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Who is Michael Flatley? ‘Riverdance’ star diagnosed with cancer – Hollywood Life




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Image credit: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock

  • Michael Flatley is an Irish-American dancer.
  • He rose to international fame in the mid-1990s with river dance performances.
  • In 2023, at the age of 64, he announced that he was battling “an aggressive form of cancer”.

Michael Flatley, the Dance Lord the creator set the stage on fire with his nimble steps in shows like Riverdance, Dancing Lord, and The foot of the fire, announced on Wednesday (January 11) that he is battling cancer. “Dear friends, we have something personal to share,” read the statement on his personal page. Instagram. “Michael Flatley has been diagnosed with a malignant form of cancer. He has undergone surgery and is being cared for by an excellent team of doctors. No further comments will be made at this time. We ask only your prayers and good wishes. Thank you.”

The news came almost two years after he told independence sunday that he battled skin cancer two decades ago. “I was diagnosed with skin cancer myself and it was a very scary time. I sympathize with anyone lying on that bed facing the uncertainty of the future. It can be a scary place,” he said. “It was a malignant tumor that I was diagnosed with. It was around 2003 and it was purely coincidental that it was noticed.”

Michael Flatley 1993 (David Fisher/Shutterstock)

As Michael continues his fight, here’s what you need to know about this legendary dancer.

Michael Flatley Is A Dancer

Michael Flatley was born to Irish-American parents on July 16, 1958 in Chicago, Illinois. His father was a plumber who founded Frankfort-based Flatley’s Plumbing Express. Chicago Court. Michael’s father also loves Irish music and has sent his son to dance classes. While most Irish kids growing up in Southwest Chicago dropped out of dance classes for other interests, Michael kept going.

“A woman once said to me on TV: ‘You’re not Irish, you were born in Chicago. You’re American!’” Michael recounted to guard. “I am reminded of Oscar Wilde’s great quote: ‘I may be born in a barn, but that doesn’t make me a horse.’”

He is said to have set a world record in 1989

In 1998, Michael set a Guinness World Record with 28 touches per second, according to him. website. His bio claims that he beat his own record 9 years later in 1998 by hitting 35 touches per second (although this claim would be disputed by James Devine in 2006, each scotist).

“In general, it seems that people chase Guinness records for the same reason they buy car phones: So they can tell their friends over and over that they have a phone,” the article reads. . Chicago Court in 1989 after Michael set his first record. “However, Flatley is after something greater than the glory of a local pub. He’s a serious dancer, the first non-European to win the world championship in Irish step dance (in Dublin in 1975), and the tap record certainly won’t dent his ambitions. become his kind of dancer. Gregory Hines for the 90s.”

Michael has another Guinness World Record: “The highest paid dancer.” He made $1.6 million a week in 2000 as the star of Lord of the dance.

His breakthrough came at Eurovision

The 1994 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Dublin, Ireland after Niamh Kavanagh won last year with her song “In Your Eyes”. The show’s producers included a seven-minute Irish dance showcase led by Michael Flatley. The song “begins with the haunting vocals of the choir” Anuna,” write central Ireland, “followed by a stage appearance by Jean Butler, emerging from the traditional Irish gown to herald the beginning of an entirely new style of Irish dance. Michael Flatley… burst onto the stage, unlike any Irish dancer before. Their style and the stage battles between dancers and drummers brought something new to the Irish dance floor.”

The scene seemed to overshadow the rest of the performance of the night, leading to the creation of a period performance based on the Irish step dance. The results show that river dancewhose international success helped bring Michael Flatley into the pop culture pantheon.

Michael Flatley retired in 2016

(Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

Dispute with river dance producers led to Michael going his own way. He has created Lord of the dancea top program river dance on spectacle and box office success. He will also oversee the creation of Firefoot, Celtic Tiger, and Dancing Lord: Dangerous Game. He eventually retired in 2016, citing ongoing injuries from a life of dancing. He decided to give up dancing, but he will continue to produce and direct. In 2017, Flatley’s dance troupe performed at the inauguration Donald Trump.

“We will go on for 20 years and I am honored to present this excellent group of dancers,” he told the audience. San Diego Union-Tribune in 2016. “I’ve always said that every night is going to be our best night ever. People pay hard earned coins, so work as hard as you can to give them something special. That’s why we’re still here.”

An MTV viewer discovered his skin cancer

Michael Flatley’s 2023 cancer diagnosis comes nearly two decades after he battled melanoma. He told Independent Ireland in 2021, he learned about this cancer from an eagle-eyed MTV viewer. “We were at the fifth anniversary of Lord of the dance in Las Vegas, and I did an interview with MTV,” he said. “Someone watched the interview and said to my personal assistant and said, ‘Did you ever notice the brown spot on the side of Michael’s face?’ I never even noticed it.”

Michael went to the doctor, who took a sample for testing. Flatley was on his way to Barbados the next day when he received a call from his doctor urging him to get checked out immediately. “If I let it pass for a few more weeks, he probably wouldn’t be able to do anything for me,” he said. Cancer is treated quickly and leaves no side effects.

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