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The Lady of the DanceGail Franx
Irish Dancing MagazineLast month, Part I of 'Marie Duffy-Messenger - The Lady of the Dance' told about her early life, her family, her dancing and teaching in Dublin, to the start of her own dance studio. This final part brings us up to the present day.
It was five am at a deserted Newcastle Airport in 1992 that Marie Duffy's life changed. A quirk of fate, a chance meeting, a strange coincidence, call it what you will. Marie had, to her annoyance, been overbooked on her scheduled flight the night before, and despite emphatically arguing her case, had eventually been given no choice but to stay overnight in Newcastle, where she had been conducting a workshop, leaving early the next morning to fly from Newcastle to Manchester, then Manchester to Dublin, in order to be in Dublin for 9am.
"When I turned up at Newcastle Airport at five in the morning, there was not a soul anywhere. No check-in desks were open, the whole place seemed deserted. Then, out of nowhere, a man was standing beside me. Now, being used to travelling - I travel regularly on 15 or 20 hour flights with people either side of me - I'm always busy working or writing or whatever and I never even say hello to anyone the whole flight. And here I am with this man beside me and not a soul about, and we just started chatting. His name was Ian. It transpired his wife had recently passed away and he was flying to America for a holiday as he was very down. Anyway, we just kept talking and talking until he asked if I was often in Newcastle. I said, no, I wasn't and he cracked a joke and said well next time I was, he would buy me a pizza. We exchanged phone numbers, and that was the deal. I knew then though, after a 45 minute flight to Manchester, this was 'it'. A friend collected me from the airport and I remember telling her I'd met someone special and I would definitely be seeing him again."
"So, two weeks later, he came back from America and I came home from dancing class one night and there was a message on my answer machine saying, "Is this the Marie Duffy I'm looking for? I met you at the airport, I just thought I'd say hello." And from there it all happened very fast. He truly swept me off my feet!"
"And so, we had a fantastic six years, it was just incredible. Absolutely incredible. He took early retirement. We lived between Ireland and England. I was prepared to stop teaching, but when he saw how involved I was, he was overwhelmed by the whole thing. He realised it was too much a part of my life to just stop, so I decided I'd ease down a bit. Then, after living between Ireland and England for two years, it became too much, and I knew if I stayed in Dublin, I would have to keep going at the same pace, because there's not really any way you can 'cut back' on your own school. So I decided at that point, to close it down and to go and live in Northumberland where Ian's home had been".
"We travelled a lot, but doing nothing didn't last for long. I was asked to help out at various schools in England, and I still did workshops in Australia and America so Ian came with me and it was fantastic. The best thing that ever happened to me."
"And then, out of the blue, Michael Flatley gave me a call. He'd tracked me down and said he was working on a new show and would I work with him. I was delighted. Ian continued travelling with us doing the shows until he suddenly became ill when we were in Los Angeles. I stayed there for three months while Ian was in hospital, going back and fore to the shows every six to eight weeks, just for a weekend. We finally came home in June, in an air ambulance, after three months. It was very serious."
"I couldn't believe it. Just the week before he became ill we were at the Oscars in Los Angeles and he looked fabulous. You would never have thought there was anything wrong with him."
"Anyway, we came back to England and for the next year he survived with very intensive care. We had never been apart anyway, but that year was very special for us. He was in a wheelchair and needed constant care, but it was still very special."
"Practically a year to the day that he first became ill, Ian passed away. That was in March last year. Sixteen months ago. I could tell you the hours and the days. He was the best thing that ever happened to me."
What could I say? Words failed me. Marie was, understandably, visibly upset by recounting her cherished, but all too short life with Ian and listening to her quiet, faultering voice, was incredibly moving.
We stopped for some well needed refreshment.
Newly composed, I asked Marie about her role now in Lord of the Dance.
