My son’s friend John, who is Irish, said that there’s always something sexual in Irish dancing (he probably just calls it “dancing”). Malo explained this to me when I expressed surprise that all the women Irish dancers in Lord of the Dance – Dangerous Games had stripped off their pretty traditional outfits to bras and tights. Later in the show the boys got their shirts off too, which felt like it evened things out a bit.

Lord of the Dance

Lord of the Dance is a frenzy of a show. From dancing robots to virginal damsels to sort of 90s urban youth (camo pants! Vests with no shirts!), with live duelling violins and a singer with the spirit of Celine Dion, it is quite the romp. Loosely themed around the story of The Lord of the Dance in a battle with a bad dude, it provided an opportunity for lots of dance offs and and dingy hell scenes and pretty meadow scenes and scenes I’m assured by Malo are lifted straight from Warhammer. There was a nod to NZ when the baddy started doing a haka. It was complex.

In all honesty I’m not much of an expert at the Irish dancing genre (apart from the odd hilarious foot kick when Dirty Old Town plays), and much of the dancing looked kind of the same with different lighting and costumes. The crowd was loving it though, and the older Irish dude next to me was whooping it up in a very charming fashion. It was a full house and I daresay if you have an interest in Irish dance you’ll be there with metaphorical bells on. Possibly literal.

If this sounds like your thing Lord of the Dance – Dangerous Games plays at the St James until the 30th August.