Riverdance is coming to Lethbridge.
For one of the three lead dancers, Alana Mallon, the only Scottish dancer to ever dance lead in the show, the Irish dance comes naturally.
“I don’t know any differently. I‘ve been dancing since I was three. I don’t even remember how I started,” Mallon said from a tour stop in Vancouver. The show comes to the Enmax Centre, April 16 before hitting Medicine Hat the next night.
The troupe has been on the road since April 5 and will wind up the Canadian part of their tour on May 30 in Victoria.
“I used to go to see it with my parents. It was a hobby, then I started to get really good at it and started competing,” Mallon said adding she joined the company after visiting an Irish friend in New York who was part of the Broadway troupe.
She doesn't recall the show ever coming to Lethbridge though.
“I was supposed to audition in Dublin, but when they called, I’d already arranged to meet her in New York, so they arranged it so I could audition in New York,” she said adding three years later, she got the lead role in the Broadway production then moved to the touring production in 2003.
“No not a chance, I didn’t expect it. There was only one lead role and three understudies. It is very physically demanding, so now there are three leads,” she said.
“I’m right in front of everybody and I have a lot of solos. You have to keep really fit and on top of everything. It’s a lot more physical as the lead. But it’s not just Irish dancing,” she observed adding the show also includes some Spanish dancing as well as tap dancing plus a live band. She is only part of the Irish dancing part of the show, then joins the rest of the troupe. There are 25 dancers from all over the UK, U.S. and even Canada, on the tour plus the band.
“It’s been a great tour. It’s always great to see the audiences cheering. It’s great to see them go home with a smile on their face because they’ve taken something away from the show, ” she said adding she has enjoyed touring all over the world and noticed a difference in audience reaction.
“In China they don’t cheer until the end of the show, so we didn’t think we were having a good show, then at the end they all cheered and came up to the front of the stage. It was the same in Japan. They’re very polite there. They are also pretty reserved in Europe, but in America they don’t even think twice about jumping up and down,” she continued adding most of the tour is by bus, so the troupe get to see a lot of the country.
“It’s been a great experience. I’ve traveled all over the world, I’ve met a lot of great people on tour and the company is like a family,” she said adding she can’t choose just one tour story or choose a favourite place.
“That’s hard to say. I liked Florida a lot,” she said.
“We’ve only had two flights. One to Green Bay and the other to Vancouver. We’ve had a lot of bus breakdowns, but it is easier to just pack up your luggage and go. We even had a sleeper on on of the bus. It’s better than dealing with airlines. We just pack up all of our gear and go,” she laughed.
Tickets for the Lethbridge show, which takes place at the Enmax Centre April 16, cost $59, $64 an $69. The show begins at 8 p.m.
A version of this story appears in the Lethbridge Sun Times, April 13, 2011 edition
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