Riverdance! [ Observations From A Live Performance At New York's Radio City Music Hall, May,2005 ] Poem by Frank James Ryan Jr...fjr

______ I ______
Tap, Tap, Tap...
Shoe-point on wood -
one lone Dancer
striking parquet
with hyperbole,
ignominiously-
glaringly, dartingly
left, right, and dip;
peripherally dexterous
a flawless opus...,
dancers are burning,
the audience sparked-
fuses are lit!

_____ II _____
Ten Dancers,
on stage now
followed by
twenty
more dancers on stage
awaiting their cue,
standing so poised,
stone statuesque;
clad in dark costume,
glossy-black organdy,
theatre lights dim,
silence breathes heavy.

______ III ______
Orchestra anxiously
awaiting their cue
in a pit with their pendulums,
waiting to commence
on maestros command,
to convert scripted silence
into high fifes 'n strings;
hear the sound of violins,
tight-strings, fingers pulling,
heard someone shout: 'ROSIN'!
A lone note drops tempo,
jus' for a moment, and then -
just like that,
sweet cadence prevails,
and, i don't think a single ear
in the Hall
cared a lick.

_______ IV ______
Juxtaposed Dancers
neathdomed spotlight orbit
each Dancers fluxed movement,
Madonna's......in tights,
Dark Angels in hard-shoe,
as the orchestra leader
SHOUTS.... in soprano:
'ONE, TWO, THREE..,
One, Two, Three...,
one, two, three...AND -'

_______ V _______
Thirty more Dancers,
edge of the stage,
Reelers in mirror
romp to 'The Firedance'',
while thirty-five more
Dancers in backdrop,
blend in like dots
of black 'n grey stardust
concoursing as one
great pool of syncronicity.

________ VI _______
Confluenced, stunning,
description? ineffable,
energy....electric,
as sixty Step-Dancers
taze each ticket-holders
heart, soul and mind
with talent unparalleled.......,
and, much 'A T T I T U D E'!

_______ VII ________
Poised, front and center
like silhouette figures,
enframed behind glass
and, synchronized...Yes...!
And on single mute cue,
a break from the middle,
like a gaelic Red Sea,
and then all suddenly.........,
forty five more
Dancers in line,
synchronized? ...but...YES!

______ VIII ______
All in one line,
all front and center,
loud stamping feet,
thunderclap rich,
violins straining,
their strings to hold pitch
with two-hundred-seventy
feet on the floor...,
to the beat of the rhythm,
the rhythm of the Dance.

_______ IX _______
The Irish Step hard shoe
now sixty-five Dancers,
in synchronized step;
the violins stetching in peak....
YES!
And the Dancers stamp harder
to the drums of 'Riverdance',
its sound a shrilling rush,
clamorous harmony
while the walls of the Hall
tremor with verve,
as the Dancers come forward,
so close, you can feel them
breating o'er you!

________ X ________
Dancing at stagefront,
legs crossed in full measure,
knees high over chins,
legs lift higher, still,
in measure and balance
to the kicked-up impact -
of the titillating music,
of grandiose stage;
anti-climax ovation,
spontaneously charged.

________ XI________
'Til the Maestro takes over;
........it's time to do justice,
render sweet climax
to a sterling performance.
And with one single clap
of his dexterous hands,
Dancers take flight,
with utopic perfection
spiraled movement,
graceful decending
all toes and heels
touching wood
all together
with one deafening strike!

_____ f i n a l e ______
All shoes now on floor,
a moments dead still.
the Dancers stand tall...silent,
no movement, feet crossed;
the Audience stands LOUD...
with applause as deafening
as the applauded were.
And it sustains for five minutes,
'til the very last Dancer
Walks off the stage....
'''Riverdance has delivered, once again'''!

________ e p i l o g u e ________

AND, THERE BE NOTHING LIKE IT!

___________ F j R ____________


©Frank J. Ryan, Jr. / FjR
2013 All Rights Reserved

Revised/Reposted 05/14/15