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97. Riverdance 30: The New Generation with Anna Mai Fitzpatrick
126 Plays1 day ago
Anna Mai Fitzpatrick, Principal Dancer with Riverdance, joins The Brainy Ballerina Podcast ahead of the company’s April 14-16th performances at the Overture Center in Madison, WI.
Anna shares an inside look at her journey from a young Irish dancer to performing on stages around the world with Riverdance. We dive into the unique demands of Irish dance, what it’s like to transition from competitive dancer to professional performer, and how Anna found her voice as a Principal Dancer.
Key “Pointes” in this Episode:
- The unique technique and structure of Irish dance
- What it’s like to transition from the competition world to a professional show
- The challenge of finding individuality within an iconic role
- What life on tour is actually like (physically and mentally)
- The importance of teamwork in a touring company
- Behind-the-scenes: warm-ups, recovery, and show routines
- What makes Riverdance 30: The New Generation so special
Connect with Anna:
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/annamaifitz/
Connect with Riverdance
WEBSITE: https://riverdance.com/
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/riverdance/
Links and Resources:
Chronicle Studio
APP: https://chroniclestudio.passion.io/
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/chronicle_cdt_studio/
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/chronicleCDTstudio
MORE INFO: allongefilms.com/chroniclestudio
1-1 Career Mentoring: book your complimentary career call
Let’s connect!
My WEBSITE: thebrainyballerina.com
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/thebrainyballerina
Questions/comments? Email me at caitlin@thebrainyballerina.com
Recommended
Transcript
The New Era of Riverdance
00:00:00
Speaker
This version of the show Riverdance 30, the new generation is the first time that the cast that you're watching on stage is younger than the show itself. So all of us were not born when Riverdance first aired at the Euroversion in 1994. This is fantastic because it brings to the stage a new energy of people who, like many of them, their parents were in the show or they have only known life with Riverdance and with the legacy that was created for 30 years. So we feel a responsibility to uplift it and to keep the tradition alive and to inspire the next generation.
Introduction to Caitlin's Podcast
00:00:36
Speaker
I'm Caitlin, a former professional ballerina turned dance educator and career mentor, and this is the Brand New Ballerina podcast. I am here for the aspiring professional ballerina who wants to learn what it really takes to build a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. I'm peeling back the curtain of the professional dance world with open and honest conversations about the realities of becoming a professional dancer.
00:01:01
Speaker
Come along to gain the knowledge and inspiration you need succeed in a dance career on your terms.
Interview with Anna Mae Fitzpatrick
00:01:11
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Brainy Ballerina podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Sloan, and I am joined today by Anna Mae Fitzpatrick. Anna is a principal dancer with Riverdance, and I am local to Madison, Wisconsin. We are thrilled to have Riverdance touring to the Overture Center Tuesday, April 14th through Thursday, April 16th, and I'm super honored to partner with the Overture Center to share this interview to help audiences learn more about Riverdance and about Anna before heading
Anna's Dance Journey
00:01:39
Speaker
to the show. So Anna, i always love to hear from my guests how your dance journey started, and I'd love to know why did you take your very first dance class? Well, thank you so much for having me, Caitlin. It's an honor to be here. I also love the name of your podcast. I think it's so cool, so unique. Thank you. I started dancing at the age of four, and alongside my brother, I had competed for 16 years, fell in love with it, fell in love with the sport, the mixture of sport and art. And then when I turned, i want to say I just turned 18, I really started to think about Riverdance. My brother joined the show before I did, and was very fortunate that our associate director reached out to me and asked if I'd ever been interested in touring. And the same day that he reached out, I had an audition. So I remember rushing home in rush-aerotraffic in the middle of Dublin to get black shoes, or to get my dancing and shoes to get like just you know black neutrals to wear. And shortly after that brief audition, I got my first tour, and I've been here ever since. I've been touring with my brother now for almost nine years, so it's been one hell of a ride. Wow!
