Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley Can Be Seen On Big Screens In 3-D (Part 1)

By Brad Balfour

Just before St. Patrick's Day, Dance Lord Michael Ryan Flatley held court at the Regency Hotel with a small set of select journalists and waxed on about his career of breaking boundaries and a few bones.

The boisterous 52-year-old became internationally known for creating and performing in the Irish dance-based shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames and Celtic Tiger.

Born on July 16th, 1958, in Chicago, this Irish-American took traditional Celtic step dancing beyond its traditions and established an international audience for the form.

First, he created a dance portion for touring with the Chieftains, the legendary Irish folk-rock group. Then as an actor, choreographer and musician, this dancemeister extended the idea into several long-form shows that has made him one of the richest men in Ireland.

This occasional television presenter has now memorialized his current long-running show in a film, Lord of the Dance 3D. Filmed during Flatley's return tour in the fall of 2010, it features new sets, costumes, performers, state-of-the-art lighting, pyrotechnics and projections.

Brad Balfour [BB]: What are your feelings about filming these few shows, having done them live so many times?
Michael Flatley [MF]: Good and bad - that's the most wonderful thing in the world. Do I wish I could have done it 30 years ago? Maybe; it takes me a lot more runway to get up to speed, but I can at least get up to speed. That's an important part and I'm still proud to be able to do that.
But yeah, there's some magic we missed along the way. There's some great nights that I'll never forget that you can't go back and capture, you just can't. And there's too many names, too many to list, but that's how it is.
Our dream was to go back and film this in Dublin at the Point Theatre. That's where I created Riverdance. Going back there all these years later meant something. I didn't have to get the dancers fire up, they were fired up. They knew the history. They grew up with that history.
That in itself [offered] a special magic that needed to be captured. Did things go wrong? We did a fantastic tour, all excited about the opening night in Dublin and my leading lady went down - yeah, Bernadette Flynn, greatest dancer in the world - went down. It broke my heart.
I [couldn't] do this movie without her. There was no way I was going to put this movie out without Bernadette. On top of that, I had a ruptured left Achilles tendon, and an aggravated calf tear from 1996 when I had ripped it before. I had a bad problem here in my neck, my T3 had to be adjusted, fractured ribs that had to be done, and a large toe joint that for some reason I was having trouble moving. But I can promise you one thing: nothing of that was in my mind when I flew across that stage. I felt like a loaded gun out there, I couldn't wait to go.
What we didn't get with Bernadette on those three nights, we got in London and Berlin. So this movie went out with the right person by my side. She's been with me from the beginning and she deserved that respect.

BB: Were there any changes or considerations you made in putting the show on film?
MF: For years people have approached me about doing film work, and I've always been apprehensive because mainly I just didn't think it would transfer. The live show is so powerful and so filled with energy that you can't explain that energy to people unless you're in the room.
You were saying before about anticipation, especially for people that have seen it before, there's an energy. When the lights go down and the score starts, it gets you fired up. I was afraid that wouldn't translate. I think , the great advances in 3-D technology, which I'm sure the director would have already addressed, helped to convince me.
The first thing we did is bring in the light and stage guys. We brought in seven different screens and graduated [them] so there was more depth of field for the cameras. [We had] the beautiful steps in the middle of the stage so that sometimes we had almost a wall of dancers, which is sensational. You have to remember I tour with this, so I'm limited by the number of trucks. It's not like we did this on a sound stage where I can say, "Let's bring in the dancing girls." So what we did here is what we do every night.
And another [thing] I'd like to mention is that I insisted the show be done live, in front of a live audience. In the beginning, everyone thought we should do it on a sound stage where we could do multiple takes, each part right, if you miss a step don't worry we'll do it again.
Nonsense, who wants to see a show like that? I want to see the truth, whatever the truth is.
Are there mistakes in this movie? Hell yes, there's a lot of mistakes, but I'm proud of that. Whatever it is, it's live and we run 100 miles an hour. For better or worse, when those dancers are smiling, it's honest. The audience is reacting, it's honest.
It's the truth, it's what we get every night. We're not going to be everybody's cup of tea. There's probably going to be people and reviewers that won't like it and that's okay. I don't mind about that. The general public loves it.
We've sold out arenas from Mexico to Moscow, from Texas to Tokyo and we're still pumping 15 years later. We've somehow managed to stay relevant and profitable, and that's an element you can't overlook.