"Well, the show has been a saviour for me. It has given me something to focus on. There are four shows now and I travel around each troupe in turn. We just started a show at Disney in Orlando. It's only a half hour show, so we've had to change it to make it work for half an hour. The set and some of the costumes are different, so I went and put that together. Its basically the best of LOTD. Its going very well there too. They do four shows a day and when one show is on, people are already queuing up for the next one. So I change the work to fit the venue. Show Three is the one in Las Vegas and I got that up and running last July, so its been over a year running now. That's different again. The Vegas venue is the theatre in New York New York which is very cosy and intimate. Show Two travels around America and Canada. And then Show One is here in Bournemouth now, but travels around mainly Ireland, England and Europe."
"But the last two weeks here have been totally different, here in Bournemouth, because we've just put in a new set - totally different from the original one with a whole new lighting system."
I asked who orchestrates these changes and was surprised to find it's Michael himself. He briefs Marie and she puts them into practice. It's for the benefit of everyone concerned - the audience, the dancers and the crew and usually lifts the whole show. These sometimes subtle and sometimes much bigger changes seem to happen fairly regularly to all the shows and act to stop everyone becoming complacent. The new set design introduced in the Bournemouth show created a great buzz, according to Marie, and "brought the dancers back to life!"
Marie obviously enjoys her 'glamourous' job enormously and talked very fondly of the 200 or so dancers involved in the shows as her extended family. So does that make her the Mum then?
"Oh yes. Some of the younger ones have never been away from home or their Mums before, so to look after themselves and to have to do their own cooking or whatever (although they have caterers during showtime), is a big thing for them."
So, what did Marie have planned after her stint in Bournemouth?
"Well, I'll be taking a two week holiday in Italy and then I'll be back in time to visit the Las Vegas Show again. So, no dancing, although I'd better leave my mobile at home I think."
Bang on cue, Marie's mobile rings and she quickly deals with another booking in her diary. I was interested to find out if she is 'on call', so to speak, 24 hours a day then when she's working.
"That's the trouble with four shows. The European one is OK, that's only a few hours time difference, but Las Vegas is eight hours, some are six hours and so yes, I do end up with phone calls in the middle of the night, very often."
So, what's a typical call then? "Well, the dance captains will call at least once a week. Also my production manager will call and give me a report about what's going on in the show, how its all working, if there are any problems, like anyone being sick or injured or maybe someone is leaving. This is ongoing all the time. People coming and going. Lots of the dancers, maybe, say do it for a year or two and then go back to college or whatever. So its constant. And the production manager will call me up and say, "Who's next on the list? Do you have someone ready to come out", or, "We have one or two down injured so we need somebody." So I run auditions from time to time in England, Ireland and America. And I run a couple of workshops, and from that I have a large file and waiting list and accordingly, as I need somebody, I'll give them a call and see if they are available now, so I can take them in for training. At the moment I'm training a few people over here so that they can go out to Show Two who are on a break at the moment for holidays, so they will be ready to join them in September."
I asked Marie, if she travels around the major championships, 'talent spotting', but wasn't really surprised to find she just doesn't have the time. As you can imagine, she receives literally hundreds of CV's and videos from dancers all over the world, eager to take part in Lord of the Dance.
"I have an office in London and one at my home, which has now become more like a video shop. Whenever I go home I have a pile of new videos to look at. But with most of the shows having four leads which we then double up and rotate each night, as well as these eight each having an understudy, there is always room for more dancers. And I hold regular training periods with each company too. For example, here in Bournemouth, I have one every Friday and I like to encourage every one of the dancers, whoever they are, to come along and try out for the solo roles. . I tell them I expect to see them on the Friday, up in front of me trying out. It gives them more confidence I believe."
So is it compulsory? I ventured to ask.
"Well, its not compulsory no, but I do expect it, and I encourage them all to do it. I had one boy who I knew had potential but he was too shy and I kept saying, "Next time you must come and try out", and he just wouldn't come up and do it. But I knew he could, so eventually I said to Daire, the dance captain, "Go and tell him I want him out on the stage now." So, he came out but still didn't want to do it, even though I told him I wouldn't have asked him if I didn't know he could do it. Eventually, I started getting stroppy and ended up saying, "I'm not asking you to do it, I'm telling you to do it!" Now that boy can play either role, good guy or bad guy and he is out there doing it every other night."
