How does one even begin to try and fill Michael Flatley’s dance shoes? Every lead that has followed in the footsteps of the original Lord of the Dance, who first exploded onto stages with his game-changing Irish dance extravaganza in 1996, has faced the momentous responsibility of embodying everything that iconic role is – a larger than life stage persona, rockstar-sized bravado and an elusive “it” factor.
Many have taken on the titular role in the hit show over the years, but it’s not an honour that comes easy, with Flatley still to this day having an active part in casting. In fact, there hasn’t been a new Lord of the Dance since 2015 – until now. “He just looks so cool all the time,” Conor Rodgers, the show’s newest lead, says of the original Lord. “It’s hard for anyone else to look that cool doing it.”
Last month, the 24-year-old dancer from county Donegal, Ireland, made his debut as the ‘good guy’ lead in Lord of the Dance, a moment that had been a lifetime in the making. He first watched the show live in Belfast, Northern Ireland when he was around nine-years-old. “I remember just being blown away by it, the theatrics of everything, the explosions. I thought it was unbelievable,” he says. He also remembers watching the original leading man on Lord of the Dance VHS tapes and YouTube, as so many millennial and gen-z Irish dancers did growing up. “I watched it when I was younger, just in awe of Michael himself,” he adds. “It was always a dream. Probably every dancer grew up watching it and just dreaming of eventually being on stage.”
Conor started Irish dancing aged three, tagging along to classes that his mum helped out with in the nearby town of Letterkenny. At five-years-old, he moved to what is now the McConomy-Bradley Doherty Academy in Derry, Northern Ireland, dancing with them for his whole competitive career. He secured numerous major championship wins including Irish National, All Scotland, Great Britain, and North American titles.
In 2019, after finding himself in the top five at every Worlds he competed in (with the exception of one year he got 6th, following a nasty ice skating injury), he finally won the World Championships. “I was like, ‘Right, we’ll just put everything in now and see how we go,’” he says, knowing that 2019 was his last chance at the win before he retired from competition to focus on his physiotherapy degree. But that day finally went how he had always dreamed it would. “Looking back now, I’m just buzzing and thrilled to say I won it,” he says. “But at the time, I think it was more just like relief that I had actually done it.”
Conor already had some experience with show dancing in 2016 when he toured with Rhythm of the Dance, giving him his first taste of what would be required to one day step into a lead role. He danced with Titanic Dance the same year, and also performed with Riverdance in the historic Festival of Families event in Croke Park, Dublin in 2018, where Pope Francis was in attendance.
But his first stint with Lord of The Dance would come in 2018, when he spent two weeks in Taiwan performing in Feet of Flames. “It was unbelievable, especially because of the amount of people that were there,” he says. “You’ve gone from having not really done a lot of show dancing, to doing arenas for like, 10,000 people. It was unbelievable, exciting, nervous and everything else. But it was a brilliant experience.” He was also part of the December 2020 FOF tour in Taiwan which saw the 90-strong cast undergo an unprecedented two-week hotel quarantine before performing eight shows across the country. They also did it all over again at the beginning of this year. “They were an experience in themselves,” Conor laughs.
“You’re standing there getting advice from Michael Flatley, on his solos, and you’re just a bit like…Class”
Conor Rodgers
But his journey to lead began in earnest at the beginning of 2020, when select male troupe dancers started to learn the principal routines. Towards the end of February, training ramped up and there was the possibility of a debut performance on the horizon. But when the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the performing arts industry, it was uncertain when the cast of Lord of the Dance would get back on stage.
Throughout lockdown, Conor continued to work through the routines and get in the best shape he could to look the part, in the hopes that he would be ready once the time came.
In December 2021, the cast started rehearsals for the 25th anniversary tour of the show in Limerick, Ireland, where Conor got to practise in front of Flatley himself. “That itself was unbelievable,” he says. “That was the first time I had done it for him, and he was really happy and gave me a few different tips”. Feedback from the original Lord included how to use his arms, different facial expressions, and making movements bigger. “You’re standing there getting advice from Michael, on his solos, and you’re just a bit like…Class.”
