Lady of the Dance

by Duffy, Marie; Rowley, Eddie;

  The next challenge was to downsize our possessions and begin the big move. I wasn’t looking forward to all the effort that was going to entail.

  And I certainly hadn’t factored in doing it with a major injury.

  * * *

  Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall was the venue in February 2016 for the 32nd All-Scotland Championships in Irish Dancing, run by my friends James and Noreen McCutcheon.

  James and I are very supportive of each other as friends in Irish dancing, so I had travelled up to Glasgow to do some stage management and to compère some of the championships for him.

  On the Friday morning we had completed two hours of the competitions by 10 a.m., so it was time for a break.

  So far, so good; everything was going smoothly.

  As we got set to resume the competitions, I picked up a wireless microphone and swivelled on the spot to go back on stage. In that split second the toe of my shoe stuck in my silk trousers and got caught in the carpet. I went crashing to the ground and landed on my shoulder, which took the entire weight of my body.

  I had protected the microphone in my hand instead of saving myself during the fall. And I knew instantly that I was in serious trouble.

  The pain was excruciating.

  A nurse called Breeda Ojo, whose children were competing in the championships, immediately rushed to my aid. A taxi was organised and Breeda accompanied me to the local hospital.

  On that journey I became intimately acquainted with every bump and pothole on the roads and streets of Glasgow city. I have been through cancer, but I never endured such pain in my whole life as I did on that trip.

  We were booked into the Carlton George Hotel in Glasgow for the weekend, and my husband Mike had stayed behind that morning to do some administration work for the charities we’re involved in. He was then shocked to receive a call telling him that I was now on my way to hospital after a nasty fall in the venue.

  The news at the hospital wasn’t good: there were three breaks in the head of the humerus. Basically, my shoulder was banjaxed. The pain was literally unbearable. But there wasn’t a lot that they could do, except stick me in a sling.

  We flew back home to London on the Monday and I went to my local hospital to continue being monitored before they made a decision on surgery. That was eventually the course of action and a plate was inserted in my right shoulder.

  Apart from the horrendous torture that goes with such an injury, equally frustrating was the total loss of my independence. I couldn’t do a single thing for myself.

  If Mike hadn’t already earned sainthood up to that point, he did then. The care, dedication and loyality I received from him in the weeks after my accident epitomises what true love is. Mike had to wash me, dry me, dress me, feed me and nourish me every day. It was a twenty-four-seven commitment from him.

  What I went through with the cancer was life-threatening, but I never envisaged the pain, trauma and disability that would result from a simple fall.

  We take so much for granted.

  That happened in the middle of our move from Poole to Gerrards Cross, just to throw a little extra stress into the pot for us. What can you do? You just keep going.

  However, I don’t know how I would have got through it if I didn’t have Mike to mind me.

  Sadly, my injury prevented me from taking up Michael Flatley’s invitation of a trip to Las Vegas the following month to be by his side as he took his final bow at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace on St Patrick’s Day.

  Michael, of course, was genuinely upset and concerned when he heard about my injury.

  Vegas would have been the perfect end to our twenty years on the road together. We had enjoyed some of our greatest moments during the early days of Lord of the Dance in Vegas.

  Michael has left the stage, but Lord of the Dance goes on with new talent.

  As the curtain came down on his dancing career for the final time, Michael told the Review Journal: ‘I’ve got some terrific talent coming up now. They’re just dynamite. The audiences are going crazy for them; the women love them.’

  It reminds me of someone from twenty years ago!

  Like myself, Michael said that what gives him the most satisfaction when he looks back is the careers he has created for young dancers.

  ‘For twenty years I’ve kept thousands of young dancers working and travelling the world,’ he said. ‘That’s a dream come true for me, giving these young people a chance to earn money doing what they dream of.’

  Michael leaves the stage with his legend established in history as one of the world’s greatest ever dancers.

  But there has been a huge personal price to be paid for putting his body through the kind of trauma Michael’s has endured as he pushed himself beyond the limits on the road to superstardom.

  ‘I’ve wrecked my body with dance,’ he admits. ‘Every morning my poor wife, Niamh, has to witness me spending the first few minutes of the day trying to straighten my back and push my legs to start working.

