They say that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. If that is the case, may everyone in the Springfield area be Irish when Michael Flately’s Lord of the Dance comes to town. Tuesday evening, the show’s accelerated style of Irish dance will combine with a mythical storyline, hauntingly beautiful music, and stunning lighting and pyrotechnics to envelope the audience with the charm of the Irish.

Marie Duffy Pask, the dance director for the show, said, “The power of the dance creates a strong bond between the dancers and the audience. I think the show and the dancers are great ambassadors for Ireland and the Irish people.”

This performance is sure to lift spirits and make anyone proud to be Irish…or at least proud to be Irish for an evening.

Fun Fact: In traditional Irish dance, the upper body remains stiff and the dancer’s arms remain at their sides. The legend has it that this developed when Irish dance was outlawed in Ireland. Adapting their style of dance to include the stiff upper body, people would dance in the basements of buildings where passersby could only see the people were moving swiftly about the room as they peered through the window.