00:02:42
Speaker
Did you start in Irish dance when you were four or did you take other styles of dance as well? I actually did ballet for about six years and I did a little bit of athletics as well. I come from a very large family so I think my mom might call her super mom. You know, we came out a school, she had dinner ready in the car, we would drive up to Irish dance class at the time that took us over an hour to get to and then it just came to a point where She always, you know, allowed us to follow our dreams and to pursue what we loved. And for me, that was Irish dance. And it's just where I felt like I had the most opportunity, even from a young age. And so I continued that alone to really kind of put all my time and focus. You know yourself from training as a ballerina. There's just so much that goes into it and you really do have to dedicate your life. That was what we chose. Was there a specific moment growing up that you realized that dance could truly become your
The Unique Aspects of Irish Dance
00:03:33
Speaker
career? it still doesn't really feel like a career. I think when it's something, it's true, you know, and it's something that you love. I do feel every night lucky. I know that I could have a job like so many people where they don't feel fulfilled in it. And I was just so fortunate to come from a background where my mom did ballet when she grew up. She was a sprinter as well. And I think her mindset is what allowed me to
00:03:54
Speaker
live the life that I live and to think that it was okay to go after what you felt like you wanted to do and not have a backup plan in that way. From a young age that was instilled in my siblings and I and then just growing up competing like every weekend we would go all around Ireland sometimes to two competitions in a weekend to get our name out there to try to push get ourselves in front of adjudicators so that when these huge competitions happened we're memorable and we're seen and it just really instilled a mindset in us that you can do this for your life. And I know that unfortunately for dancers, performing does have a bit of an expiration date, but you can still dance till you're in your 80s, 90s, hopefully. But it was her that instilled that in us to be able to feel like this isn't a career. It's just something that we love. My listeners are primarily ballet dancers. And so for any listeners who may be new to Irish dance, could you describe What makes the style so unique and special?
00:04:51
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, Irish dance is very traditional to Ireland. We dance in two different pairs of shoes. So we call them a soft shoe and a hard shoe or a pump and a heavy shoe. The soft shoe is soft leather. You know, a ballet shoe without the wood on the bottom, it's that kind of, it's leather, but that same, it fits in the top of your foot, almost like a glove. And then over time through dancing, it mulls into your foot. It gets used to the shape of your foot. And that's what we do all of our light dancing in. And then for our hard shoe, it's again leather, but it has a fiberglass tip. And that's what makes the noise against the ground. It also has a heels that we click. So when we move our feet, it makes like a clicking sound, essentially. It's similar to a tap shoe, but still different at the same time. So the soft shoe is a lot more balletic, if you will. It's more graceful. It also can be very dynamic depending on the dance that you're doing. So if you're doing a slip jig, it's more about grace and elegance. Then if you're doing a reel, the movements have to be sharper and more linear. And then again, this all changes in competitive dance and performance and in professional dance. So in professional dance, we get to use our arms, you know, use more of our body. Whereas in traditional Irish dance, we keep our hands by our side and keep our upper body Really from the waist up, shouldn't move. And then in the hard shoe, we obviously make a lot more rhythmic beats. It's fast paced in the footwork. We do heavy jigs, hornpipes, and then a lot of set dances as well. So there's a variety of dances that you choose to dance from at a competition. And then when you join a show, you will just learn the choreography in the show. And that's what you will dance every night. And that varies again. i mean, it all varies. When you do the lead performance, you have a little bit more leeway there where you can bring some of your own originality into it, into the choreography, which is so fun. But that's a little bit of the basic. We also Kayleigh dances where you do group numbers and that's very traditional, you know, four facing and four, two facing two. And that's what you might see at the likes of Gwaeltux or other dances in Irish places abroad.
00:06:52
Speaker
Did you find it challenging when you went from a student to professional to start incorporating the arms after not really being able to do that for so long? Absolutely.
