Original subtitles

[intense percussive music]

[bird squawking]

- I was invited to a new show

at the Point Theater in Dublin.

And it turned out to be one of the most memorable nights

I've ever spent in a theater.

The force of the music, the primal power of the dancing,

the beautiful symmetry of so many bodies in motion.

I think anybody who was in the audience that night

realized that they were watching something

unique and original.

The show of course was Riverdance.

[bright energetic music]

[crowd cheering]

- Well I suppose Riverdance the show

and then there was Riverdance at the Eurovision.

So 25 years ago we already had Riverdance

at the Eurovision

which happened in 1994 as a six minute,

40 second piece that surprised people.

- [Hosts] Ladies and gentlemen, Riverdance.

[traditional Celtic music]

- The interval act in Eurovision

is normally something of cultural value from that country.

[mumbling] They're normally quite boring.

But when Riverdance came on the stage,

it was an electrifying moment.

[crowd roaring]

- [Announcer] The audience are on their feet.

- And the audience as one jumped to their feet

and for like a sustained four or five minutes applause.

That in my experience of the business was unique.

- At that moment I suppose we knew

that Irish dance was never going to be the same again.

And that maybe Irish culture

was never going to be the same again.

- When we had the initial set of tidal wave response,

that was the time that we all thought, well,

Riverdance has really had an effect.

We have the number one record.

We should make a show.

- Bill Whelan, John McGolgan and myself

put our heads together around the table.

And we really worked out what the shape, form, concept

of the tour piece was gonna be.

- I think actually, you know

Maria will bring something to it

not only just with her talent of her dancing

but also just her personality.

She has that kind of warmth,

which you know in a company context is very important.

[light music]

- The theme was immigration

and the theme was multicultural

and the theme was changing, interchanging ideas

and being able to work with each other.

So all of the dancers didn't just sit

in their own saddle.

They interacted with each other

and the choregraphy was mixed up with each other.

One year later, we had a full show

in the same venue.

- Please welcome Riverdance.

[upbeat Irish music]

[crowd applauding]

- What we're doing is telling a lot of good will,

a lot of high energy

and we love what we're doing.

The best thing about our show is that

all of us would do it for nothing,

without any audience there.

And I think when you have a show like that,

it'll live for a while.

- It exploded.

We just dragged on, held on by our knuckles

to the coattails of Riverdance

and traveled with it.

- [John] So straight from there we went to Hammersmith

which was a 6,000 seater in London

and we played Hammersmith for a record number of weeks.

Then we went off and started our American tours

in Radio City Music Hall

and we held the record there for the longest run

of any single show.

- [Moya] These dance forms were cultural dance forms

that were used to express through history

life and death and celebration, and challenge.

It's a river of emotions.

Pathos, sorrow, joy,

it brings us great joy.

It brings the audience great joy.

So bringing all of that into a Broadway stroke

mainstream entertainment stage

is I think what caused the real excitement.

[energetic music]

- This was the show that announced to the world

that Ireland was a cultural force

to be reckoned with in the popular sense.

It made Irish dancing sexy

and it made it cool.

[uplifting music]

- [John] Irish dance, or as they call it, the Riverdance,

is now recognized all over the world

as a genuine artform

and employs thousands of people.

- I think we are so blessed,

25 years later to be able

to experiment with this and to produce this new show.

- My hope and desire is now that with this new treatment,

the show will be reinvigorated,

attractive to people who have never seen it.

Younger people who weren't born when it started,

and even more attractive to people

who have seen it before,

they'll also be blown away.

So it's the next generation.

It's Riverdance, the next generation.

[crowd applauding]

♪ Hear my cry in my hungering search for you ♪

♪ Taste my breath on the wind ♪

♪ See the sky as it mirrors my colors ♪

♪ Hints and whispers begin ♪

[light flute music]

- [Narrator] Out of the dark, we came.

Out of the night.

The first of many mornings in this new place.

When the sun rolled back the mist,

we rose like a strong wave on land.

Now we were the people of this place.

What burns through the rain and mist?

What banishes dark?

What makes the children straight and bright?

What makes the mountains sharp?

The sun is our lord and father.

Bright face at the gate of day.

Lifting our hearts we sing his praise,

dance in his healing rays.

