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
Irish dance number of organisations promoted and codified the various forms of dance, creating competitive structures and standardised styles. Solo Irish dance includes the most well-known form of Irish dance, Irish step dance, which was popularised from 1994 onwards by dance shows such as Riverdance, and which is practised competitively across the Irish diaspora. Step dance is characterised by the rigid upper body and intricate footwork of its performers. Other forms of solo Irish dance include sean-nós dance, a relaxed and social dance style involving improvised steps, and festival Irish dance, a style which separated from step dance in the mid-20th century.