I got the distinct feeling here that this softly spoken lady can be quite a force to be reckoned with - an opinion she didn't argue with when I put it to her. She likes to have a good rapport with the dancers, but is also very aware that strict discipline is needed to run the sort of 'tight ship' she does. Having said that, she does appear to have the sort of enviable job most people aspire to, jetsetting around the world, attending Oscar ceremonies, meeting the rich and famous.
How did Michael Flatley come to phone her in the first place?
"Well, we had known each other and seen each other at competitions and suchlike, for years. As I've said before, Inish Ealga won many world championships over the years when Michael was competing and he was aware of our reputation. I also 'bumped' into him quite a few times, at different events when he was dancing with the Cheiftans. Anyway, I suppose the first I knew was when I came home one day to find a message on my answering machine saying "I'm trying to find Marie Duffy. Is this the Marie Duffy I'm looking for? This is Michael Flatley here. This is my mobile numbe. Please give me a call"."
"Well, I was away at the Leinsters for a few days after that, and when I got back there were a few more messages. One was from someone else saying Michael Flatley is looking for you. So, anyway, I gave him a call, and we met up the following week. At that point he had left Riverdance and he told me he had plans, ideas for doing a show and that he would like me to work with him."
"I did ask him why me, and he said he'd been thinking and looking and had spoken with various people and my name had cropped up in all different areas, so he'd tracked me down. And I suppose we've never looked back from that day on. We've worked well together and he is a great motivator. Life with Michael is never dull, as you can imagine, its very interesting and he is absolutely marvellous. He's very inspiring and its like being in the fast lane all the time."
I wondered just how involved Michael Flatley is in LOTD now?
"Oh, I am in constant touch with Michael, but as you know, he has so many projects on the go at the same time (right now he's in LA) that I also liaise a lot with his business manager. If Michael is away, we work closely together to achieve what he wants. And Michael will always vet what we do to make sure it is exactly what he wants."
So, what about all the bad things people say about him?
"Well people will always find bad things to say about someone in the public eye if they want to, but I have never had a problem with Michael. I've always found him very kind and considerate, especially with the dancers. He has a very soft side to him that a lot of people don't see. I think he has a great sense of humour and although some people say he's very difficult to work with, I've been lucky enough not to find that. Having said that, he is a perfectionist and he demands a lot of himself and expects the same from other people. But, in return, he's such a good motivator, everyone just gives it back to him."
This left me wondering, with all her experience, if Marie had ever considered producing her own show. But, no. She said although it had been suggested to her, by various people 'in the business', on more than one occasion, she was happy doing what she does. Lord of the Dance had given her a great opportunity and had achieved so much that she is happy to leave new shows to others.
I thought I'd play 'devil's advocate' here, and asked her what she would do if Riverdance wanted her to work with them. But she was just as emphatic. No, she said, she had a great respect for Riverdance and was full of praise for their professionalism and the high standards they set, but naturally, her loyalties lie with Michael, and she has no wish to do anything else.
So, where does she go from here then?
"I guess I will carry on as long as I'm needed. People have asked me to do different things, to come in and choreograph particular pieces, but at the moment I can't do that with my contract, but maybe afterwards, I might do freelance stuff, here and there. This time though, when I say I'll take a backseat, I really will do that. This time I have other plans.
So if she had to pick her own successor, who would she choose?
"Well there are very many talented people out there. I couldn't name any one person in particular, but there is always somebody with new ideas and so many young dancers out there. There are plenty of people. I thinks it's because Irish dancing has been so successful that there's so much energy in it - its breathing, so all the time its progressing. Its not like other cultures, where it gets boring. There's never a boring time in Irish dancing. There's always something happening. And as soon as you think there's nowhere else it can go, there's always somebody with new ideas. I think it will just go from one thing to the next with so many different directions it can take."
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Irish Dancing Magazine
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