Irish stepdance many this was a betrayal of tradition, but to some it was a way of expanding Irish culture and became widely accepted. Following after Riverdance was Lord of the Dance and many other theatrical productions based on Irish stepdance. Michael Flatley, an Irish stepdancer, became a well known name within these shows. Two types of shoes are worn in Irish stepdance; hard shoes, which make sounds similar to tap shoes, and soft shoes (called Ghillies), which are similar to ballet slippers. The dances for soft shoe and hard shoe are generally different and go by different names. Different music with
Riverdance Dublin on 9 February 1995. The five-week run was sold out within three days of the tickets going on sale, with tickets reaching record sales of over 120,000. Behind Doherty and McColgan, and composer Bill Whelan, the show starred Flatley and Butler, and featured many of the original Eurovision dance troupe. In April 1995, video release of Riverdance went straight to No. 1 in the Irish charts. On 8 May 1995, Riverdance performed at the Royal Gala 50th Anniversary of VE Day celebrations at the special invitation of Prince Charles. The show attracted a television audience of 20 million, introducing