FREE ESSAY ON REVIEW OF RIVERDANCE

REVIEW OF RIVERDANCE

From the moment I started to get near the Gershwin Theatre I felt some kind of uplifting
energy inside of me. As soon as I came to the doors I saw lot of people waiting to get
in. All of us came for the same reason to see the "Riverdance". I felt very enthusiastic
as I walked down the lobby to the escalators. The atmosphere of the theatre was solemn:
coat-checkers, all people well dressed, everyone is smiling and expecting the event.
As I sat down on my seat, I started to look around. It was a big auditorium with a seats
arranged so everyone will see the event no matter where you seat. Gershwin Theatre is the
proscenium kind of theatre. The stage didn't have any particular decorations that will
catch your eye, so I flipped the playbill to get some information before the beginning. 
As the lights went down, from the first minute of a play I was swept away with a
beautiful music and stayed like this until the last minute of the show. It seemed for me,
though the musicians are the heart of the play. They brought life and energy. Some of
these musicians were actors too. For example, one young lady who played violin came on to
the stage a few times in the show, and danced and played solo, and with the rest of
dancers at the same time. Music itself, which was a folk Irish transformed to something
modern, was fantastic. A cappella singers also perform as a sort of chorus. Throughout
the play we were able to hear the voice of unseen narrator, who were telling an
impressionistic story of the Irish. The lighting pointed out the important moments and
people at the write time. It did not have any special lighting effects and it really
didn't need to. All together, lighting and sound created some feeling of spirituality for
the show. 
Scenery of the play was very simple. It didn't use any extravagant decorations.
Everything was very simple but it didn't give a feeling of emptiness. I felt that it was
good because it didn't disturb attention of an audience. However, it was giving very
basic information to what is going on a stage. The colors of the scenery corresponded to
the scene. It helped the audience to feel what the dance is about. Most of the
decorations were shown as symbolic elements that gave a feeling of appropriateness.
Riverdance tells us the story of Irish history and dance in the abstract, mixing Irish
step dancing with other folk forms like African American tap, Russian folk and Spanish
flamenco. Production of the dances began slow at the first moment and then was getting
faster and faster. I felt that I have no time to relax, dancers were holding all the
attention. The piece with the Irish dance required from a few people on stage to a full
stage of dancers. At the moments when everyone danced on the stage, the movements were so
synchronized that it was giving a feeling that everyone flows together as a unit. With
it's movements dancers were able to show the mood of dance. I were able to laugh, feel
joy and sadness. I think it was a most important thing for dancers to transform the
feeling of their mood to the audience. What I also liked the most is that dancers did not
dance with a stone look on their faces while dancing. Their expression changed to what
the dance required it to change.
Costumes of the dancers were nothing extravagant, but simple and good. It reflected the
period of the play. Style of the costumes depended on the dance. If the dance was Russian
folk costumes were right accordingly to it. The haircut corresponded to the dance either.
When it was a Spanish flamenco the design of the dancer's hair was the one that all the
traditional dancers of this type of dance wear. The color of the costumes reflected the
dance and story. 
I felt that director John McColgan completed a task not from an easy one. This show did
not contain much of a plot and still director has been able to bring the feeling of
unity. Everything: dancers, singers, light, and sound moved together. And production was
not only technically correct, it were able to give a feeling to the audience. Pace of the
play was very correct. It grasped attention of the audience bit by bit, but then it was
holding all the attention to the very end. Rhythm was correctly chosen also. It changed
from the fast tones to the more slower ones and vice versa, so the spectator were able to
rest a little without loosing the flow of the emotions. I also think that director used
all his available space correctly. Even though there was not much of a decoration, there
was not a feeling of emptiness on a stage. Instead of scenery free space was filled up
with people as much as it needed to.
To conclude, I just want to say that this show was fascinating. It didn't seem that there
were some mistakes done neither from actors, nor technicians or directors. This was a
great experience for me, which I were not ready for, since I am not very fond of dance
productions. But I was swept away with the quality of the performance and the beauty of
Irish folk music.