  ‘I can’t say I wasn’t warned, but I can’t say I haven’t loved every minute of putting myself into this state.’

  For Michael, the show will go on behind the scenes. And, as I said, I’ll be there whenever he needs me.

  I guess it’s like a family: although you step back, you don’t divorce yourself from them entirely.

  * * *

  I have lived my own life through Irish culture, dance and music and whenever I talk about Ireland I refer to it as ‘home’.

  Ireland will always be home to me, but I love my life in England with Mike.

  For a period during what they called the ‘Celtic Tiger’ years in Ireland, Mike and I had our own apartment in Dublin.

  We were down at the World Championships in Killarney, Co. Kerry, one time, and Mike was flicking through a property supplement in the Irish Independent when he spotted apartments for sale near The Point venue in the docklands.

  ‘Look at these apartments – it would be great to have a base here,’ Mike said.

  At that time we were over and back to Ireland quite a bit, and we travelled by boat to take the car. It did make sense to have somewhere to call home while we were in Dublin. So we made an appointment to go and see the apartments, and we travelled up from Killarney.

  We ended up buying the penthouse, which was a lovely two-bed apartment overlooking the River Liffey. That became our Dublin home for a few years, and I decorated it with a full Irish theme. There were pictures of Irish poets on the walls, a portrait of Molly Malone, scenes from the 1916 Rising and a framed copy of The Proclamation.

  Aunt Em would have been proud of me!

  Mike loved it all.

  Before we got together, Mike hadn’t been to Ireland since 1966 when he came over and did a car trip on a holiday around the country with a couple of friends.

  His busy career had taken him to other parts of the world throughout his life, so he didn’t know what he was missing in the intervening years. He loved the time he spent at our Dublin apartment before we eventually sold it due to our commitments in the UK.

  Mike is made for Ireland, being such a sociable person. He has always said to me that Irish people are so friendly and such good company. So, after hitching up with me, I guess that was a bonus for him.

  We might have come from different cultural backgrounds, but it has never been an issue between us.

  I’ve been blessed to find Mike Pask, even if it did take us forever to get together. But it was worth the wait – for both of us.

  Writing this book has made me realise that, despite the heartaches that come with living, mine has been a charmed life.

  I’ve had incredible experiences.

  But I hope the best is yet to come.

  As my old pal Joe Dolan said, ‘The future is always better than the past.’

  Or, as my dear friend Laverne Showalter used to say: ‘Onwards ever, backwards never!’

  Keep on dancing.

  My grandmother Duffy; my father, Joe D
uffy (standing at the back), pictured as best man at his friend’s wedding; my eldest brother, Owen; my mother, Mary.

  Me in my Irish dancing costume at around age five or six.

  My older brother Brian and me in the back garden of our house in Cashel Road, Crumlin. I’m about twelve years old here.

  Here I am at around age sixteen with my Irish dancing teacher, Maitiu Ó Maoiléidigh (Matt Meleady). The picture was taken at a folk festival in Germany where I was performing.

  With my friend Noreen Flanagan Duggan at an outdoor feis in Drogheda.

  Here I am, second from left, at an All-Ireland Championship.

  I’m standing on the left beside the Inis Ealga Senior World Figure Dance Champions.

  My student Emma Jane Lavin winning one of her many World Championships. The sponsor handing over the plaque is my good friend Laverne Showalter.

  Ian and me on our wedding day, 18 August 1991. We got married in Kansas, and Julie Showalter, daughter of Laverne (above) was my bridesmaid.

  Backstage at the opening night of Lord of the Dance in the Point in the summer of 1996.

  With Michael in his dressing room at the 1997 Oscars, and with Ian on the red carpet outside.

  The original cast of Lord of the Dance, pictured during our record-breaking run at Wembley Arena in 1997. At the back, behind Ronan and Michael, are promoter Harvey Goldsmith and Derek MacKillop from Michael’s management company at the time (John Reid Enterprises). In the front row, with the blonde hair, is violinist Máiréad Nesbitt, and front right is ‘Erin the Goddess’ Anne Buckley. Here I

  Here I am with Damien O’Kane and Bernadette Flynn, the two leads from Lord of the Dance who would go on to get married and set up a dancing school together.

