Planet Ireland Arises -- Lord of the Dance: 25 Years of Standing Ovations

Planet Ireland arises. Lord of the Dance's new 25th anniversary show, 25 YEARS OF STANDING OVATIONS, is now on tour. Tickets available via the LOTD website.

It's almost impossible to properly describe the scope of the impact Michael Flatley's art form overlaid atop Irish dancing had on the world in the mid-nineties. An entire culture's national image was rewritten; Ireland *exploded* upon the world stage, and Michael was at the epicenter of it. The consumer appetite for Flatley-style Irish dancing was stratospheric, and there was *nothing* out there to sate it: social media was still a decade away, and the drama surrounding the breakup between Michael and the producers of his first show was literally making frontpage headlines.

It was in this crucible that Lord of the Dance was born: the most audacious Hail Mary play in the history of show business. And it *worked.* Against all the odds, lightning struck the same place twice -- and Lord of the Dance blew Michael's first show completely out of the water, going on to gross over one-billion dollars worldwide.

The next challenge, though, is even harder: staying power.

Lord of the Dance has a unique challenge: for a show so synonymous with its creator as its star, can it stand on its own two feet as an experience without Michael Flatley onstage?

For some, the answer is no. For them, Lord of the Dance is defined solely by the original journey, bookended by the videos from Dublin in 1996 and Hyde Park in 1998, because it was that *era* -- from Eurovision '94 until roughly the end of the Feet of Flames World Tour in 2001 -- in which the larger Irish "Celtic Tiger" cultural movement peaked. For others, Lord of the Dance is defined by Michael's twenty-year tenure with the show as its lead performer, from 1996 to 2016. They cannot and will not accept anyone else in the lead role.

Fine.

But Michael's *show* goes on. From 2016 through to today, his *art form,* which is the basis for virtually all commercial Irish dancing, has continued to shine, with Michael behind the curtain and those he picks carrying on the work onstage. Today an entirely new generation of Irish dance superstars -- many of whom weren't even born when Michael first exploded onto the scene -- is leading the charge; they've grown up in a world where commercial Irish dancing has always existed, and the competition to get into Team Lord is that much more ferocious.

For the last three years, on the tail end of Dangerous Games and as a lead-up to LOTD25, we led an intensive video campaign introducing you to today's stars, because how are you supposed to form an emotional attachment to performers if you don't know who they are? And slowly, one video at a time, the general audience reaction has become more and more wildly enthusiastic for new content: a feeling of things gathering momentum once again.

All of this culminates with the 25th anniversary show. By definition, an anniversary show is an excuse for tons of fanservice, and 25 YEARS OF STANDING OVATIONS offers that up by the truckload -- in large part to grab everyone whose emotional attachment to the brand is rooted in 1996 and pull them forward into today, rediscovering the magic of Planet Ireland with a new generation onstage. If you stand back and look at Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance in its meta-narrative entirety, with Dublin 1996 as one bookend, then it's LOTD25 which is the other bookend: a multi-generational saga centered on the biggest-selling dance show of all time.

If we've done this right, this video should bring a tear to your eye. But it should leave you feeling *proud* -- tall, uplifted, wistful and excited in equal measure. Because this isn't a typical trailer for Michael Flatley's 25th anniversary Lord of the Dance show: it's a coda to the whole journey thus far. It's the sort of video that fans make for fellow fans, because in order to create something like this you have to *feel* it.

What comes next? There are tantalizing hints. But first, it's important to take one last look over the shoulder, to salute the journey thus far, and to reintroduce fans to the world of Planet Ireland, populated by a new generation. This lays the groundwork for what is to come. Regardless of what gets announced next, the inescapable truth is this: if you want to experience that classic Planet Ireland magic one more time, *now* is the time to do it.

For three years, we slowly teased you with cryptic "Planet Ireland arises" messages. Now, at last, the moment is here: Planet Ireland is arisen.

#LordOfTheDance #MichaelFlatley #IrishDance #IrishDancing #LOTD #LOTD25 #Lord25 #25YearsOfStandingOvations

Видео Planet Ireland Arises -- Lord of the Dance: 25 Years of Standing Ovations канала Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance