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1.0 Early life

2.0 Career

3.0 Awards and recognition

4.0 Personal life

5.0 References in popular culture

6.0 References

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Michael Flatley Wiki Information

Michael Ryan Flatley (born 16 July 1958 in the USA) is an American step dancer, writer, flautist, choreographer and occasional television presenter who became internationally known through his theatre musicals, Riverdance , Lord of the Dance and others. He shot to fame during the interval of the Eurovision Song Contest 1994.

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Early life

From the south side of Chicago, his parents were from County Sligo and County Carlow. Flatley began dancing lessons at 11 and, in 1969, became the first non-European resident to win the All-Ireland World Championship for Irish dance. As a trained boxer he won the Chicago Golden Gloves Championship in 1975 aged 17. Flatley is also known as being a proficient flute player, having twice won the All-Ireland Competition. In dance, Flatley was taught by Dennis Dennehy at the Dennehy School of Irish Dance in Chicago, then went on to producing his own show. After graduating from Brother Rice High School, on Chicago's Southwest Side, he opened a dance school.

Career

From 1978-79 he toured with Green Fields of America, whose members included Liz Carroll, Father Charlie Coen, Jack Coen, Sean McGlynn, Mick Moloney and Bill Ochs, with a slightly less flamboyant Donny Golden dancing alongside Michael. Later he toured with The Chieftains in the 1980s. ^[1]

He co-created the initial choreography for Riverdance and, with fellow lead dancer Jean Butler, led the show to great success as the intermission act in the Eurovision Song Contest on April 30, 1994. Flatley and Butler then starred in the full-length show that was developed from the original seven-minute act. After leaving the show over creative disagreements, ^[2] Flatley produced, directed, and choreographed his own show, Lord of the Dance.

In 1998, Flatley put together a dance production called Feet of Flames , a version of which toured the US in 2000 and 2001.

Flatley's current Irish dance show is Celtic Tiger , which opened in July 2005. The show explores the history of the Irish people and Irish emigration to the US, fusing a wide range of dance styles, including jazz. The show also includes popular elements from his previous shows, such as Flatley's flute solos and the line of dancers in the finale.

In March 2006 Flatley released his own autobiographical book titled Lord of the Dance: My Story . Regarding his future, Flatley was quoted in the Celtic Tiger program book as saying, "I will be a dancer until the day I die," though more developments in entertainment are planned (see below).

In the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars in the US, he appeared as a guest, filling in for Len Goodman. In the fall of 2008, Flatley and a troupe of male dancers performed on Dancing with the Stars in the USA.

He was the host of the NBC show Superstars of Dance which premiered on January 4, 2009.

Awards and recognition

Flatley received the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship in 1988 and was named one of National Geographic Society's Living Treasures in 1991 for mastery of a traditional art form by a living person - the youngest person at that time ever to receive this accolade.

In May 1989, Flatley set a Guinness Book world record for tapping speed at 29 taps per second; when this record was broken, he set another record in February 1998, by achieving 35 taps per second. ^[3] The current record holder is Michael Donnellan, at 40 taps per second. The dancer also received Guinness Book recognition in both 1999 and 2000 for being the highest paid dancer, earning $1,600,000 per week and for having the highest insurance premium placed on a dancer's legs at $40,000,000. ^[4]

In December 2001, Flatley became the first recipient of the Irish Dancing Commission Fellowship award, an honorary degree in Irish dance, and was simultaneously made a Fellow of the American Irish Dance Teachers’ Association. Irish America Magazine named Flatley Irish American of the Year in March 2003.

On the 3rd June 2007 was conferred on the entertainer at a ceremony in Cork's City Hall. In 2008, he was conferred with the Freedom of the Borough of Sligo at a ceremony in Sligo City Hall.

Personal life

In 1986, Flatley wed Polish make-up artist Beata Dziaba, but was divorced 11 years later. He battled bouts of depression and drinking after the break-up, and admitted, "When I wasn’t involved in a show I would sometimes be drunk for two weeks at a time". A series of relationships followed. In 2002, he became engaged to his long-term girlfriend Lisa Murphy, but they eventually broke up. ^[5]

In April 2006, Flatley spoke about his recent discovery of a facial skin cancer. ^[6] He kept the cancer scare a closely guarded secret, but said, "I'm completely fine now, thank God".

