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: Music from the Show Riverdance: Music from the Show Riverdance: Music from the Show is an album of the music composed by Bill Whelan for the "Riverdance" theatrical show, and performed by the show's own musicians and singers. The recording was engineered and mixed at Windmill Lane Studios in 1995. In 1997, it won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album for 1996. The album was released four times: in 1995, 1997, 2003 and 2005, each time with a different cover, sometimes different versions or mixes of the songs, and a slightly different track list. Track listing from the original release in 1995: