From 'Feet of Flames' to professional photography - VIDEO

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and Brian Doherty.

If you've ever complained about not having enough time to devote to Irish dancing, just look at Brian Doherty for a little inspiration.

The professional photographer can be found wrapping up a shoot in Los Angeles one day and shuffling off to Asia with fellow "Lord of the Dance" performers the next. But Doherty doesn't seem to struggle to balance his two professional lives -- it's quite the opposite, actually.

"Photography and 'Lord of the Dance' sort of compliment each other," he said. "It allows me to be on stage and enjoy myself, but to be in these amazing places."

He said that he's known to run off with his camera while his castmates rest up before a show or rehearsals. One time, while on tour in Italy, he darted off to Venice upon learning that the picturesque city was just an hour from where the cast was staying.

When he's not capturing gorgeous foreign lands and super celebs (he recently shot photos for Perez Hilton, Snooki and Jenny McCarthy -- to name a few), find him mixing business with, well, business. He even shot the latest LOTD promotional photos while on tour in France.

"The only downside is that I'm in none of the photos," he said with a laugh. "It's weird having both of my worlds kind of combine."

Michael Flatley leads "Feet of Flames" troupe. Photo by Brian Doherty.  

Doherty credits Irish dancing with helping him make a name for himself as a photographer. His very first photo gig was a favor for a fellow LOTD cast member who needed professional headshots. He said his stage experiences continue to inspire his photography.

"I feel like the stage lighting aspect has influenced my style," he added.

He's also had his hand in another media-meets-dance project. He worked as the producer of TapTronic's videos, aiding in the overall visual direction of the videos. He met TapTronic dancers Ciaran Plummer and Zach Klingenberg through LOTD, and he matched them up with a talented creative crew from Grammy-nominated Surefire Music Group to mix the music, and shoot and edit the videos.

And being known as the Irish dancing photographer helps, too, he admitted. When models and celebrities find out about his second life as a professional Irish dancer, they remember him, and it sometimes helps break the ice.

"Dancing makes me memorable," he said. "You wouldn’t see Jenny McCarthy dancing a jig at any other photo shoot."



Doherty is currently on tour with "Feet of Flames" in Taiwan.

'Take the Floor' Irish dance spectacular takes shape - VIDEO

Irish dance spectacular "Take the Floor" will debut in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 15 -- that's just over two months away -- but the cast isn't complete, rehearsals haven't begun and choreography is still a mystery.

Don't worry -- everything is going according to plan!

That's the whole point, said show directors Paula Goulding and Shane McAvinchey. This isn't your average dance show. It's more like an intense Irish dance workshop, MTV's "Making the Band" and Riverdance all rolled up into one unbelievable experience.

Over the course of 10 days, 50 promising Irish dancers will meet to learn an entire show's worth of choreography, get fitted for costumes and learn to work as a team to pull off what Goulding and McAvinchey promise to be a professional-level "unforgettable show" on the final day. Adding to the challenge, they're not really scouting seasoned show dancers. In fact, they're accepting applications from dancers with varying levels of show- and competition-dancing experience through June 11.



"It’s going to be immense," Goulding said of the challenge to pull off the project without a hitch. "But it’s going to be rewarding. We have to be meticulous. Everything has to be precisely scheduled."

In preparation for the hotly anticipated 10-day dance bootcamp and final show, Goulding and McAvinchey have been working and planning tirelessly. The two friends and cohorts have been envisioning this moment for months -- years, maybe. Shane said that the two have been dreaming up projects together since they met while touring with Riverdance. Since then, they've done other stage shows together and collaborated on various projects, including Diddlyi.com, a website that offers online step dance video lessons.

McAvnichey, a commission-certified Irish dance instructor for the Tir Na Nog school in Germany and Russia, explained that he, Goulding and a slew of "celebrity" choreographers will be focusing on transforming a group made up of predominantly competitive dancers into polished show dancers.

Not to be overlooked in the production is the live music that will accompany the dancers. Popular trad Irish band Beoga will be providing the robust soundtrack for the show.

"Beoga has a very recognizable style. It's so uplifting," Goulding gushed, the enthusiasm clearly audible in her tone. "They are -- in trad music terms, at the moment -- they’re like what One Direction is to pop. They are it."

With days until the show's debuts on Dublin's Helix stage dwindling, and all the planning pieces falling into place, McAvinchey anxiously awaits introducing a whole new generation of dancers to the life of a professional performer. From the moment dancers drop their dance bags on the studio floor on day one of rehearsals to the final bow, McAvinchey wants the dancers to have the fullest show experience.

"We want them to be going to bed wrecked tired at the end of the night, and then bouncing up in the morning because they can’t wait to get started again," McAvinchey said. "We want dancers to say, 'wow, that was amazing.'"

"Take the Floor" has been officially endorsed by Riverdance, and McAvinchey said that scouts from a variety of professional Irish dance shows have been invited to attend the one-night-only spectacle, opening a unique opportunity to any dancer interested in dancing professionally. For details on how to apply, visit the official "Take the Floor" website. And to see who's already been selected, check out "Take the Floor" on Facebook.

Check back here for news, results, photos, interviews and more! Help us celebrate Irish dancing by sharing this story with your friends, like us on Facebook, tweet the link or start a conversation with a comment in the message box below. THANK YOU!

Riverdance fiddler has a hip-hop side - VIDEOS

Riverdance musicians aren't all about traditional tunes all the time. Just take a look at Riverdance fiddler Pat Mangan's YouTube page, and you'll soon see what I mean.

Rihanna, Usher, Swizz Beatz, Calvin Harris, Antoine Dodson -- those aren't names often referenced around the trad music scene, but they are definitely artists and popular culture icons who have influenced Mangan, a 27-year-old Brooklyn native.



Mangan, who made his Riverdance debut on Broadway at the young age of 16, has been soaking up sounds his whole life, having been raised in the New York borough and surrounded by the constant cadence of the city.

"Even just walking down the street," Mangan said, "there's music coming out of cars and open doors. And there are so many amazing opportunities to hear live music -- the best of the best are always in New York."

So for Mangan, a two-time all-Ireland fiddle champion who began playing acoustic violin in kindergarten, the combining of classics with urban influences just seemed natural, innate.

"I'm very much into the real old style music, and at the same time, I don’t see a conflict in breaking off and experimenting in something very different," he said, adding that whatever music he creates "will have a bit of that Irish in it."

Lucky for Mangan, he's not alone in his folk-meets-modern mindset. He regularly performs with Hammerstep -- Irish show dancers who mash up step dancing with other forms of urban street dance and hip-hop choreography -- doubling as both electric violin player and DJ in the music-and-dance stage shows.



"They're on some next level," Mangan said of the Hammerstep dancers, remembering their recent St. Patrick's Day performance at London's Trafalgar Square where they entertained an audience of approximately 18,000.

He's also constantly surrounded by other creative types while touring with Riverdance, and he gets to travel the world, affording him a unique opportunity to learn about the world's cultures and various forms of music.

With Riverdance wrapping up stateside, Mangan's focusing on a different way to expand his international visibility. He's taken to YouTube to post everything from live performances to studio sessions to professional-grade music videos. His latest upload, "Strings for the Street," is both audibly and aesthetically enticing. The backdrop is Mangan's native Brooklyn, a colorful street setting for a musical mix.



He said, much like the TapTronic dancers expressed in a recent IrishCentral article, that he really just wanted to create a video reflection of himself to float around to interested parties.

"I’m hoping that things will organically continue down this path," Mangan said. But he admitted that he wouldn't mind having someone like Jay-Z watch it and maybe want to collaborate on something. (Hey, we have any members of Shawn Carter's entourage reading Irish Central?)

Mangan is currently on tour with Riverdance in New Zealand, but he plans to perform live in the states upon his return to America. His music -- loads of Irish dance tunes, by the way! -- is also available for streaming and purchase online. And, of course, you can check him out on YouTube.

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Irish dance music duo Anton and Sully bust fresh feis beats

Hate to admit it, but Irish dancers are inevitably bored by the same traditional dance tunes, and it turns out feis musicians are, too.

Anthony Davis and Liam O'Sullivan -- better known as musical duo Anton & Sully -- provide the perfect antidote to musical monotony. Known for jazzing up slip jigs and infusing whimsical romance into heavy jigs, the two musicians aim to create a sound that gets step dancers pumped up and performing energetically -- oh, and it's fun for them, too!

Anton & Sully released two popular Irish dance CDs, "The Feis Album" and "The Feis Album, Volume II," along with side project "The Bootleg," an album they recorded with fellow musician Steve Byrnes (together, they form trad group Kayna). The duo also plays at major dance competitions, so they know exactly what gets a dancer jumping high and feeling the beat, and they also understand what uplifts the audience.

"There's a position during a feis, normally after a really long set of hornpipes or heavy jigs, when the whole room is yearning for something different, something with a little more energy," O'Sullivan, an accordion player, said of his experience playing at competitions. "A feis musician can really change the mood of the whole hall."

"Playing the same tune over and over again, I get bored and impatient," said Davis, a piano player who avoids such an occurrence by maintaining a fresh repertoire of tunes to keep things exciting.

