‘Lord of the Dance’ to perform five concerts at Baalbek Fest

Michael Flatley, one of the great impresarios of popular dance, the creator and former star of ‘Lord of the Dance’, arrived at Beirut International Airport on Wednesday, to see the ensemble perform at Baalbek. 

‘Lord of the Dance’ will perform five concerts between July 25 – 29, within the frameworks of Baalbek International Festival. 

“I am delighted to be in Beirut and very excited to see this particular Lord of the Dance ensemble ­ the forth troupe ­ perform at Baalbek,” the Daily Star quoted Flatley as saying when he arrived at Beirut Airport. 

The show seasons Irish folk dance for a popular palette. “In order for the whole world to enjoy my style of dance,” Flatley explained, “I needed to dress it for the world stage … to make it more exciting for all age groups, especially if we want to compete with all the top stars.”  

As to those purists who contend that shows like Lord of the Dance popularize or vulgarize the tradition too much, Flatley responded: “Is it possible for it to be too popular? I understand the purists’ point but I think we’ve maintained a great degree of verisimilitude, keeping all the dancers as close as we could to traditional footwork and at the same time expanding the boundaries of the art form.  

“If we didn’t dress it for the world stage it wouldn’t have this popularity, nobody would know about Irish dancing, it’d still be in pubs and we wouldn’t be here in the airport in Beirut today and all these people wouldn’t have a chance to share in our happiness and our joy.”  

Flatley’s Lord of the Dance is the most popular touring dance production in history. It is the first event of its kind to break box-office records all over the world. With 21 scenes, the action is played out on a grand scale with precision dancing, dramatic music, colorful costumes, state-of-art staging, lighting and pyrotechnics.  

The Lord of the dance troupe is comprised of Irish dance champions from around the world. They complete an estimated 151,200 taps per performance.  

The New York Post once said, “Lord of the Dance is fascinating, rewarding and above all, entertaining.” – Albawaba.com