BB: What's the most important thing you've learned about filmmaking?
MF: Again, I do it differently than everyone else. I don't know if that's good or bad. The way I run my business, we say, "You don't leave it on the road."
It's not important for me to have the presidential suite, that stuff is not necessary. You'd laugh if you saw my rider, the only thing on it is water and towels. You'd be embarrassed to come into my dressing room. That's all I need and what I want. We go out every night and put on what I'd like to think is the greatest show. We like to give people more than their money's worth and dance our hearts out. The hardest thing was putting that on film.
I'm not convinced the Hollywood moviemaking model is working. I like to see real true emotion on screen, and I think it can be done for a reasonable price. You don't have to spend $200 million to make a good movie that will move people.
So it's tedious and time consuming, and even though we had to move the cameras over a five night period, it was a dream for me because we couldn't say, "Take 49, bring me another bottle of champagne." I did it my way, put the movie on the screen. Put the movie on the stage. It doesn't belong anyplace else.

BB: Aside from the concerts for this movie, what particular concerts have affected you through the years?
MF: If I singled out any performances, I might be leaving out ones that were just as important at the moment. But who could forget the performances at the Oscars in 1997. We were sandwiched between Madonna and Celine Dion. I think Dion is the greatest singer of all time. The dancers had grown up looking at all these stars on the big [screen].
When we went backstage we were so focused on representing our country and putting out a great performance, and all the people backstage were looking at my dancers - and I stood back watching this. What a moment, for me to see all these big names looking at these kids. It was such a rush running across that stage.
Opening night in Dublin of Lord of the Dance, no one gave me any chance. I had just left Riverdance and had to beg, borrow and steal, I was leveraged up to my eyeballs. It was tough. We hadn't sold a bunch of tickets going into it and the press wasn't the nicest because I was an American over there in Ireland, I think.
The first show went out and it was papered - we brought people in to fill up the seats. Word of mouth went out and within 24 hours, bang [he snaps his fingers] four weeks were sold out. That was a night worth remembering.
The first time we did Madison Square Garden - Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, what a place. And Radio City Music Hall, you could land a plane on that stage. All those years of digging ditches, that's what I focused on: that stage, and we got there. This could go on for all time.

BB: What about the places you'd like to play? Is there anywhere that you haven't performed yet that you'd love to perform in?
MF: I'd like to do more of China, and I haven't performed in India; some place in South America I'd like to try. My troupes have been there. I got three groups that tour all year round, so they get to go sometimes to places I haven't been yet.
I love to try everything. Literally, I've danced on the Great Wall of China. We performed at the Kremlin Palace, and coming home late at night I threw off my coat and flew around Red Square. Nobody was watching but a few people. It doesn't get any better.

BB: Were you always like this, having that positiveness when you were eight-, 10-, or 15-years-old?
MF: I can't remember back then, but I was always a dreamer and used to get into trouble for staring out the window. The teacher would scold me, "Flatley, would you stop staring out that window and dreaming."
I always played ice hockey and never believed someone could beat me at the breakaway, even though they often did. Even trying boxing, it was a new experience. I was a little nervous, because we're in the pain business, but I always believed I was going to win. I'd truly psych myself into a position where I was confident I couldn't be defeated.
So I must have had that. My parents were old country Irish people and came to this country in 1957 with nothing and really built their dream here.
My brother and I dug ditches with my father growing up. It was the greatest education I ever got and I'm proud to say that. Any man who works for a living, regardless of what he does, has my respect.

Pick up next week's Irish Examiner USA for the conclusion of Brad's interview with Michael Flatley.