Transition from Competition to Performance
00:07:01
Speaker
Yes. I felt like a beginner again, which is amazing. Love to feel like a beginner again. You learn for so long in competition to stand out. You know, you could be in a competition with 100 other dancers and your teachers are there to make you you. Then when you join a professional show, you almost have to unlearn those things and learn how to be part of a team again, which is why Kaylee dancing really helps because you're in that team beforehand. So in Riverdance, when you're part of the team, you don't really use your hands that much, maybe a little bit, but when you transition into the lead role, I felt like a beginner again. I actually, like I took some ballet classes to learn about, you know, movements in the arms to try and make them graceful. And it's, you know, muscles I had to use, but that I haven't used in a long time. And that took a lot of years of really
00:07:46
Speaker
getting comfortable with it and portraying the character in Riverdance to the best of my ability. And that's what i love about ballet too, is it's just so beautiful. Like from the fingertips down to your big toe, everything is just so poised and elegant and I take a lot of inspiration from it. My mom loves ballet too, so we're big fans.
00:08:06
Speaker
When ah you said you to portray a character, so when you're in the performance, is it almost like a story ballet where there's one character throughout Yes, so in Riverdance, the female lead is Countess Kathleen, and she stays in that role throughout the show. It's really beautiful. The story of Riverdance is all about inclusivity. There's other genres in Riverdance. There's the American tap dancers, the Spanish flamenco, Eastern European folk dancers. the four piece band, and then there's all of the Irish dancers. They're not all from Ireland, know, they're from Australia, the UK, America, Canada, and then of course Ireland. But what makes the story so beautiful is it is about the unity of dance. And although we come from all these different backgrounds, at the end, we're all, you know, one. And the story of human emotion, we see like the elements of water and fire and ice portrayed in some of the numbers like Fire Dance, which is the troupe boys against the flamenco Spanish dancer. And there's this beautiful story and this nuance of fire and ice. It relates to different human emotions being brought at the end. As an audience member, everybody connects with the shared experience of being human. So what's so beautiful about the story is that there's so different contrasts from the American tap dancers to the Ilymphile player playing Coo Cullen, know, mourning the death of Coo Cullen. So there's something in there for everybody that resonates with them because of human emotion. And I think that's 30 years later why it still resonates with audience members and why people still buy tickets.
Touring with Riverdance
00:09:34
Speaker
You've had this experience that you mentioned of really getting to dance and tour with your brother.
00:09:39
Speaker
What has that been like professionally and personally to get to work with family? It's so, so brilliant. This is quite a unique career, as you know. and Just to get to share that with family makes it even better. We're both very grateful. We know that we're lucky, say, you know, when we're going through an eight hour travel day, or if one of us is just having a day, we can rely on each other. We have that built in support system from the get go, which we're very lucky to have. It's great too, because even though we've been doing this for so long together, we both have our own journey within the show. And I get to pull from his experience. He gets to pull from mine. So we still get to give each other unique advice and, you know, be able to see something that maybe the other person isn't seeing and just know how to uplift each other. He really is my best friend. And I love getting to share with my family the experience that we have together because it's it's very special.
00:10:32
Speaker
Can you tell us about your promotion to Principal
Promotion to Principal Dancer
00:10:35
Speaker
Dancer? How did you find out you were promoted and what was that experience like for you? Absolutely. I was actually in a show called Harpeet of Home, which is a sister show of Riverdance. and And we were on the West End in the London Piccadilly Theatre.
00:10:49
Speaker
I remember our associate director, Porrick Moyles, just asked me to come backstage for a moment. And he said that he was going to train me in for lead in that show, Harpeet of Home. And I was going to go on in two weeks from then said to learn all the choreography. And that they were also going to train me in for Riverdance. I mean, I'd been in Riverlands about two years at that time and I just broke down in tears. It was the best news of my life. I was so happy. And at the same time, got those butterflies in my stomach of, OK, this is going to be one of the most challenging things you've ever done. And it really taught me a lot about having to strip back and learn who I am as a person first, because
00:11:27
Speaker
There's no hiding who you are on stage, I think. It comes out in your expression, in your movements, in your dance. So that was a really beautiful learning experience. And I fall in love with it every day. I really do.
00:11:39
Speaker
How did you deal with the challenges that came with that new role? I think I had to overcome self-doubt. I think I had to learn how to grow in confidence, learn how to back myself. Performing for me has always been okay to a point where i used to say, you could put me in front of X amount of people and I'll be fine. But give me your microphone to speak like, and I'll, you know, be so scared. But I think when I got the lead role, it did feel a little bit like that. Like I need to figure out how to portray this character and also add my own to it.
