Riverdance in KC

The wildly popular juggernaut that is Riverdance jigs into Kansas City tonight. The show runs through July 22 at Starlight Theater in Swope Park.

I remember when Riverdance was a new thing in America, just taking off. This was back in the days when I served as vice president of The Celtic Fringe in the failed and corrupt McGonagle administration. Brendan McGonagle was president, and had come to KC from Limavady, near Derry in Northern Ireland. If there is a night to every day, an up to every down, a north to every south, then there was Brendan to Michael Flatley, the Riverdance lead male dancer and future self proclaimed Lord of The Dance. They could not have been less alike. Anyway, Brendan had the idea that he should put a competing show with a supporting cast of fellow pub rats, Brendan front and center, resplendent in his skinny headband, pasty white belly drooping over his leather trousers, all of us shuffling away with pints in hand. There were a couple late nights when we were lucky enough to see Brendan rehearse a few steps. But alas, the Kansas City company of Liverdance was never to grace the stage.

Brendan eventually went back to Ireland, married the beautiful artist Fiona O'Hara and became a lawyer. Liverdance exists only in our dim memories. Riverdance is an industry unto itself. Michael Flatley is hanging out in Cork with Michael Jackson.

And the world spins crazily on.