Lord of the Dance -- tytu. Ciekawostki : Tancerze wykonuj Michael se narodil 16. Michael Flatley is the fancy-footed Irish-American step dancer behind beloved prance fests like 'River Dance,' 'Lord of the Dance,' 'Feet.Michael Flatley on why he's taking his final bow. His hamstrings are . He lives in constant pain.. After a life of high- kicking success and rock ’n’roll excess, Michael Flatley tells Event it’s time to hang up THOSE dancing shoes. Every morning my poor wife . On a crisp winter’s morning in County Cork, Michael Flatley is holed up in his magnificent 2. Castlehyde, nursing a virus that has laid him out for the past two weeks. The 5. 6- year- old can barely speak but he has dragged himself out of bed, put on a dapper blue velvet jacket, waistcoat and immaculately ironed jeans, and is organising (with his housekeeper) steaming pots of tea, water in big crystal goblets and delicate petits fours. I ask if he is in pain and he gives me a small smile. Every morning my poor wife ? Le spectacle son et lumi. Almost twenty years ago, she walked away from the furor she had helped to create. In 1997, she left “Riverdance” to create her own, infinitely more subtle spinoff. I've wrecked my body': Michael Flatley on why he's taking his final bow. By Louise Gannon For Event Magazine. He shakes his head.'My hamstrings are ruined, my groin is gone and I’ve done irreparable damage to my spine,' said Michael. I’ve wrecked my body with dance. I can’t say I wasn’t warned and I can’t say I haven’t loved every single minute of putting myself into this state. I have a recurring broken bone in my right foot which just spontaneously breaks itself. It’s a very different sum but it’s very hard to get anyone to insure these legs,’ he says. He broke his own record by tap- dancing more than 3. No details left to chance. There is blood and sweat on the inside of every single one of my dance shoes,’ he says. I have no one to blame but myself. Flatley is about to hang up his dancing shoes after 3. Lord Of The Dance: Dangerous Games. It’s a two- hour fusion of dance styles, from traditional Irish dance to tap, modern and Broadway. It’s all about mass appeal, high energy (there are 4. Hunger Games flavour. Flatley has always known exactly what people want and he has always known exactly how to deliver it – bells, whistles, outrageous costumes and high kicks in every sense. I knew what I wanted, I knew what I could do and I believed I could do it,' said Michael. In a select series of shows – Brighton, Belfast, London Dominion and Wembley Arena (and other spots around the world yet to be confirmed) he will – regardless of pain – dance on stage for a matter of triumphant minutes, while passing the mantle to his new Lords. A few years ago no one would have ever expected the words, . In two decades he turned himself into a global superstar through the archaic and distinctly unfashionable medium of Irish dancing. Flatley – born of blue- collar Irish- American stock in Chicago – made a . And earned a reputation as one of the most driven, competitive, ruthless men ever to have strapped on a pair of black leather tap shoes. Blond, tanned and trailing jaw- droppingly beautiful women and tabloid headlines in his wake, Flatley lived like a rock star, fought like a street animal (most famously falling out with his Riverdance producers over money, control and status) and propelled himself ever forward to become a bigger and bigger star. I wanted to be out front in the spotlight. I knew what I could do and I knew what I was worth. I wanted to play arenas. Everybody told me it was a crazy idea. One promoter told me it would be . Just one.’ 'And that was it! It went on to sell out around the world. It went from arenas to stadiums. I always had that self- belief. Now that doesn’t always make you popular with everyone else but you have to believe in yourself.’On the surface, Flatley seems a mass of contradictions. He has a reputation for having an ego the size of a small planet yet in person he is courteous, self- deprecating with soft, whispery Irish- American voice and old- fashioned manners.'I didn’t ever want to be the dancer in the background. I wanted to be out front in the spotlight. I knew what I could do and I knew what I was worth,' said Michael (pictured leading his Lord Of The Dance troupe in 1. The grand Georgian drawing room in which we are sitting is crammed with silver- framed photographs of his wife and seven- year- old son, Michael St James (or . What happens is exactly what anyone would think happens. But it’s not always right to talk about it.’He did, however, once reveal he was stopped by the police in the U. S., driving his Ferrari at 1. Did he ever feel a twinge of Catholic guilt? He laughs. I felt I deserved to be in the place I was, I felt I deserved to enjoy it and I did. I’ve probably made more mistakes than anyone else, but I’m not going to sit here worrying about them. I don’t look back, only forward.’But living the bachelor lifestyle certainly took its toll on his personal life. His first marriage, to Beata Dziaba, ended in 1. Then in 2. 00. 