Riverdud

I went to see Riverdance the other night. Now I have always been under the impression that Riverdance was just a bunch of people tap dancing in unison. I love tap dancing, and as a kid I wanted desperately to take tap, but was never allowed. I was very excited to see this, tapping my toes at my desk in the days leading up to it. One of my co-workers had seen it a few days before me and in retrospect she had tried to warn me that it wasn’t all tap, but I was just too excited.

As soon as it started I began to get nervous, but after a bit they started tapping and I settled in to enjoy it. The tap dancing was amazing!!! If only they stuck to tapping.

Now I understand that it is hard to tap for two straight hours, but I’m sure they could have come up with a better idea than what they did. To me Riverdance was like The Hobbit mixed with A Christmas Carol. Confused? So was I. One moment there were fairies dancing across the stage, and the next moment carollers came out with candles lit. Meanwhile in the background there was a cheesy video screen with images such as moons, trees and at one point a flame on the screen.

The worst part of the show was when a woman came out and started stomping around on the floor. The only comparison I can think of is when the people who live above me walk around their apartment with their shoes on. There was no real rhythm to her dancing, and when she wasn’t clomping around the stage, she was swooshing her dress around. And if once wasn’t enough, near the end of the show they had her come out again to torment us some more.
After the intermission a black man came out and started singing about being a slave. Immediately following that 2 black guys came out and starting doing “jazz tap” and ended up in a “tap down” with three folky type tappers. In the end they all made up and tapped off the stage together. Don’t get me wrong, it was great, but very staged.

Occasionally on the news, or in a talk show they will show you a scene from a play or musical. Riverdance felt like I was watching a series of these. One part didn’t seem connected to the next.

Overall the show felt professionally boring. You could tell that these people have been doing this for years, and there was no passion in their dancing. The attempt at a story to string the show together was both confusing and boring. I found myself very restless about halfway through, and barely made it to the end without pulling my hair out (I tried to nap, but with the occasional tapping, that was too difficult). I give Riverdance two toes down.