When the cast got back on tour in the UK this year, Conor continued to polish the fine details, meeting with Flatley a couple more times over the summer before getting his sign off to step in as lead. Conor was given just under a week’s notice by the current principal dancers that he would make his debut the following week. It was a six-day build up that he describes as “a bit of a blur”. “I was a bit nervous in terms of, ‘What if you finish and no one’s cheering?’ Silly things that go through your head that probably would never happen,” he says. “But in terms of the role itself, I felt quite good because I had practised it for so long.”
It seems the biggest challenge for dancers who inherit Flatley’s world renowned role is living up to the showmanship that comes with it – the charming, swaggering ‘good guy’ ego that encouraged general audiences to see Irish dancing in a new light, one where male Irish dancers had cool factor. It’s a role that requires the lead to win over the audience night after night. “I’d say my personality itself, I’d be a bit outgoing and don’t mind attention, I think a few of my friends would say,” Conor shares with a smirk.
But rather than go for a straight up imitation, Conor, and the other leads before him, try to do something that is more of a homage to the original rather than a direct copy. “We kind of go away from that a bit, because it’s so hard to imitate,” Conor explains. “Sometimes when you’re dancing, it’s hard to get across your personality, but I think [Flatley] was just exceptional at it. You knew exactly what he felt like when he was doing it.”
One of the show’s veteran Lords, James Keegan, recently took his final bow after 19 years. He performed lead for the first time aged just 17 after only one year with the show. “I learned very early on in my career the importance of the finer details,” he tells The Irish Dance Globe over text. “The second thing I learned was to always dance and perform to my absolute maximum. If you do that, you will never disappoint.”
He also cites the numerous elements that every lead needs to perfect in order to thrive in that role, “from the intricate rhythm patterns that have stood the test of time, fitness, acting, and showmanship, to name a few”. He adds: “In order to master all of these, you need to be pretty headstrong and willing to make sacrifices.”
For Conor, he’s had his eye on the details for as long as he has been a fan of the show. He remembers one night on tour early on in his Lord of the Dance journey when he and some other cast members watched Michael Flatley: Gold – a documentary featuring interviews and footage throughout the dancer’s legendary career – feeling in awe of particular show moments and specific performance details. You sound like model students, I tell him. “We don’t do that all the time!” he laughs.
“You’d swear I was a superstar!”
Conor Rodgers
It was a lucky audience at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens in the UK that would be treated to Conor’s first ever lead show. For Conor, it was a lifelong dream fulfilled that finally hit him the moment he soared out onto the stage during his first solo in ‘Cry of the Celts’, a slow-burning, infectiously energetic number at the start of the show that immerses the crowd in the spirit of Lord of the Dance. “When we had been practising it even on the stage, it feels good but it’s not the same,” he says. “You just feel cooler in the spotlight.” By the end of the show, Conor was met by an eruption of cheers and brought the crowd – including his very proud parents in the fourth row – to their feet.
In one snippet of fan-shot footage shared to Instagram, Conor effortlessly works the crowd in the finale, commanding the troupe’s rapid fire step with confidence, grinning a cheeky Hollywood smile. At one point, he plants a kiss on his hand and sends it out to the crowd with a commanding pointed finger, showing off a bit of that outgoing personality he mentioned.
The response was overwhelmingly positive, from glowing fan reactions on social media, to impressed audience members he coincidentally bumped into at a trad music festival in Manchester. “You’d swear I was a superstar!” he jokes.
When Conor finds himself with some spare time at home – which has been rare this year – he’ll sometimes work on kitchen fitting jobs with his dad, also occasionally dancing at local gigs like weddings. But at the end of this month, the cast are heading to Scandinavia for two weeks before embarking on a European tour in September, where Conor’s hopeful there will be more chances to step back into the spotlight. With the show celebrating “25 years of standing ovations” throughout 2022, it’s a special time to be joining a long line of Lords who have each brought their own unique touches to a timeless show. Conor’s debut marks the start of a new era for Lord of the Dance, one which looks set to bring audiences to their feet for the next 25 years.
Follow Conor Rodgers on Instagram.
