With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval performance act during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler and Michael Flatley. Shortly afterwards, husband and wife production team John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded it into a stage show, which opened in Dublin in 1995. Since then, the show has visited hundreds of venues worldwide and has been watched by millions of people, making it one of the most successful dance productions in the world.

“Riverdance” is rooted in a three-part suite of baroque-influenced traditional music called “Timedance.” At the time, Whelan and Dónal Lunny composed the music, augmenting the Irish folk band Planxty with a rock rhythm section of electric bass and drums and a four-piece horn section. Whelan had also produced “EastWind,” a 1992 album by Planxty member Andy Irvine with Davy Spillane, which fused Irish and Balkan folk music and influenced the genesis of “Riverdance.”

Time: 8 p.m., Feb. 1-2, 2018

Tickets: 280-1,280 yuan

Venue: Shenzhen Poly Theater, intersection of Wenxin Road 5 and Houhaibin Road, Nanshan District (南山区后海滨路与文心五路交界处深圳保利剧院)

Metro: Line 2 or 11, Houhai Station (后海站), Exit E

(SD News)