Michael Flatley Michael Flatley Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958) is a former Irish-American dancer, choreographer, and musician. He became internationally known for Irish dance shows "Riverdance", "Lord of the Dance", "Feet of Flames", and "Celtic Tiger Live". Flatley's shows have played to more than 60 million people in 60 countries and have grossed more than $1 billion. Flatley is credited with reinventing traditional Irish dance by incorporating new rhythms, syncopation, and upper body movements, which were previously absent from the dance. He is in the Guinness World Records for tap dancing 35 times per second and his feet were at
Riverdance Riverdance to a whole new set of fans. On 5 June 1995, UK video release of Riverdance went straight to the No. 2 position in the UK charts, moving to No. 1 the following week, and holding the No. 1 or No. 2 positions for the next seven months, becoming the all-time best-selling music video in the UK. A day later, Riverdance opened at The Apollo in London for a sell-out four-week run. On 17 July 1995, Riverdance performed at London's Royal College of Music in the presence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and Princess Margaret.