00:12:10
Speaker
You know, you learn from the people that have gone before you. i had so many inspirations that were in the show at the time that I looked up to. And I think one of the biggest challenges was how do I bring myself to this? You know, learning from them, gaining the experience I have from watching them but also maintaining true to who i am. And that was the best part of growing into the character.
Advice for Dancers
00:12:32
Speaker
Let's pause this episode so I can tell you about one of my favorite new resources for dancers, the Chronicle Studio app. Chronicle Studio is designed to strengthen dancers from the inside out with classical ballet classes you can take from anywhere, technique tutorials, and deep dives into allegro vocabulary and execution.
00:12:53
Speaker
The app also includes a tips and tricks section, plus a comprehensive list of resources to help you grow as a dancer. One of my favorite elements of the app is the community section, where you can connect with other dancers with the same drive and passion for ballet.
00:13:08
Speaker
Right now, founder Elizabeth Troxler is inviting you to become a founding member of the Chronicle Studio app. If you're a dancer or teacher willing to share honest feedback to help grow the app with the content you love, now is the time to get involved.
00:13:24
Speaker
Head to the link in my show notes to download the Chronicle Studio app and have everything you need to build stronger, smarter dancers right at your fingertips. And now you're on tour.
00:13:35
Speaker
as a member of a touring company, what advice do you have for dancers on how to survive or even thrive when they're touring? i think for dancers that maybe haven't joined a show yet, try to get as much show experience as possible. I always say this to a younger Irish dancers because you know it's not for everybody just because you love the sport doesn't mean you love it professionally if you can try to get as much experience and see if this is the kind of lifestyle you want to live if you enjoy being part of a team 24 7 because you know you do travel with people all the time you're essentially living with them being on the road being away from family that is the first thing i would say also you know not being afraid to ask for help i have students that reach out to me that i've worked with before
00:14:19
Speaker
asking for. How do I get my foot in the door? how do I audition? How do I keep my name on people's minds and in our offices and stuff? And I think just really by pushing yourself, not being afraid to put yourself out there, not being afraid to show this is what I want. This is what I'm willing to work for. That goes a long way. I fear that sometimes people are almost afraid being seen to do that. And that's not a fear we should have. We should be okay with saying,
00:14:45
Speaker
I want to do this. I want this to be my career. I just push people to do that because I think that it's important if you want to be seen, if you want to be taken seriously and just, you know, have fun because the end of the day, i like it's an art that people come for a release of their daily lives. It's for them to escape and to have two hours of joy or inspiration or to get motivated. And I just think that like, that's what you're bringing to people's lives. So if you love it and if you're true about wanting To instill that in people, then you just enjoy and have fun. It's not that deep. Do you have a favorite place that you've gotten to go on tour to?
00:15:21
Speaker
I've been fortunate that there's been so many. i loved Japan. We went there in 2025. I had never been there before. And we tour China a lot. So just to get to, you know, see some of the Asian culture and their food and their lifestyle, it's so beautiful. So then getting to go to Japan was absolutely incredible. The theatre was amazing. Everywhere we get to go, I absolutely love touring the States. I think that some of the best audiences in the world, everyone is so excited. i love when I get to see dancers backstage or at the stage door when we come out. And some of them have attended our summer school, which is a programme that we run to basically, what I was saying earlier, help people learn the choreography from the show and see if tour is something that they would like. And for them to get to see then some of us perform from people they've learned from during the summer is really rewarding and fulfilling. So yeah, I mean, everywhere we get to go is great. Do you have any pre-show rituals that you do before you go on stage?
Pre-Show Rituals and Team Dynamics
00:16:15
Speaker
I try not to because I don't want to be like superstitious. But me and my brother always give each other a low five is instead of a high five. So that's one. And then i sometimes like I kiss my fingers and then touch the floor and then bless myself. Just it's it's a funny ritual I have.
00:16:31
Speaker
I don't know. I think I just want to like touch the stage I'm about to go on. What about you? Did you have any? Mine is very weird. My mom, when I was growing up, when I was performing as a student, she'd always buy me smart water.
