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emmaoneill750
Reviews
Riverdance: The Show (1995)
Thrilling, stunning, and absolutely captivating
I've been an Irish dancer, on and off, for several years, but what got me started in the first place, as it did all over the world to budding Irish dancers, was THIS show.
The overall efforts of the Dancing troupe, Maria Pages (the fiery flamenco dancer), Bill Whelan (composer)and Michael Flatley and Jean Butler are amazing. The music is at times very fast paced, and you can barely catch all that's happening in stage, let alone wonder how they do it, and other times it's incredibly sad and haunting (Davy Spillane, Irish bagpipe player, who coaxes breathtaking laments out of a very complex instrument to play). And the dancing is a whirlwind of shoe tapping, perfect synchronous and well-timed. Not to mention...SO COOL!
The Moscow Ballet Troupe is so acrobatic, and fun- and the singing really is heavenly (thanks to the choral sensation 'Anuna'). The American Tap Group was a blend of the comical and the captivating, all wonderfully talented, and the two lead dancers, Michael and Jean, are the greatest presences on stage EVER. Despite the many productions that followed, no-one could manage the 'show' character to be able to fill up a stage like those pair! (Or an audience.) And Maria Page defines the word 'graceful' with her Firedance- my favourite couple dance in the world, is the one between her and Michael.
Riverdance is an amazing and brilliant first step onto the wider world stage, for both Irish dancing and its rich tapestry of history and folklore. Anyone who hasn't seen this is missing out!
Uchû no kishi Tekkaman Burêdo (1992)
Looking beyond the surface...
I found this series/movie by accident, and delightfully, remembered back to childhood-early mornings spent watching this. Being prepared to be heartily disillusioned, I sat down for a half hour to watch the first parts...great Lord what an eye opener it was!
The quality of the animation isn't the greatest or the sharpest, with exception given to the amazing detail done on the Tekkaman suits of armour, and the English dubbed versions (both the UK one and the American one) are a little poor, compared to the Japanese version...But all of that gets blown away in a hurry as the story unfolds into a beautifully saddening tale, so completely unexpected. For an animation, the dramatic element is a genuine surprise.
The general plot is: Earth was invaded my a horde of aliens, being commanded by a group of evil Tekkaman, or Teknomen, in the Westernised versions, whose aim is to turn Earth into a breeding ground for their kind, and have already succeeded in covering the surface of the planet with 'spore trees'.
With much of the human race decsimated from the attacks, both from the 'spider crab aliens' and from Earth's now lost Space Ring (think the rings of Saturn, only man made), it is up to the 'Space Knights' and a renegade tekkaman called 'Blade' to defend the Earth, and win back the planet.
I recommend taking the time to checking this out. It's well worth the effort, believe me!