I got a call this past Saturday from my Aunt Arta Rose letting me know she had two extra tickets to see the last showing of Riverdance in Seattle on Sunday. It was is their farewell tour and with my birthday in the near future she wanted to know if I wanted to go with her and my Uncle Mark for my birthday. I hadn’t really cared for Riverdance when it first came out. But, I had no plans for Sunday and thought “well, it has to be better in person” so I decided to go. They gave the other ticket to my dad.
So, on Sunday afternoon I met my dad at his place and we carpooled down to Seattle. We got there early so we could go out to eat for my birthday before the show. We went to Von’s Grand City Café on Pine St. and let me tell you, the food was soooo good! After reviewing the menu several times I decided on the lamb shank meal. I have never had lamb before and decided that I might as well try it. The lamb was seasoned and cooked perfectly and came with mint jelly on the side. I had also never had mint jelly before but thought it added the perfect touch to the lamb. The meal came with garlic-mashed potatoes that was blanketed with a wonderful brown gravy and fresh green beans that were done in some type of fabulous blend of herbs and seasonings. The meal was superb!
After dinner, dad and I went back to the car to drop off our leftovers and then proceeded to the Paramount Theater for the show. We got there early so we stepped inside and waited for my Aunt & Uncle to arrive with the tickets. Once there we proceeded inside and up the stairs to our seats.
From the beginning to the very end, the show was fantastic! Never a dull moment! I was so pleasantly surprised. There was Irish dancing, a Flamenco soloist, Russian Dancers, a Baritone soloist and so much more. My favorite part of the show took place not long after the intermission and was called “Trading Taps”. During this segment of the show 2 black tap dancers and 3 white tap dancers basically had a tap off. Each of the two ethnic groups displaying dancing from their background in a feat to try and out dance each other. Then they flip-flopped and did each other’s dance moves. By the end of the segment they were all dancing together. I found it to be a powerful display of overcoming adversity to celebrate diversity.
Needless to say, the performance was SPECTACULAR! I loved every minute of it. The dancing was FANTASTIC! The singing was GREAT! The band was OUTSTANDING! I am definitely glad I went. If they come near you on this farewell tour then definitely go see them. You won’t regret it!
