, stretching a form of dance that has evolved over more than 2,000 years.

"My mother influenced me to do my work which encouraged me to start dancing at the age of three," said Adam McSharry, the lead villain in "Lord of the Dance."  "I've been Irish dancing for about 28 years now.  When you first come into the show, you don't dance the same as other people so you have to work together to learn each other's style of dance."

McSharry said the main objective with "Lord of the Dance" and any chorus line of the show is to get the dances looking the same. "We have to move at the same time and get it in sync but I had a good feeling that we would get great reactions from the audience tonight," McSharry said. I always prefer having our shows in older theatres like Keith-Albee. The crowds from smaller cities really appreciate these types of performances. I have been to every state in the United States, and I can say that my favorite show took place in New Orleans."

"Lord of the Dance" has performed in 67 countries and grossed in excess of $800 million in global ticket sales.

"One of the biggest parts of our job that people don't realize is that we need to know every role in the show incase something ever happens,"  said Maggie Revis, the lead role of Saoirse in Lord of the Dance. If somebody is not healthy we need to know their part exactly to be able to jump in and take over their spot.  A lot of people are sick with the flu lately and it can spread fast when were are together all of the time."

"I think the show was even a little better than River Dance, because it had a storyline to it between the good and bad," said Ann Buchanan, a resident of Ona, W.Va.  "It was more than I expected and am so glad Marshall is able to have programs like this.  I think it is great for Marshall and the community."

The Marshall Artists Series also offered a master class for anyone to learn Irish step dancing from the professionals Thursday afternoon.

   John Yeingst can be contacted at yeingst@marshall.edu.