Madam, – I would love to claim credit for causing Bill Whelan’s frank confessions and wit (November 16th), but unfortunately the headline “Michael Flatley’s Riverdance” that appeared over my article came from a sub-editor’s keyboard, not mine.
I must also confess that even after some careful re-reading, I still can’t find evidence of my “confusion that Riverdance might not be ‘authentic’.” On the contrary, I believe that the show’s great strength is the fact that it harnesses individual artistic contributions by Mr Whelan and others rather than presenting “authentic” traditional music or dance.
What I hope I expressed was that notions of authenticity are elusive within a living tradition. Irish dance has many strands of practice – global, national and local – that are happy to co-exist and absorb influences from each other. Long may this continue. – Yours, etc,