At the 10th Anniversary of Lord of the Dance in June 2006, Michael Flatley was accompanied by dancer Niamh O’Brien, who dances with him in Celtic Tiger . The 30-something O'Brien has danced with Flatley in Riverdance , Lord of the Dance , Feet of Flames , and now Celtic Tiger . The two shortly thereafter announced that they were dating, and were married in "a low-key Catholic ceremony" in Fermoy Co. Cork on October 14, 2006. ^[7]

On November 15, 2006, Flatley's publicist reported that he had been admitted to a hospital. According to media reports, he was suffering from a serious viral infection. ^[8] ^[9] All his up-and-coming shows for Celtic Tiger were cancelled. He left the hospital three days later. ^[10]

Michael and Niamh became parents to their first child, a son, Michael St. James Flatley, on Thursday 26 April 2007.

Flatley, who is worth £350 million ^[11], has homes in Barbados, Chicago, France, Ireland and London.

Flatley is expected to open a multi-million dollar Las Vegas hotel and casino in the coming years.

References in popular culture

In the Freemantle produced ITV 11 April 2009 show of Britain's Got Talent Flatley was parodied by a Greek-Cypriot father-and-son "Irish" dance duo (Stavros Flatley) who went through to the finals.

A line from the Irish Eurovision song 2008 by Dustin the Turkey refers to Flatley: "Give us another chance, we're sorry for Riverdance, sure Flatley he's a yank".

The popular American sitcom Friends also mentions Flatley in a scene where it is revealed that he (specifically Michael Flatley: Lord of the Dance) is a phenomenon that scares the bejesus out of Chandler. "His legs flail about as if independent from his body!"

Michael Flatley was portrayed in a fight against Bill Gates in an episode of Celebrity Deathmatch.

In Family Guy Season 2 episode 205 "Love Thy Trophy", Stewie Griffin states after Peter runs into him that "Michael Flatley must be turning over in his grave". And then remarking "Wait a minute, He's not dead, yet!" and proceeds to write down Michael Flatley's name on a Memo Pad.

In the Disney's motion picture The Emperor's New Groove the principal character, Kuzco, makes a parody of Michael Flatley's dance and show in the final sequence of the first song titled "Perfect World".

In Steve Coogan's I'm Alan Partridge , he is awarded the title of "Favourite Lord", ahead of Lord of the Rings and Lord of the Flies. Partridge goes on to add in a parody of Rhett Butler's line in Gone With the Wind'', "Flatley my dear, I don't Riverdance", and in the same episode he is referred to as a "Blouse wearing tycoon".

In the movie Dudley Do-Right (1999) with Brendan Fraser, a short segment is shown in which the Indians put on an Irish dancing show, and Chief mentions to Nell Fenwick that he loves Riverdance.

In Shrek the main protagonists are set upon in a wooded area by a gang similar to Robin and his merry men who perform a dance move culminating in a move exclusive to Lord of The Dance.

In "Another Irish Drinking Song" by Davinci's Notebook, the singer mentions that, when he dies, the Lord also should "kill the cast of Riverdance and Michael Flatley too".

In the BBC sitcom Extras, Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais), in an attempt to convince his love interest he is a devout catholic, tells a priest he grew up in a parish led by the Irish father Michael O'Flatley.

In the movie Wrongfully Accused, starring Leslie Nielsen, the Lord of the Dance style of dancing is parodied once during a violin performance at the beginning of the movie, and again while bad guys are dodging bullets at the end of the movie.

In the 1999 film "The Boondock Saints" (Dir. Troy Duffy), FBI Agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe) sarcastically quotes, "Now, you Irish cops are perking up. That's two sound theories in one day, neither of which deal with abnormally sized men. Kind of makes me feel like Riverdancing". After which he dances a jig on a low wall behind a couch.

In the 1998 movie Jane Austen's Mafia!, the sequence of mob hits at the end features one of the characters taking over the lead role in a Lord of the Dance type production in order to kick a rival gangster's head off.

On Celebrity Juice (ITV 2 UK), during a skit parodying Susan Boyle's success on Britain's Got Talent, Leigh Francis modified his Craig David character to appear as 'Craig Flatley', an Irish Dancer. On the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List he is listed on Ireland's top 250 at 27th with a fortune of (£246m) or (€273m).

In Season 3, Episode 8 of the American sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, "A Friend in Dick", the characters of Dick Solomon (John Lithgow), Dr. Mary Albright (Jane Curtin), Officer Don Orville (Wayne Knight), and Judith Draper (Ileen Getz) attend a Riverdance type of performance and spontaneously break into a dance of their own as they leave the theater. Dick is wearing a headband and removes his shirt at the end of his performance.