Michael Flatley life and biography

Michael Ryan Flatley is a US-American from Irish descent known in the USA as an Irish-American step dancer, actor, choreographer, musician and occasional television presenter. He became internationally known for Irish dance shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames, and Celtic Tiger.

Dance impresario Michael Flatley was raised in Chicago by Irish parents and took up dancing in earnest at age 11. In 1994 he became principal choreographer and dancer for the musical revue Riverdance, an unexpected smash hit which launched an Irish dance craze in the US and Europe. Flatley's quick feet and bare-chested flair made him a star, but he left the show eight months later after disputes with the show's producers over money and his part in the show's creation. He soon unveiled his own hit touring dance show, Lord of the Dance, in which he starred from 1996-98. He followed that with the ensemble show Feet of Flames. In 2005 he returned to the stage with a new touring show, Celtic Tiger. He married his wife, Niamh O'Brien, in 2006; she was a dancer in the original production of Riverdance. Their son, Michael Jr., was born in 2007.

Flatley's fans call themselves "Flatheads"... According to his official site, Flatley holds the record for "highest insurance premium placed on a dancer's legs - a mind-boggling $40,000,000"... Flatley also set a world record for tap-dancing speed in 1998, with a pace of 35 taps per second.

He was the host of the NBC show Superstars of Dance, which premiered on January 4, 2009. Michael Flatley returned to the stage in 2009 for a limited run of the "Hyde Park" version of Feet of Flames in Taiwan. His return was met with multiple standing ovations and the run of shows had to be extended to meet the demand for tickets.;
In April 2010, he announced that he would be returning to headline the Lord of the Dance show, with performances in Dublin's The O2, Belfast's Odyssey Arena, London's O2 arena, Sheffield's Sheffield Arena, Manchester's MEN Arena, Birmingham's LG Arena, Nottingham's Trent FM Arena, Liverpool's Echo Arena, London's Wembley Arena, Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena in November 2010, with dates also announced in Germany, Switzerland & Austria, the first time he will have done so since 1998;.

June 2010 Michael launched The Garden of Music and Memory in Culfadda County Sligo the village his father left to seek a new life in America, part of this ceremony including Michael's speech and an impromptu performance of one of his father's favourite tunes can be heard at http://www.podcasts.ie/michael-flatley-in-culfadda/
Michael Flatley was among the list of international film and sports stars and amateur golfers who participated in the fundraising golf Pro-Am, the JP McManus Pro-Am in Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort in Adare, Co Limerick, Ireland on the 5th and 6 July 2010.

In March 2011, Lord of the Dance 3D, the movie, debuted in theatres worldwide. Filmed during Flatley’s return tour in the fall of 2010, the movie featured new sets, new costumes, state-of-the-art lighting, pyrotechnics and projections. A DVD of the show was released on June 28, 2011 in USA and Canada, and August 4 in Australia. It will be released on September 12, 2011 in the U.K. and October in Germany, France, Benelux and Scandinavia.

In March 2011, Michael Flatley was inducted into Irish America magazine's Irish America Hall of Fame.

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