On February 21st, the Lord of the Dance will perform in Atlanta for the last time when his farewell tour, Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games, stops by Philips Arena. We caught up with Michael Flatley on what to expect from the show and his retirement:
1. This show isn’t like any of the other Lord of the Dance productions you’ve been to.
“It’s bigger, brighter, faster, more entertaining. It has the greatest special effects—a fabulous screen across the entire stage. There are new costumes, lighting, music by Gerard Fahy, so much new choreography, world champion acrobats, everything from dancing robots to holograms.”
2. He really is retiring after this run of Lord of Dance: Dangerous Games.
“When we did Broadway, we had tremendous success, but we were getting thousands of emails from people saying they couldn’t make it to New York. So we decided to do a handful of shows to bring them out to the people, but it ended up being 19 shows. It’s my honor to do that, though.”
3. Just because he’s not dancing anymore doesn’t mean he’s done with Lord of the Dance.
“For 20 years, I have worked to create a new form of art: Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Celtic Tiger, Dangerous Games. I remain true to the one thing: Put on the best show you can, by making sure they’re getting more than their money’s worth and finding new talent. There’s a plethora of fabulous talent: James Keegan, Fergal Keaney, Morgan Comer, Matthew Smith . . . They’re sensational. This show will go on for 20 more years. I’ll always be involved. I’m the creator of the universe. I’ll be flying into shows; I’m very hands-on.”
4. He’s may be retiring from dance, but he’s got a lot of other projects, too.
“I just recorded a single that I’ll be releasing in Ireland for 100-year anniversary of Easter Rising. I’m doing a short film in Boston in the next three weeks. I’m doing a lot of painting these days; I love to paint abstract expressionism. And I’m doing an Opus book. It’s the first time any dancer has ever done this. It documents my career back from Riverdance—the good times and the hard times—up to today, behind the scenes memories and photographs that have never been seen. We just finished a photoshoot with the world’s biggest polaroid camera; some of the photos are just unbelievable.”
5. There are some benefits to being off the road.
“It will be nice to spend time more time with my wife and son in London. I have an eight-year-old, so it’ll be nice to just go to the rugby with him, watch him at the playground, help with school.”