That's important for engaging the dancers on stage, too, O'Sullivan said. He and Davis pay close attention to a dancer's style, explaining that there's a collaboration between dancer and musician during competitions.

"The relationship between the musician and dancer is so linear," he said. "Especially during a slow hornpipe."

This skill -- the ability to adapt music to the dancer's energy -- is one that Davis and O'Sullivan have developed and translated impeccably to "The Feis Album" and its follow-up CD.

Davis said that infusing different genres is key to creating music that is identifiable and enjoyable for any audience.

"I just try to adapt Irish music into something that everybody will like, because traditional isn't everyone's cup of tea," Davis said. "We are trying at the moment to keep Irish dancing as hip-hop as possible but still having that traditional vibe."

Besides hip-hop, Anton & Sully's albums reflect loads of unexpected musical influences -- everything from Jamiroquai to House of Pain to Calvin Harris. Those particular influences are more obvious in the presentation tracks produced by the duo. These are the songs played before results are announced at major competitions.

O'Sullivan admitted to channeling his own emotions for music-making inspiration.

"If I ever feel very agitated, sometimes it just comes out," O'Sullivan confided, adding that he's been known to produce a "very sad, miserable heavy jig" or two.

If you're dancer who hasn't already heard either of Anton & Sully's albums, or Kayna's "The Bootleg," you can purchase them online through AntonioPacelli.com. Volume I of "The Feis Album" and "The Bootleg" are also available for download on iTunes. A third feis album is in the works for early next year.

Davis and O'Sullivan will play the North American Nationals in Chicago in July, and they intend on bringing a bunch of CDs to sell, so keep an eye out for them in Chi-Town if you're lucky enough to attend. They also hope to tour the U.S. with Kayna in the future.

Check back here for news, results, photos, interviews and more! Help us celebrate Irish dancing by sharing this story with your friends, like us on Facebook, tweet the link or start a conversation with a comment in the message box below. THANK YOU!

TapTronic talks Irish dance, dubstep, fast feet in first official interview - VIDEO

Behind the scenes of "Crave You" video. Photo by Brian Doherty.

In just one week, TapTronic's gone from almost unknown to virtually viral.

Irish dancers Ciaran Plummer and Zach Klingenberg quietly launched a Facebook page last month. On April 27, they posted their first official TapTronic video -- a remixed version of electronic song "Crave You" by Flight Facilities, accompanied by their rhythmic footwork -- and just a week later, it boasts nearly 177,000 hits on YouTube.

"We were caught off guard," Klingenberg, of Columbus, Ohio, said of the video's sudden virality in the duo's first official interview as TapTronic. Although the dancers had an inkling that the video would be "pretty cool," they had no idea what kind of attention it was about to draw.



The video's been featured on the Huffington Post, CBC, MSNBC and blogs around the world. Dubsteppers and step dancers alike are raving about the exciting cultural combination.

"Not that it wasn’t the intention," said Plummer, a Toronto native, of the video's electronic-meets-Irish dance concept and the attention it's receiving, "but it was just as raw as us wanting to make a video."

Klingenberg, 20, describes himself as an avid electronic music listener. He introduced Plummer, 27, more of a rap/hip-hop fan, to the genre, and the two decided to put their Irish dance beats to music. With the help of friends at Surefire Music Group, they recorded their taps to Adventure Club's remix of "Crave You" and shot the accompanying music video at Revere Beach near Boston.

Photo by Brian Doherty. 

It was the first time the two world-class dancers had ever choreographed anything together, they said in a Skype interview earlier today.

"It was crazy the way it happened," Plummer said. "We got in [the studio], and after we finished two sessions of choreography, it felt so natural."

"We really tried to pay attention to detail within the song so that at no moment in the song was there a disconnect with what was happening with our feet," Klingenberg said, adding that the rhythms were sometimes as complicated as having to "dissect a four-bar sequence down to the hair."

The decision to wear two different styles of shoes was intentional, too, they said. In the video, Klingenberg wears metal taps to produce a higher pitch, and Plummer dons traditional Irish hard shoes for a heavier sound. Combined, the shoes create a rich percussive beat that highlights both the dancers' personal styles.

Regardless of the shoes they wear or what commenters on TapTronic's YouTube page might believe, they are Irish dancing -- not tapping, not clogging.

Another subject of debate which the lads want to clear up is the speed of their feet.

"That's real-time," Klingenberg said, putting the rumors to rest. Even his brother jokingly suggested adding a disclaimer to the video to reassure viewers that the video had not been tampered with to make their feet appear to move more rapidly than they actually do.

The ability to dance so quickly, Plummer said, is directly related to his Irish dance training.

"It’s the product of our environment, the way we were taught to dance," he said.