00:16:43
Speaker
for performances. Like I think she just happened to buy it, but then she just kept buying it for me. And then I'd always have to go get myself Smart Water before. I feel like I need Smart Water. Yeah. Yeah. And I i mean, it didn't really like necessarily make a difference. Water is water, but it was just a reminder of my mom kind of being there. And she'd always supported me so much growing up in my dance career. So still having that little reminder of her was really special.
00:17:08
Speaker
But that was really my only like thing that I did. That's really sweet though. That's really sweet. Yeah. What does a warmup look like for Riverdance? I don't even know what like an Irish dance class consists of. So for the show, we have a warmup about 35 minutes before the show. We do a group warmup together.
00:17:25
Speaker
We get our heart rates up first and then we activate certain muscles, especially in our legs, our back, our core, And then we stretch and really just kind of pump each other up. you know we feed off one another's energy. And then we have a group cool down as well after the show. We're very lucky we have a physiotherapist that travels with us as long as the massage therapist. We have ice buckets after the show that I absolutely rely on. i love the ice bucket. I'm in there for five minutes after the show. It makes me feel like I have a fresh pair of legs.
00:17:51
Speaker
And then it would be similar in Irish dance class when you're growing up as well, just getting the heart rate up. It's really advanced though in the last couple of years, and I'm sure ballet has as well. We do a lot more physical training than say I would have done when I was competing. You have dancers now that are physically more fit, that have stronger muscles from a younger age, are more flexible. I see you know them doing routines and work with TheraBands, sometimes a lot of ballet workouts to really grow those muscles that I would have loved when I was younger. so it's great to see the sport evolve and get better with new generations.
00:18:24
Speaker
I love that you a group cool down. I feel like you don't often see that, at least in ballet. You know, we usually, we do our hour and a half ballet class, we do the show and then you take your bows and everyone is out of there. So I like that you have a moment to kind of like regroup and cool down together.
00:18:39
Speaker
i think it's important. And I think, again, it instills that team mentality because you know like anything it can get competitive in such a high intensity environment and for us it's always been team first at its core I love that mentality you know you create friends for life here so yeah it's just a reminder of that After you get back to the hotel at night, are you still buzzy with energy? How do you, yeah, how do you unwind after you get back? It's really hard to.
00:19:07
Speaker
I'll call my mom, I'll put on music or a show in the background. And I like to take my time getting ready for the show. And then I like to take my time cooling down and kind of getting ready for bed as well. So just those things. Sometimes I'll listen to a podcast. If I haven't iced at the venue, I'll come back and I'll stretch here for a while and I'll get ice in the hotel.
00:19:26
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, there's no set thing I do. It's just kind of like a slow burn before bed.
Evolving Legacy of Riverdance
00:19:31
Speaker
So we're so excited that you're about to start touring North America with Riverdance 30, the new generation.
00:19:36
Speaker
For someone who has never seen Riverdance live, what can they expect from this experience? Or what do you hope that they take away? oh so much fun. This version of the show Riverdance 30, the new generation, is the first time that the cast that you're watching on stage is younger than the show itself. So all of us were not born when Reverdance first aired at the Euroversion in 1994. This is fantastic because it brings to the stage a new energy of people who, like many of them, their parents were in the show or they have only known life with Reverdance and with the legacy that was created for 30 years. So we feel a responsibility to uplift it and to keep the tradition alive and to inspire the next generation because we have grown up around it and around the importance of it in Irish culture, in Irish music and just as an export for Ireland. So I think that it brings a a whole new level of energy and excitement to the stage and responsibility. We also have new costumes in this version of the show. We've got new set design, new screens that have been updated with modern technology and then then new lighting. And for the 25th anniversary of the show, our Grammy Award winning composer, Bill Whelan, recomposed the score. So there's been differences in the music as well. So whether it's your fifth time, 50th time or your very first time, there really is something in there. for everybody. And I'm excited for audience members to come watch. Do you have a favorite moment in the performance that we should look out for? oh
00:21:07
Speaker
it changes frequently. One thing I do love to see, and I know Fergus loves this as well, is at the end of the show, during the finale and the reprise, there are children up in the aisle, out of their seats, dancing. And that's so fulfilling to me when I see that, because when I was about five or six, my mom took me to see the show and that's what I did. So it's it's a full circle moment and it really makes me hope that that is the next generation of dancers that will be on the stage that I'm on. And I love when I see that.
