It was magical at the time. Still love to watch it...it’s spectacular!

This was the first performance of it ...in 1994...so you couldn’t have seen it in the 80s. There is no such thing as a pure culture anywhere in Europe...we have been migrating since the earliest times. The first people to invade Ireland would have had to have come by sea, but the channel between Scotland and Ireland is narrow, so even in small boats that was possible. In fact it happened the other way round, the indigenous Irish tribe, namely the Scots, invaded and colonised Scotland and the original tribe in Scotland, namely the Picts died out through intermarriage and slaughter. The name Scotland comes from that original Irish tribe. The Norsemen or Vikings came down from Norway in their longboats and ruled over parts of Scotland and Ireland too for centuries. It is surprising that the Romans never extended their empire as far as Ireland, but perhaps after finding the Scots too much for them to handle they decided it wasn’t worth the hassle to take on the even fiercer Irish! The Vikings were the ones who brought the red hair with them and they are the real ancestors of all the Celts on the western fringes of Europe. As you point out ...from Galicia all the way up the coast, the Basques, the Bretons, the Cornish, Welsh, Manx, Irish, Scots and then.....next stop is Norway.

Step-dancing was invented by Catholic priests, in nineteenth-century Ireland, to provide young people with a dance they could do without actually touching each other (not kidding!). This, at least, according to a prof I once had. He was Irish, and taught Irish History courses.

@davknight Yes...I have heard that as the origin...before, but I think it is much older than that. In Scotland they have The Highland Fling and The Sword Dance which are danced without a partner in step movements too. The Irish also have reels and jigs which are danced with partners, again similar to the Scottish ones. I think all the Celts have versions ...I know the Bretons do too.

@Marionville It could be genetically-related too. I'm only half Scottish; but my feet tap uncontrollably, whenever I hear fiddle music!

@davknight, @OwlInASack Ireland was, of course, joined on to the Continent of Europe, as was Great Britain prior to the Ice Age, but I was talking about after the land bridges were submerged and we became islands. I was just trying to point out the futility in trying to talk about our ancestry in a singular manner, because there is no such thing as a pure race, we are basically all mongrels!

@davknight You can be an honorary Scot then!

@Marionville Tapadh leibh!

@davknight Cead mile failte!

@Marionville I'm not going to argue with you. I just finished several books that say I'm right.

@celticagent No of course we won’t fall out ! My information is this...that Riverdance had its premiere on 30th April 1994 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, where Ireland were hosts at the staging the Eurovision Song Contest. Bill Whelan, who composed the score was commissioned by RTE, the Irish State broadcaster, to produce an interval performance act at the Contest. This nine minute act then spawned a theatrical act which became extremely successful internationally, a worldwide dance phenomena. I would like to read the other books you refer to, as I can’t find any contrary facts to this.
myself.