Riverdance

Riverdance is a theatrical show built mainly from traditional Irish music and dance, with a score by Bill Whelan. It began as the interval act of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, featuring the Irish dancing champions Jean Butler and Michael Flatley alongside the vocal ensemble Anúna, and the reaction was such that the husband-and-wife production team of John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded it into a full stage show, which opened in Dublin on 9 February 1995. Its roots run further back than that: Whelan traces the name to Timedance, the baroque-influenced suite he wrote with Dónal Lunny for the 1981 Eurovision interval. The show has been touring the world ever since.