00:21:37
Speaker
What are you excited about coming up in the future? What do you feel like is next for you as a dancer? I'm excited to continue traveling with the show and learning. I've been very fortunate to get to learn so many things i outside of the show that I never would have expected for myself. So like becoming dance captain, being part of the social media team, working with the summer school, all of these things that are not like Irish dance related to a degree, but you know, like it's a lot of admin and social
Role as a Dance Captain
00:22:07
Speaker
media. And then Dance Captain is a lot about working with the cast. We don't do the same rotation every night, so we don't have any swings in Riverdance. So everyone knows every spot in the show and it keeps our brains working. It keeps it fun, keeps it fresh. So I have alongside of dancing, done that for the last couple of years. And I hope that in the future, i get to just have those
00:22:30
Speaker
experiences again and keep learning new things and yeah just I really hope to see Riverdance in places it's never been before we recently brought it to the UAE back in 2021 and that was the first time we brought Riverdance to you know a new culture a new audience which I felt very fortunate to be part of the cast at that time that got to do that because I thought Riverdance had seen everywhere so yeah I'm excited to just see all of those things unfold Yeah. Can you talk more about what a dance captain does?
00:23:00
Speaker
Yes. So we work off a point system here, which means to keep everything fair and to keep everybody doing the same amount. All of our dances have a certain point and then you add up the points at the end of a week and that then dictates your rotation for the week. Also the lead dancers, so whatever leads are on, they rotate between the troop role and the lead role. So at the moment we have three female leads and three male leads and our roster changes every week. just depending on what we're given. And then for the troupe, their role every night will change depending on who is on that night. Dance captains also, you know, we we deal with the stages when it's a different size, having to make the show a different size.
00:23:40
Speaker
We deal with all of the other managements. So like the crew, the wardrobe, the office back home, the company managers, anything that anybody needs really, they'll come to us and There's other dance captains in the show. So for the folk ensemble, for the top dancers, and then for the band, they all have their own captain. And it's just a ah way of, you know, keeping everything in order and making sure everybody's happy and everything's running smoothly.
00:24:04
Speaker
how are the points assigned? Is it like a harder dance has more points or a longer dance? Okay. Yeah, yeah, exactly that. Okay. Wow. That's so interesting. Those are all these things that I've never known, you know, growing up in the ballet world. It's a whole different world of dance. What do you like about doing social media?
Managing Riverdance's Social Media
00:24:23
Speaker
I loved about doing social media, just seeing what engaged with people out there. I find it's so fun. It's so creative. It's another creative outlet where You get to also connect with other shows and see what they do and see what works for them. And I find that really interesting because Riverdance is its own. It's kind of unlike a lot of shows out there. And just seeing what resonates with people, being able to be creative, have fun with Irish dance in a different way. i loved that aspect of it. Last question I have for you that I like to ask all my guests. If you had to give dancers who are pursuing their professional career one piece of advice, what would you tell them? That's a really good question. I think I would tell them to be kind to yourself, don't give up, and stay true to who you are. Thank you so much for this, Anna. If anyone listening wants to go see Riverdance on tour or learn more about you, where can we find you?
00:25:14
Speaker
Yes, if you want to see Riverdance, just go to riverdance.com, all of our dates, and you'll be able to get tickets there. i hope to see you at show. Amazing. And I am partnering with the Overture Center for anyone local to Madison to give away two tickets to the performance on Tuesday, April 14th. And that information will all be on my social media page, The Brainy Ballerina, so you can enter there are to win tickets to see Riverdance and to see Anna.
00:25:38
Speaker
Thank you so much, Anna. I really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much. I've loved it.
00:25:45
Speaker
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00:25:57
Speaker
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00:26:10
Speaker
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