[driving Irish music]

[intense music]

[audience cheering]

[crowd applauding]

[serene flute music]

[crowd applauding]

♪ Where the river foams and surges to the sea ♪

♪ Silver figures rise to find me ♪

♪ Wise and as daring ♪

♪ Following the heart's cry ♪

♪ I am that deep pool ♪

♪ I am that dark spring ♪

♪ Warm with a mystery ♪

♪ I may reveal to you ♪

♪ In time ♪

♪ Time holds the heart's key ♪

♪ Key to everything is Love ♪

♪ Love makes the heart flower ♪

♪ Flower into a deep desire ♪

♪ Passion in the heart's fire ♪

♪ Passion and desire ♪

♪ See the eagle rise above the open plain ♪

♪ Golden in the morning air ♪

♪ Weaving and soaring ♪

♪ Watchful and protecting ♪

♪ I am your shelter ♪

♪ I will enfold you ♪

♪ Warm with a mystery ♪

♪ I may reveal to you ♪

♪ In time ♪

♪ Time holds the heart's key ♪

♪ Key to everything is Love ♪

♪ Love makes the heart flower ♪

♪ Flower into a deep desire ♪

♪ Passion in the heart's fire ♪

♪ Passion and desire ♪

[light music]

[crowd applauding]

[intense percussive music]

[driving music]

[crowd applauding]

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] Cú Chulainn is dead.

Our great Cú Chulainn.

He was the sun of morning.

He was a fire at night.

He was a powerful story.

He was lightning in forest.

A sudden storm, a short life.

[somber bagpipe music]

[crowd applauding]

- [Narrator] Thunder and lightning batter the rocks.

The winds howl and great storms break on the forest.

Scatter the herds like grain.

Fire leaps from dark to dark,

fear and anger leap to meet it.

We will not go down.

We will not be beaten down like grain.

[cymbals crashing] [thunder rumbling]

[men screaming]

[percussive stomping]

[percussive stomping and clapping]

[men screaming]

[percussive stomping]

[men screaming]

[percussive stomping]

[men screaming]

[crowd applauding]

[Spanish guitar music]

[gentle guitar music]

[percussive clicking music]

[lively guitar music]

[lively music]

[percussive music]

[lively music]

[crowd applauding]

[eerie music]

[percussive music]

[song in foreign language]

[crowd applauding]

[relaxed music]

[bright music]

[energetic music]

[jazzy relaxed music]

[crowd applauding]

[light percussive music]

[energetic music]

[crowd applauding]

♪ Hear my cry in my hungering search for you ♪

♪ Taste my breath on the wind ♪

♪ See the sky as it mirrors my colors ♪

♪ Hints and whispers begin ♪

♪ I am living to nourish you, cherish you ♪

♪ I am pulsing the blood in your veins ♪

♪ Feel the magic and power surrender to life ♪

[singing in foreign language]

♪ Every finger is touching, searching ♪

♪ Until your secrets come out ♪

♪ In the dance as it endlessly circles ♪

♪ I linger close to your mouth ♪

♪ I am living to nourish you, cherish you ♪

♪ I am pulsing the blood in your veins ♪

♪ Feel the magic and power surrender to life ♪

[singing in foreign language]

[suspenseful music]

[crowd cheering]

[light music]

[intense percussive music]

[bright music]

[intense percussive music]

[shoes clacking]

[intense percussive music]

[shoes clacking]

[intense percussive music]

[shoes clacking]

[intense percussive music]

[shoes clacking]

[intense percussive music]

[lightly energetic music]

[driving music]

[crowd applauding]

[light percussive music]

- [Narrator] No life is forever.

We found and fought here.

We loved and died here.

We have seen smoke of war

climb from our fields of grain.

A stain over the sun.

The crops wither.

The bones of hunger walked the sunken roads

in the black reign of ruin.

Whole generations lift now to depart.

The land has failed us.

The dark soldiers appear against us.

In dance and song we gift and mourn our children.

They carry us over the ocean in dance and song.

[dancers hooting]

[upbeat music]

[bright energetic music]

[crowd applauding]

[slow pensive flute music]

♪ Now I will soon depart ♪

♪ With an aching heart ♪

♪ To a land that's far from here ♪

♪ There I will hope and yearn ♪

♪ For a safe return ♪

♪ To the home ♪

♪ I hold so dear ♪

♪ Lift the wings that carry me away from here and ♪

♪ Fill the sail that breaks the line to home ♪

♪ But when I'm miles and miles ♪

♪ apart from you ♪

♪ I'm beside you when I think of you ♪

[singing in foreign language]

♪ And I'm with you as I dream of you ♪

[singing in foreign language]

♪ And this song will bring me near to you ♪

[singing in foreign language]

[crowd applauding]

[bright energetic music]

[crowd applauding]

[somber violin music]

- [Narrator] Dawn, and the ships are leaving.

