To spend even a few moments with dancer/choreographer Michael Flatley in his off hours--say, the morning after a three-encore performance of his touring Irish-dance spectacular Lord of the Dance--is to know you are in the presence of someone for whom the gift of a Tony Robbins seminar would be as superfluous as a swimming lesson for Mark Spitz. Flatley knows well how to assert himself. When he isn't dancing, he is swaggering; when he isn't in stage sequins, he is wearing leather, diamonds and enough cologne to deodorize a landfill in July. At 38 and a compact 5 ft. 9 in., he resembles a cross between Mikhail Baryshnikov and Michael Bolton. He tends to speak in proclamation: "I know what I want out of life, and I go for it...I am a very confident individual."
Flatley's robust sense of self, combined with a stupefyingly energetic stage presence, has made him the center of a cultural phenomenon few would have predicted--a rage for the jig. As star of the two-year-old, 85-member Riverdance, the traveling Gaelic dance show, Flatley hopped, stepped and high-kicked to exultant houses in London and Dublin. When he parted ways with the company in October 1995 over a bitter, and still unresolved, creative dispute, he fashioned Lord of the Dance, a glitzier rival extravaganza showcasing his talents and the updated, freer-form manner of Irish dance he helped pioneer.
The success of Riverdance and its spin-off has been remarkable. Lord of the Dance began its U.S. tour this month with 13 sold-out performances at Manhattan's 5,854-seat Radio City Music Hall. Having made its debut in Dublin last June, it reached New York City via London, New Zealand and Australia. Riverdance now maintains two touring companies, and producers are putting together a third. The show will return to the U.S. in September after a string of sold-out performances last year. Riverdance the CD won a Grammy last month and remains the top-selling album on Billboard's world music chart. pbs broadcasts of both productions have garnered high ratings for the network during pledge-drive months. Taped versions of Riverdance and Flatley's new opus are, respectively, the second and third best-selling home videos in the country (just behind Bambi).
Before Flatley came on the scene, Irish dance was a rigid affair that required performers to hold their arms tightly at their sides. Flatley, an American-born son of Irish parents, acquired his interest in traditional dance from his mom and dad but did not start taking lessons in his native Chicago until he was 11, an age deemed too old by teachers. In the years to come, he spent most of his time overcompensating with endless practice sessions in his parents' garage. He went on to win dance contests all over Ireland and ultimately loosened up the genre by letting all his limbs fly. In 1994 he was fortunate enough to catch the eye of Dublin TV producer Moya Doherty, who decided to build a show, Riverdance, grounded in the unconventional style of Flatley and another dancer, Jean Butler. Their modern take on an old genre has earned the respect of classical dancers. Says Septime Webre, artistic director of the American Repertory Ballet Company: "The precision and uniformity with which these dancers execute their steps is on par with the great ballet companies of the world."