Aim to surpass "River Dance"
■ New Express reporter Xu Shaona
Michael Fraley, the world-famous "World Dance King" who has achieved the legendary Irish tap dance "The Dance of the Great River", will embark on a Chinese tour with his other work "Dance of the King", which aims to surpass the "Dance of the Great River", and will come to Guangzhou from May 16 to May 18 to stage a tap dance show with Hollywood style for the audience in Yangcheng. As the world's highest-grossing Irish dance drama, "Dance of the King" has changed the traditional style of "Dance of the River" in terms of choreography, stage or stage setting, integrating Irish tap dance with rock, jazz, etc., and infecting the audience with a fiery and dynamic feeling.
Fraley is known as the Irish Dance Association's certified "First Irish Dancer". On Broadway, "Fleury Avenue" was named for him in New York's 42nd Block. Born into a family of Irish immigrants in Chicago, USA, he had a legendary life experience, and he won the World Irish Dance Championship at the age of 17. Later, Fleury joined the Irish band Chieftain and toured with him as a dancer and flute player for live performances. During the tour, The Fleurie Universe exploded and won irish dance titles in 13 countries, including the United States. In the 1990s, Fleury got her wish, and two world-shattering dance works, "Dance of the River" and "Dance of the King", were published one after another.
In October 1995, when "River Dance" was premiered, Fleury left River Dance due to artistic differences. After that, Fleury regained the courage to create "The Dance of kings", using the ultimate creation of Irish tap dance to complete the re-examination of her own life. On 2 July 1996, the premiere of Dance of Kings again chose the Dublin Focus Theatre, which was a great success. At the Oscars the following year, "Dance of kings" was televised to audiences around the world, becoming the highest-grossing performance in the United States in 1997. In 1998, "The Dance of Kings" was performed 21 times in a row at Wembley Stadium in the United Kingdom, and the venue was full. Since then, Dance of kings has become the world's highest-grossing Irish dance drama.
In the two works of "Big River" and "King", the former is more like a dance show with certain dramatic clues and poetic feelings. "The King" is a complete story, using Irish dance and Irish music to construct a complete dance drama. "Dance of the King" tells the story of an elf whose flute awakens everything in the forest, and in the process of breeding all things, love also grows in the heart of the girl, at this time, two hostile forces appear, both making efforts to compete for the heart of the beautiful girl, one side is the masked man representing the dark forces, and the other is the righteous force represented by the dance king. Thus, the two are constantly competing, and in the end good triumphs over evil.