Continuing the legacy: ‘Riverdance’ celebrates 30 years on stages around the world

In the same way children in Canada seem to be born with ice skates on their feet, it would seem as if many children in Ireland are put into Irish dance classes as soon as they can stand up.

Though she started dancing quite young, “Riverdance’s” Keeva Corry, not her parents, was the one to initiate the lessons.

At the age of 4, Corry recalls watching a young girl her grandmother was babysitting practicing Irish dance. Corry was hooked and begged her parents to sign her up for classes.

She loved it from the very first class and quickly began competing, going on to win four World titles and 14 major championships.

“I competed for many, many years, but I remember seeing ‘Riverdance’ for the first time and I was just like ‘That is exactly what I want to do,’ ” she said. “I made it happen, which is really, really, really amazing.”

Corry said she was interested in the “Riverdance” choreography, of course, and the costumes caught her eye, but she was especially drawn in by the music, which is composed by Bill Whelan, saying it was different from any of the music she had danced to while competing.

“There’s more of a magical and mystical element to it,” she said.

Seeing a broadcast of “Riverdance” at 7 or 8 years old on Christmas night and a live production a year or two later made Corry realize that Irish dance could become a career, not just a passion.

The fact that many Irish schools teach only Irish dancing, not also drama and ballet and other types of performance arts, Corry said, helped her focus on the goal to be the best Irish dancer she could be.

Corry attended Riverdance Summer School, a week-long intensive training program, for the first time at 15. Students are taught choreography from the show by dancers currently performing in “Riverdance.”

“I had the best week of my life,” she said. “I think from then on, I was like ‘This is exactly what I want to do.’ From then on, my whole focus was getting into the show.”

“Riverdance,” which comes to the First Interstate Center for the Arts on Wednesday and Thursday, originated as an intermission act during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest that featured Irish dancers Jean Butler and Michael Flatley as well as vocal group Anúna. After the competition, the production team of John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded the act into a full stage show.

“Riverdance” opened in Dublin in February 1995. The show went on to open in London, America and Australia in the mid- to late-’90s. Thirty years after its Eurovision debut, “Riverdance” has been performed more than 15,000 times in 49 countries.

The show opens with “A Primitive and Powerful World,” which, as per the “Riverdance” website, expresses that “the first peoples knew the world as a place of power, their songs and dances and stories are negotiations with elemental powers.”

“The first half of this performance shows them coming to terms with the world and with themselves,” the show description states.

Many pieces in this act feature original choreography from Butler and Flatley.

In the second act, “We Learned to Belong to the World,” recognizes war, famine and slavery which “shattered the ancient bonds between people and place.”

“As we came into history we learned to guard what we valued, to accommodate ourselves to others, to learn new ways of being ourselves, to embrace new kinds of courage,” the description states. “Cast out and momentarily orphaned, we learned to belong to the world.”

This act features stories of those who were forced to emigrate to other countries, the heartbreak they experienced leaving home but also the hope they had for a new life. Choreography in this act includes Latin dances, dervishes and tap dancing.

“Riverdance” is directed by John McColgan, produced by Moya Doherty and executive produced and associate directed by Pádraic Moyles. Joan Bergin is the costume designer, and Michael O’Gorman is the sound designer.

Corry returned to the Riverdance Summer School at 19 and used her time there to audition for the troupe. Those accepted into “Riverdance” get to perform with the current cast members at the end of the week.

“The dream was to do a few years with ‘Riverdance’ before I started college so when I was told that I would be joining the cast on stage, it was so special,” Corry said. “It actually is a memory that I’ll never forget.”

Corry made her “Riverdance” debut during the show’s 25th anniversary tour of the U.K. in 2020. She made her lead debut in 2022, a position that allows her to dance solo during some moments in the show.

Corry said three male leads and three female leads alternate lead performances, with the other lead dancers performing as members of the troupe, to avoid injury and fatigue.

Now in its 30th year, and boasting the fact that none of the troupe’s current dancers were born when “Riverdance” premiered at Eurovision, the show is celebrating the milestone with new choreography, costumes and projections.

The projections, Corry said, are bigger and better, and she can’t wait for audiences to hear re-recordings of Whelan’s music. The new costumes, her personal favorite part of the tour, take the show to a new level.

Corry, the cast and crew keep pushing the envelope of Irish dancing and “Riverdance” with the goal to keep the show’s legacy going for the young dancers participating in the company’s junior summer school.

“We want ‘Riverdance’ to be there when they’re around, so we try and put our best on stage every night, so that that happens for them and that promoters still see us 10 years down the line, and they want to book us for a 40th anniversary,” she said. “That is really important to us.”

Five years into her “Riverdance” career, and now teaching in the same summer school she attended as a teen, Corry said she is blessed that she’s gotten to do everything she wanted to do as a girl.

She’s traveled around the world performing and even met her boyfriend on tour. Corry is currently juggling pursuing a degree in education and “Riverdance,” but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m so grateful for the life that ‘Riverdance’ has given me so far, and I’m so excited to see where it takes me over the next few years,” she said.