Plummer, a two-time Irish dance world champion, learned to dance from his father, certified Irish dance teacher and adjudicator Ron Plummer. Klingenberg, a regional champion and four-time world championship medal-holder, learned to dance at the Richens/Timm Academy of Irish dance. The two met each other while on tour with Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance.

With one wildly popular video picking up steam around the internet, the dancers aren't giving away too many details about their next steps.

"We have some plans in the pipeline," Plummer admitted.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Can't wait!

'Rhythm in the Night' promises 'big' change for Irish dance shows - VIDEO

Lead dancer Justin Boros proves size does matter when playing the 'bad guy."

When it comes to professional Irish dance shows, it's pretty unexpected to see a big, burly "bad guy" as the principal performer.

And then comes "Rhythm in the Night," shattering any preconceived notion of what an Irish dance show is all about and what a lead dancer should look like.

"Someone of my size, stature hasn’t been featured in any other show," said principle dancer Justin Boros, who describes himself as "somewhat of a body builder," weighing in at about 300 pounds.

Boros' build doesn't necessarily allow him to play the "good guy" -- he's more of a natural villain based on his appearance -- so he actually plays the "bad guy" with redeeming qualities.

"I’ve always had a vision in my head. I wanted to be this bad guy that couldn’t be duplicated," said Boros, who began Irish dancing after becoming "obsessed" with "Lord of the Dance," particularly one number -- "Warriors" -- performed by the villainous male character.

Boros was so intrigued by LOTD that he taught himself all of the show's choreography -- never having attended a dance class in his life -- at the age of 16, and then found a local dance school where he studied for a few months. By 17, Boros had auditioned for LOTD and was accepted into troupe two of the show.

But unlike LOTD where the tough look is achieved through extra-macho costuming, Boros wanted to become the real thing.

"I thought in the back of my head it’d be really cool if there was a big bad guy, like a Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in the main role," he said.

So he took to the gym, bulked up and achieved the dominant, muscular physique he'd envisioned.

Like his size, "Rhythm of the Night" is full of unexpected twists, explained Boros, who is also the show's creator and director.

"The bad guy is actually the good guy, and he's going to be rescued from this evil seductress of the show," Boros said. "Our goal is to provide a good show that’s different."

The show, Boros said, is for the whole family. With music composed by Andrew and Jared DePolo, some of the world's best Irish dancers in the cast and an unlikely plot filled with drama, Boros promises the "most exciting Irish dance spectacular ever to be experienced."

In the coming weeks, Boros will announce tour dates for Rhythm of the Night. Anyone interested in booking the show can also contact him through the show's official website.

Celtic Steps relax for worlds, ramp up for nationals

Still from the video below

Considering Colorado-based Celtic Steps won gold in two figure categories at last year's World Irish Dancing Championships, the teachers' decision to hold back from sending teams to the big show in Belfast this year might seem like a surprise -- or more of a strategic plan to bounce back stronger than ever?



"This gives us a little time to push towards Chicago nationals and Boston worlds (in 2013)," Shaun Casey, ADCRG, said in a recent phone conversation. "Our goal is to really get everyone ready for nationals."

Aside from taking gold in two figure categories at last year's worlds, Celtic Steps placed top-10 in two other team dance categories. Then, at the 2011 nationals, four of the school's teams won gold.

Expect Celtic Steps' teams to reemerge at the 2012 North American National Irish Dance Championships in a big way. Casey and fellow teachers wife Aisling Toal Casey, TCRG, and Eimear Toal, TCRG, are perfecting brand new choreography for their under-12 figure team that will debut in Chicago. They've invested thousands of dollars in new costumes and had music produced by Anthony Davis.

Casey said the movements in the newly choreographed figure will be rapid, sharp and inspired by pom dance -- a style he and his wife mastered while touring with Lord of the Dance. He said that he's devoted to telling the story of the choreography in every piece of the dance, from slight arm movements to facial expressions. "Let the judges see the story play out on stage," he added.

Aside from keeping busy developing innovative competition choreography, the Caseys have also created an original touring show that premiered over St. Patrick's Day weekend. Strictly Irish, featuring dancers aged 18 to 27 from schools throughout Colorado, sold out all 2,000 seats available for its two-show debut.

"We're inviting really high-end, top-quality dancers in our area to dance with us in the show," Casey said.


So, while Celtic Steps won't be dominating team categories at worlds, know that the school's teachers and dancers are doing anything but taking a break. The school is sending 15 soloists to worlds, and there's a batch of teams in Colorado just waiting to show off their moves at NANs.

Check back here for news, results, photos, interviews and more! Help us celebrate Irish dancing by sharing this story with your friends, like us on FaceBook, Tweet the link or start a conversation with a comment in the message box below. THANK YOU!