  During rehearsals for Feet of Flames in 1998, with ‘Little Spirit’ Helen Egan and ‘Erin the Goddess’ Anne Buckley.

  Michael and me with the second Lord of the Dance troupe, rehearsing for the American tour.

  In 2003, Michael, Jimmy Murrihy and I found ourselves travelling VIP-style on Vladimir Putin’s private plane from Saint Petersburg to Moscow, with a small group of passengers that also included Luciano Pavarotti and his wife!

  Mike and my engagement party in 2003. Mike’s cottage is in the background, and mine was next door. He built a beautiful archway, adorned with roses, in the fence separating the two!

  On the occasion of my sixtieth birthday in 2005.

  Myself and Mike at our wedding in the Haven Hotel in Sandbanks in January 2004, and me with Mike’s daughters, Vicky Chapman (left) and Caroline Pask (right).

  Michael, Ronan and I take a bow at Lord of the Dance in the O2, Dublin.

  The cast of Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games pictured at Castlehyde, Michael and Niamh’s home at the time, in north Cork.

  Myself and lovely granddaughters Chloe and Adele with Michael at The Return of Michael Flatley tour in Wembley.

  Ronan and me at a Variety Club UK luncheon in London.

  In the music and dance centre of Limerick University rehearsing Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games.

  Caroline Gray rehearses the lead role in Dangerous Games under the watchful eyes of myself and Michael.

  Rehearsals for the London Palladium performance of Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games.

  Here I am leading a rehearsal for Feet of Flames in Taiwan. This show had 110 dancers in the cast.

  Opening night of Dangerous Games at the Palladium in London.

  Rehearsing ‘The Lost Rose’ from Celtic Tiger, in which the young couple dance a ballet pas de deux while Michael playes the flute.

  My very talented student Ella Owens collecting prizes at the 2015 World Championships in Montreal and the 2016 Worlds in Glasgow. In the group photo are my fellow teachers Lucy English, Hilary Joyce Owens and Karen Nutley.

  The Céim Óir dancers at the 2016 Worlds.

  Meeting Charles, Prince of Wales – twice! Left, Christopher Hannon from Lord of the Dance and I are introduced to him at the Prince’s Trust dinner in Buckingham Palace, and below, I’m meeting Charles and Camilla at a private party at St James’s Palace.

  The opening night of Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games in the London Palladium.

  Me giving a pep talk to Michael and the cast of Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games before our show at the London Palladium.

  As we did many times over our twenty years working together, Michael and I share a quiet moment during rehearsals for Celtic Tiger in Birmingham.

  About the Author

  Born in Dublin’s south inner city, Marie Duffy first found fame in the 1960s, dancing on entertainment shows on the newly launched Teilifís Éireann. She went on to become one of Ireland’s foremost dancing teachers – at Inis Ealga and her own Marie Duffy Irish Dance School – mentoring world champions and some of the performers from the original Riverdance line.

  Marie collaborated with Michael Flatley for twenty years, on his shows Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames, Celtic Tiger and Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games, amongst others. She choreographed performances for the Oscars and The Prince’s Trust, and for TV shows such as Dancing with the Stars, Strictly Come Dancing, Michael Flatley: A Night to Remember and Britain’s Got Talent. She has served on The Irish Dancing Commission (An Coimisiún) since 1969, and has worked as an examiner all over the world.

  In 2011 at the World Irish Dancing Championships, Marie was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her dedication to Irish dance and culture.

  Copyright

  This eBook edition first published 2017 by The O’Brien Press Ltd,

  12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, D06 HD27, Ireland.

  Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777

  E-mail: books@obrien.ie. Website: www.obrien.ie

  The O’Brien Press is a member of Publishing Ireland.

  First published 2017.

  eBook ISBN: 978–1–84717–937–1

  Text © copyright Marie Duffy and Eddie Rowley 2017

  Copyright for editing, typesetting, layout, design © The O’Brien Press Ltd

  Cover photograph courtesy of Lord of the Dance

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  The author and publisher thank the following for permission to use photographs and illustrative material: photo section nos 17 and 26 courtesy of Brian McEvoy; photo section no 20 courtesy of Rita Wood of Amber Wood Photography. All other images are from the author’s personal collection or courtesy of Michael Flatley and Lord of the Dance.