Michael Flatley
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Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958 in Chicago) is an Irish-American step dancer whose parents were from County Mayo. He moved to Ireland and began dancing lessons at the age of 14, after spending some time as a boxer and winning a Golden Gloves Championship. His first teachers were his mother and his grandmother, an Irish dancing champion. After leaving high school, he opened a dance school.
His teacher told him he would not be able to compete professionally as he would have had to start dancing at an earlier age. His first professional break came when he joined The Chieftains for tours in the 1980s. He competed with Colin Dunne for the lead in Riverdance. Jean Butler and Michael Flatley led Riverdance to great success as the interval act in the Eurovision Song Contest on April 30, 1994, eventually dancing at Radio City Music Hall. After quitting the show Flatley began his own show, Lord of the Dance (musical), which went platinum in three countries: the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. Colin Dunne worked with Jean Butler, taking Flatley's role as lead. More recently, Flatley put together a dance production called Feet of Flames.de:Michael Flatley