Bare chested men in leather pants, women with long tresses and short skirts, lines of dancers stamping in unison - this is the image that Michael Flatley's tap dance extravaganzas evoke. Critics sniff at the shamelessly flashy Vegas-style pageantry and purists are repelled by what is thought to be a bastardized rendering of a once-obscure art form, but millions of fans cheer Flatley's lordly presence. Feet of Flames, recreated for this Taiwan tour nearly 10 years after its legendary premiere in Hyde Park, London, is a dance blockbuster that mixes contemporary choreography, Celtic dance and music with pyrotechnics, explosive visual effects and video displays designed to overwhelm.
Flatley's story is well-known. The son of a Chicago construction contractor who immigrated from Ireland, Flatley was brought up in a house with a solid work ethic and two champion Irish dancers - his mother and grandmother. With an almost manic drive to raise himself up in the world (Flatley once reportedly said that he didn't have time to read anything other than self-help and motivational books) the then-aspiring lad managed to become the first American World Irish Dance Champion at 17. His first big break came when he scored a gig with the Chieftains in the 1980s, which eventually led to an interval act for the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The seven-minute prototype of Riverdance performed there was expanded into a full-length production and made Flatley an instant star. Flatley left the production amid a bitter dispute over the copyright of the Riverdance routines and went on to stage The Lord of the Dance in 1996. The rest is history.
Dubbed the turbo-charged reworking of Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames was created in 1998, following the same storyline but doubling the number of dancers and adding new music, numbers, sets and costumes. The dance spectacle is representative of Flatley's updated and popularized version of traditional Irish step dancing.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF KHAM
Credited to Irish parish priests who developed the dance style due to concerns about lascivious bodily display, step dancing involves a stiff torso and rigidly held arms juxtaposed against quick, precise movements of the feet. In the skillful hands of Flatley, the staid dance was turned into a showbiz spectacular glazed with full-on sexuality and expressive choreography.
For those who aren't familiar with the story, Feet of Flames recounts the perennial tale of the battle between good and evil, represented by the Lord of the Dance and Don Dorcha, the Dark Lord. A lusty romance sub-plot spices things up with Irishwoman Colleen Saoirse winning the heart of the Lord of the Dance from the wicked temptress Morrigan.
Flatley himself will not dance in the Taiwan shows, and the lead role will be played by Damien O'Kane, who played Flatley's original role when Lord of the Dance visited Taiwan in 2004.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF KHAM
According to Yang Yu-tsun (楊玉存) of Kuang Hong Arts (寬宏藝術), restaging Feet of Flames in Taiwan after its world tour ended seven years ago was made possible by the almost insatiable thirst that Taiwanese audiences have for Flatley's shows. Lord of the Dance, which was staged here in 2004 and 2005, and Celtic Tiger a year later, all proved enormously successful.
"When Flatley came with Celtic Tiger in 2006, we suggested the possibility of bringing Feet of Flames to Taiwan since so many people love his shows," Yang said. "After six months of communications and persuasion, Flatley finally agreed to re-stage the production in Taiwan."
The two-hour show has cost over NT$100 million to stage in Taiwan, and every effort has been made to match the grand scale of the original London production. Nearly 100 dancers will sashay, prance and leap on the multi-tiered stage against displays of pyrotechnics and rear-screen projections. Around 20 crew members have been flow in from the UK to construct the set with the aid of local theater technicians. The troupe has been rehearsing intensively in Kaohsiung for the last two weeks, but requests for interviews were rejected.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF KHAM
Performances in Taipei and Taichung are nearly sold out. Tickets for the Kaohsiung and Tainan shows are selling quickly. Flatley may have taken his last curtain call as the Lord of the Dance, but the show he created and continues to direct still works box office magic.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF KHAM
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s” presented a “greatest hits” of the litany of PRC falsehoods. This includes: Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were descended from the people of China 30,000 years ago; a “Chinese” imperial government administrated Taiwan in the 14th century; Koxinga, also known as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), “recovered” Taiwan for China; the Qing owned
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, who had elected to head to Taiwan instead of being repatriated to China. The majority landed in Keelung over three days and were paraded through the capital to great fanfare. Air Force planes dropped colorful flyers, one of which read, “You’re back, you’re finally back. You finally overcame the evil communist bandits and
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk
RSS