6 he married Niamh O’Brien, someone who had known him throughout the wild height of his fame, having auditioned for the first- ever Riverdance in 1. I’ve probably made more mistakes than anyone else, but I’m not going to sit here worrying about them. I don’t look back, only forward,' said Michael (pictured playing the flute in a performance of Celtic Tiger in 2. She knew exactly what I was like and she still married me. She knows I’m an absolute lunatic but she knows how to deal with me and becoming a father changed everything again. And that’s what I want to keep.’He has no truck with stars who don’t want to hand over their wealth to their children for fear of tarnishing their ambition. But he has other ideas. Why would I not?’These days Flatley is a changed man. Apart from Niamh and his mother, the women he loved the most was a nun called Sister Concilia Murphy, a close friend for decades, who recently died. He carries the religious medals she cherished with him wherever he goes, as a reminder of their companionship. He was born the second of five children into a poor Irish immigrant family. His father, Michael, started out as a jack- of- all- trades builder rising, with the assistance of his wife, Eilish, to become head of his own construction company. From the age of seven, Michael and his brothers worked alongside his dad. I learnt every job, from plumbing to painting. He excelled and became a national champion. He also excelled at sport, especially boxing (he remains a huge fan) but he ended up in his 2. In the Eighties he toured as a dancer with Irish folk band The Chieftains. It was, he recalls, his first glimpse of a very different future. He choreographed the idea as Riverdance and first performed it as a seven- minute interval break in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1. The following year he extended that original format into a full show – and the Riverdance phenomenon was born. I knew exactly what I wanted it to be.’After the initial success he fell out with the others involved because he wanted more money, greater star billing, bigger venues. Michael in front of his home in County Cork. He has other houses in Chicago, Barbados and in Knightsbridge, London. All are rewards from a hugely successful career. He did not back down. He left Riverdance and created Lord Of The Dance and then Feet Of Flames and Celtic Tiger. As dancers went, Flatley was something completely different. He was a sex symbol and an extravagant, flamboyant superstar. But he was also from the street. He tells me a story that illustrates this point. It took place at the point where his income rocketed. I had real money for the first time in my life and I went out to buy a house. I went to see the owner and told him I didn’t want to bid but I would give him . I got the house.’'I am happier married to her than I ever have been,' said Michael of wife Niamh. Flatley owns a lot of homes. He has houses in Chicago, Ireland, Barbados and in Knightsbridge, London. He takes me round his vast mansion built on land bequeathed by Elizabeth I; it was a waterlogged ruin when he bought it in 1. He tells me about the wooden floorboards, the crystal in the chandeliers, the 2. Portland stone cantilevered staircase and light fittings imported from France. Every detail is catalogued in his brain. All are rewards from a hugely successful career – yet there was a moment in 2. After an interview for MTV his assistant noticed a mole on his face and recommended he see a doctor. I said: “But that’s not that serious. It’s not life- threatening, surely?” 'He told me to get straight in my car and come to see him as he needed to operate there and then. You don’t forget that. Jackson was a guest at Castlehyde. I remember coming down here one morning and Michael was out on the steps at the front looking at the river and singing to himself. He felt very safe here.’ He thinks Jackson was a better dancer than he was a singer. Can he actually twerk? And I have caught a short image of Beyonc. I don’t watch television. I don’t see the way these performers dance. Michael at home with his abstract artworks, painted with his feet. Now that is graceful, beautiful and very, very sexy.’Flatley and his dancing have been parodied by everyone from Steve Coogan to The Simpsons. Does he ever want to be taken more seriously? But if you can’t have a laugh at what you do then what’s the point?’Flatley is full of surprises. While he is undeniably grand with his immaculately restored house and pristine outfits, he claims his idea of properly relaxing is . Much like in his shows, he likes to do things his way, to elevate the ordinary and add a little pomp and ceremony to the everyday. As we pass his Downton Abbey- style dressing room he suddenly pipes up, . Nothing else.’His Croesus- like wealth is clearly a source of sheer joy to him. He even feels it’s the reason he doesn’t need to take painkillers for his many and varied problems. I have an osteopath who comes to adjust my spine twice a week, I believe in energy healers and acupuncture but I don’t believe in pills. That’s why every morning I go and light a candle in the local church.’He’s not immune to the trappings of extreme wealth – he keeps a cellar with . As well as his multiple homes, he has a luxury yacht.
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