World Music: RiverDance

Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant watershed in Irish culture.

Riverdance has its roots in a three-part suite of baroque-infuenced traditional music called "Timedance" composed, recorded and performed for the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted by Ireland. At the time members of Irish folk band Planxty, Bill Whelan and Donal Lunny composed the music, augmenting the band with a rock rhythm section of electric bass and drums and a four-piece horn section. The piece was performed, with accompanying ballet dancers, during the intervial of the contest, and later released as a Planxty single.

In a book about Planxty ("The Humours of Planxty", by Leagues O'Toole), Whelan says "It was no mistake of mine to call it Riverdance because it connected absolutely to Timedance. It was a nod in the direction of where I believed it came from".