It was 1997. We were in London at the Apollo Theatre in Hammersmith to see Riverdance.
As we took up our seats… the smart looking professional couple seated in front of us let out an audible sigh. Clearly they didn’t like children… and we had three!
The man lamented rather loudly to the woman next to him how he’d paid “through the nose” for the tickets and what rotten luck to be seated near children.
Indignantly he turned and shot us another disapproving look and then planted himself defiantly into his seat. In England at that time of year… children [we learned] were either in school or at home with the nanny.
But not ours. It was school holiday time back home in Australia and they went everywhere with us. Even to England.
It had only been a couple of years since the phenomenon of Riverdance had burst onto the world stage during the Eurovision Song Contest and enthralled the world with a 3 minute ground breaking performance that would bring Ireland “kicking and reeling” out into the world spotlight… and change forever the way the world saw dance.
Suddenly Ireland was the coolest spot on the planet with it’s bewitching music and sexy new moves. Who could have predicted that the phenomenon would spread worldwide… and that Riverdance would become the Pied Piper of dance for a whole generation of kids twitching to get their feet [and their heads] around the terrifyingly complicated rhythm of irish step dancing.
That was the beginning of all things Irish for us. The next eight years were filled with the joy of Irish Dancing… feis after feis… competition after competition… performance after performance. They were heady years for Claire… who at 8…. was so captivated by what she saw that night at the Apollo… that she took up Irish Dancing and rose to her own personal best in a dance form that is as mystical as it is magical.
I loved those years. I sewed costumes until the wee small hours… drove hundreds of miles… flew across the State… waited back stage with hairspray safety pins and bandages… and sat in the audience with my heart on fire and my fingers crossed (as mothers everywhere are apt to do!)
Eight years can go terribly fast when you’re having a whole lot of fun… and with the carrot of an OP1 looming large in her senior school studies… Claire finally decided to give it all away. I swear she became Irish during those years… I reckon we all did in one way or other. But with Irish blood running in her veins on both sides of the family I guess she couldn’t miss!
Back at the Apollo… Colin Dunne and Jean Butler and the whole Riverdance troupe had burst onto the stage for the resounding finale. The music and atmosphere was high… the thunderous vibration of a herd of stomping hard shoes reverberated in the chest of each and every person seated in the auditorium. The sound. The sight. The rhythm. What an experience!
The audience rose to it’s feet…. clapping out the beat. Cheers went up… and the audience roared.
The three kids… who had stepped up onto their seats to see over the heads in front… were all clapping enthusiastically. They… like everyone else… had been totally swept up by what they were seeing and experiencing. The look of rapture on their faces was priceless!
The couple in front had been totally taken aback. They too were up on their feet with the rest of us… their hands in the air clapping for all they were worth. As the curtain went down they were turning to everyone around them smiling and laughing and embracing the people next to them.
How odd. How stiff they had been when they got there! How angry they’d been at their bad fortune to be seated with… ahem… annoying children! Grin.
Turning to the kids with smiles on their faces… [heck I thought they might even go so far as to actually hug them!] they excitedly asked
“Well kids… how did you enjoy that? Wasn’t it great!?”
The kids looked at each other more than a little bit puzzled… then looked up at me. I shrugged and we all smiled.
It was afterall a life changing experience [for everyone!]
HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY one and all
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand
Mini cupcake baked and photographed by
