Career
He was the first American to win the World Irish Dance Championships and also won numerous All-Ireland Flute Championships. From 1978 to 1979 he toured with Green Fields of America. Later he toured with The Chieftains in the 1980s.;
He received the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship in 1988. In May 1989, Flatley set a Guinness Book world record for tapping speed at 28 taps per second. Flatley 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.
Flatley and Jean Butler choreographed the original Riverdance and led the show to great success as the intermission act in the Eurovision Song Contest on April 30, 1994, and then starred in the full-length show that was developed from the seven-minute number. After leaving the show due to problems over creative control after its first run in London in late 1995, Flatley produced, directed, and choreographed Lord of the Dance which was played mostly in arenas and stadiums instead of theaters. He also put together a dance production called Feet of Flames in 1998. He later went on to produce another version of that show of which around 50% of the numbers were different from that of the 1998 show. Titled 'Feet of Flames The Victory Tour', he toured Europe in 2000 and the U.S. in 2001.
He broke his own record for tapping speed in February 1998, by achieving 35 taps per second.
Flatley 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 policy placed on a dancer's legs at $40,000,000.
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.
In 2004, Flatley received an honorary doctorate degree from University College Dublin and that same year received the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in New York.
His latest 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).
On the June 3, 2007, The Freedom of the City of Cork 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.;
The Variety Club of Ireland presented Flatley with their Entertainer of the Decade Award in 2008 as well.; 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 2007, Flatley and a troupe of male dancers performed on Dancing with the Stars in the U.S. and in 2008, he performed the solo 'Capone' from Celtic Tiger.
He was the host of the NBC show Superstars of Dance, which premiered on January 4, 2009. Michael Flatley returned to the stage in 2009 for a limited run of the "Hyde Park" version of Feet of Flames in Taiwan. His return was met with multiple standing ovations and the run of shows had to be extended to meet the demand for tickets.
In April 2010, he announced that he would be returning to headline the Lord of the Dance show, with performances in arenas across England and Ireland in November 2010, with dates also announced in Germany, Switzerland & Austria - the first time he will have done so since 1998.
June 2010 Michael launched The Garden of Music and Memory in Culfadda, County Sligo the village his father left to seek a new life in America, part of this ceremony including Michael's speech and an impromptu performance of one of his father's favourite tunes can be heard at http://www.podcasts.ie/michael-flatley-in-culfadda/
Michael Flatley was among the list of international film and sports stars and amateur golfers who participated in the fundraising golf Pro-Am, the JP McManus Pro-Am in Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort in Adare, County Limerick, Ireland on the 5th and 6 July 2010.
In March 2011, Lord of the Dance 3D, the movie, debuted in theatres worldwide. Filmed during Flatley’s return tour in the fall of 2010, the movie featured new sets, new costumes, state-of-the-art lighting, pyrotechnics and projections. A DVD and Blu-ray Disc of the film was released entitled "Michael Flatley Returns as Lord of the Dance" on June 28, 2011 in USA and Canada, and August 4 in Australia, September 12, 2011 in the U.K. and October in Germany, France, Benelux and Scandinavia. The 3D version of the film was released only in Blu-ray in late 2011. The film shows the performances from the O2 Arenas of London, Dublin, and Berlin.
In March 2011, Michael Flatley was inducted into Irish America magazine's Irish America Hall of Fame.
Read more about this topic: Michael Flatley
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