Can you believe it’s been 25 years of Lord of The Dance? Michael Flatley’s iconic show first premiered in July 1996 in Dublin. Now, after 25 years the show has toured all over the world, having visited over 1000 venues worldwide. Now it is back for a special anniversary run described by The Los Angeles Times as a “showpiece extravaganza”. I was fortunate enough to interview one of the ‘Lords’ from the show, Matthew Smith, here is what he had to say about reaching your dreams, working with his icon, and touring life.
I've read you watched the original Lord of the dance when you were younger and this inspired you, how does it feel now being in this iconic anniversary run of the show?
So, it's kind of mad. I watched it when I was five years old and then said, yeah, I'd love to do that one day. My parents took me to a local Irish dance school, and it went from there through the competitive stages. Then at 17, got the opportunity to audition for the show. I’ve been in this show for 12 years. It's cool now to be able to work closely with Michael on this new production and take it to audiences all around the world. There's nothing better than the adrenaline because each night it's a great buzz.
Have you got any advice that you would give to younger aspiring dancers or creatives that are probably seeing people that they're watching on TV and in theatre shows? What would you say to them if they're facing challenges or they're not sure if they can do it?
So, I've kind of lived at that process and lived that dream but it's a cliche, isn't it like work hard, all that sort of thing you’ve got to do that. But setting little goals, for me that was my way. So, my first goal was, you know, audition for the show, be as prepared as you can for that section always just look at the kind of short term and accomplish little things along the way. But there's always, you know, the time to grow into it. It's a marathon, not a sprint. So, if you set little goals and you can accomplish them along the way, suddenly you will find yourself somewhere that you maybe never thought you could be by accomplishing those little goals along the way. I think that's a good way of looking at it.
What's it like working so closely with Michael Flatley, is it as incredible as it sounds like it would be to work with someone you have grown up admiring?
I mean, he's the reason I got into it from watching him on TV as a kid, so there's still a bit of nerves. Working with him, he's such a big, charismatic figure, you know, so always a bit nervous when you’re dancing for him, but at the same time, what an opportunity. He's great at involving us and boosting our confidence, working, and collaborating with us. I’ve had so many great opportunities to even, you know, make up this show with him. So yeah, it's class to kind of be able to work with your idol, someone you looked up to from a young age and then to be able to do the role that he created and that you wanted to do, as you said, kind of as amazing as it sound, incredible.
I know that you do more than 150,000 taps per performance. How do you maintain that stamina and focus because you can't be out of time with each other?
Yeah, exactly that, timing is such an important thing in dance or even any theatre production, you know, but especially in Irish and Tap, that's one of the amazing things I think when people come to see the show, they find that phenomenon when we're all dancing the same thing at the same time. It is crazy to see when I step back. So, we all started Irish at such a young age, and it goes back to our previous about do you do any other dance forms it takes such a lot of time and effort and commitment to be a great Irish dancer that it's so hard to focus and commit to another sport or form of dance. We do loads of rehearsals, we rehearse for at least two hours a day, and then at the gym, I’ll usually do some strength and conditioning to help prepare my body.
Finally, how do you find some time to relax when you are on tour and are there any cities you enjoy going back to?
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