The lovers' grief is lifting on the tide.

And hearts too young for sorrow torn asunder,

the cruel oceans deep and dark and wide.

Tall and straight, my mother taught me.

This is how we dance.

Tall and straight, my father taught me.

This is how we dance.

Battling feet on the city street,

in pools of light on street corners,

the proud, bright, carnival of the poor.

[stomps clacking]

[light jazzy music]

[lightly tense music]

[jazzy music]

[lightly tense music]

[driving music]

[jazzy driving music]

[percussive tapping]

[jazzy music]

[driving music]

[percussive tapping]

[crowd applauding]

[crowd cheering]

[percussive tapping]

[crowd clapping]

[crowd applauding]

[percussive tapping]

[crowd applauding]

[crowd applauding]

[crowd laughing]

[crowd cheering]

[percussive tapping]

[crowd applauding]

[crowd laughing]

[percussive tapping]

[crowd applauding]

[crowd clapping]

[crowd applauding]

[driving music]

[crowd applauding]

[crowd cheering]

[light rock music]

[crowd applauding]

[somber solemn music]

- [Narrator] Over the rooftops the music calling.

The air familiar but not our own.

Like something out of a storybook.

Somebody dancing, the memory of snow.

[melancholy music]

[solemn flute music]

[crowd applauding]

[lightly tense music]

[percussive exotic music]

[energetic music]

[crowd applauding]

- [Narrator] Cry of an infant, heartbeat of the world.

Storm against ship, heartbeat of the world.

Heel against floor and wave upon shore.

Heartbeat of the world.

Sigh of a lover, heartbeat of the world.

Cry of a mother, heartbeat of the world.

Oh, unstopped heartbeat of the world.

[percussive drum music]

[percussive tapping]

[crowd applauding]

[light percussive music]

[bright music]

[light music]

[bright music]

[crowd applauding]

♪ Into the river the tide be the stream ♪

♪ There fell a tear, a single tear ♪

♪ The loveliest of all tears ♪

♪ The loveliest of all ♪

♪ Tears ♪

[percussive music]

♪ A passage of tears have gone here unheard ♪

♪ A passage of tears have gone here unheard ♪

♪ And she will still go on dancing ♪

♪ And she will still go on dancing ♪

♪ And her muddied name was ♪

♪ Mississippi, Mississippi, Anna Livia ♪

♪ Mississippi, Mississippi, Anna Livia ♪

♪ Riversippi, Riversippi, Anna Livia ♪

♪ Riverlippi, Riverlippi, Anna Livia ♪

[steady percussive music]

♪ Mississippi, Mississippi, Anna Livia ♪

♪ Mississippi, Mississippi, Anna Livia ♪

♪ Riversippi, Riversippi, Anna Livia ♪

♪ Riverlippi, Riverlippi, Anna Livia ♪

[energetic percussive music]

♪ Crimson Olivia shimmer in Brooklyn ♪

♪ Four hundred person takes some chance ♪

♪ Is she in the shaman or the shiek in Colorado ♪

♪ When the avalanche pours ♪

♪ Tell me who's she gonna send ♪

♪ Hooting and pouring and flooding and flushing ♪

♪ And hooting and pouring and flooding and flushing ♪

♪ Riversippi, Riversippi, Anna Livia, Anna Livia ♪

♪ Riversippi, Riversippi, Anna Livia, Anna Livia ♪

♪ Shimmer on the river run ♪

♪ Anna Livia ♪

[crowd applauding]

[somber music]

- [Narrator] And after all,

the moon over city and forest is everywhere the same.

In the old land it silvers fields of grain

just as it does here.

The rivers everywhere run down to the sea

and the land everywhere takes life from the river.

It is all a journey.

From one land to the next,

from one life to another.

A generation later, that emigrant's child

stands for the first time on the old land.

Memory rich in song,

the heart come home.

[energetic violin music]

- Hey!

[crowd applauding]

[fast paced percussive music]

[crowd clapping]

[crowd laughing]

Hey!

[crowd applauding]

[energetic violin music]

[bright uplifting music]

[crowd applauding]

[dramatic music]

[driving music]

[bright and airy music]

[intense percussive music]

[percussive tapping]

[intense percussive music]

[percussive tapping]

[intense percussive music]

[percussive tapping]

[crowd applauding]

[intense percusive music]

[percussive stomping]

[percussive tapping]

[percussive stomping]

[energetic music]

[suspenseful music]

[crowd applauding]

[grand energetic music]

[crowd applauding]

[bright music]

[crowd applauding]