Riverdance from the packed theatre of 4,000 people. The performance is often considered the most well known interval act in Eurovision Song Contest history. Riverdance was later performed as an interval act at both the "" (2005) and "Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits" (2015) events. Lead dancers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler transformed the previously chaste and reserved traditional dance form into something else entirely. The song "Riverdance" was released as a single and entered the Irish Singles Chart at No. 1 right after the Eurovision debut, staying there for 18 weeks—the longest amount of time a song has ever topped
Irma Suarez Ruiz Irma Suarez Ruiz Irma Suarez Ruiz (born 1959) is an American dancer, educator, choreographer, director, and costume designer. She is the Artistic Director for the Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Illinois. Born in Chicago, Ruiz (of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent) moved to Mexico City to live with her family for a period before moving back to Chicago. Graduating from Senn High School in Chicago, she saw a performance of Ensemble Español as a freshman at Northeastern Illinois University. With a new aspiration to become a Spanish dancer, she began taking dance classes as