February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Susan Ginnety, who has been with “Riverdance” since that fateful first performance, is still amazed at the response from the crowds filling Radio City Music Hall for the company’s weeklong stretch in New York.
After more than 8,000 performances for 1,200 performers performing to 18 million audience members in 30 countries across four continents, the show that managed to put Irish step-dancing on Broadway is back for an American tour celebrating its decade in dance.
“We weren’t sure how people would react at first,” said Ginnety, who was 16 for the Eurovision performance. “We were taking something traditional and adding a little jazz to it.”
Luckily for the company, the public has spoken, and they approve.
Originally conceived by director John McColgan, producer Moya Doherty and composer Bill Whelan, the stage show has gone through more guitar strings, dry ice and chocolate (for energy, they say) than anyone had anticipated.
When producers decided to take the show to a large-scale performance, “we knew it was special at first,” said Ginnety. “But we didn’t know how well a two-and-a-half-hour show would work.”
The production has since traveled the world, covering over 500,000 miles, which would get the dancers to the moon and back, and it has been the crowds that have made the experience so great, according to Ginnety.
“We’ve never had any bad audiences,” she said. “And it’s so much easier to perform for a good audience.”
At first, “Riverdance” toured the UK and U.S., but it quickly gained truly international fame.
Ginnety recalled the troupe’s performance in China, where “Riverdance” was the first Western act to perform in the Great Hall of the People. After a moment of silence upon their finishing, the audience roared.
She compared that to Malaysia, where the crowd wouldn’t stop clapping from the moment the cast stepped on stage.
“I think they never saw so many people doing the same thing at the same time,” she said.
The stage show is something to behold, with lights, smoke and costumes that dazzle the eye, as well as the blinding speed at which the dancers move. With over 17,500 cumulative years of step-dancing training between them, the cast is well suited for the job.
“I started dancing at 6,” said Ginnety, who hails from Portmarnock in Dublin. “My mum did it, as well as my grandmother.”
When “Riverdance” began, it starred two Irish-American dancers, the then-unknown Michael Flatley and Jean Butler. Both have since gone on to international acclaim, but were with the production to see it spur an explosion of interest in step-dancing.
It used to be that children were dragged into Irish dance classes, but thanks to Riverdance’s attempts to modernize the traditional, classes now fill up and sets are de rigueur at any Irish festival across the U.S.
Camaraderie reigns behind the scenes, as the cast and crew are essentially a large traveling family for most of the year.
“You put thirty girls in a room, you’re bound to have some fights,” Ginnety admitted, “but you’re never stuck for someone to grab a coffee or a drink with.”
Ginnety has seen cast members come and go, and said that seeing the newest members come of age in the cast is always a treat.
“They’re so happy to be here,” she said. “You see their parents come to the shows, watch them celebrate birthdays. It’s great.”
In what could be a testament to the group’s cohesion, there have been 28 marriages between company members.
Ginnety will probably shed a tear after Thursday’s performance, when she hangs up her “Riverdance” costume for good. Retiring after nearly 11 years with the show, she hopes to continue dancing and performing, but will always look back to her history with “Riverdance.”
“We’re at a good point in history to retire,” she said. “St. Patrick’s night will be my last show. It’s perfect for me.”
While Ginnety won’t say what is in store for her, she will return to Dublin after the troupe’s 10th anniversary shows feeling she was part of something big.
“It’s like a drug,” she said. “What other job do you leave with a standing ovation each night?”
(“Riverdance” is being performed at Radio City Music Hall through Thursday, March 17.)