Lord of the Dance hits town

Luis Pena

Mark O’Donnell is the Lord in Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance,”

which is showing at the Orange County Performing Arts Center through

Saturday.

O’Donnell comes from Glasgow, Scotland, where he began to perform

in Irish dance as a hobby when he was only 6. He has competed in

several competitions and has won the all-Scotland and all-Ireland

titles for dance.

When he was 17, “Lord of the Dance” was showing in O’Donnell

hometown. He went to go see it, and when he saw Flatley’s performance

it was like nothing that he had seen before.

“Its taken Irish dance to a whole new level, and no one has ever

done this before,” O’Donnell said.

“Lord of the Dance” is a story about good and evil, which is told

through traditional Irish dance and music with a modern flare to

them. The evil Dark Lord challenges the Lord of the Dance.

“It’s a good mixture of music and dance and all things good,”

O’Donnell said.

The show consists of vivid costumes, high-tech stage effects,

lighting and pyrotechnics with more than 40 dancers. More than 50

million people have seen it worldwide.

The show is constantly on the road and plays about eight times per

week on average.

“For me personally it’s got a lot to do with the audience because

every show you do the audience is different,” O’Donnell said. “You

got to treat everyone as if this is the first time the have seen the

show.”

O’Donnell says what inspires him the most after three years of

performing with the show -- two of those years as the lead -- has

been trying to make the role his own. It is challenging, he says, as

a performer to have to do the same choreography over and over again,

and at the same time try to find new moves.

At 22, he says he feels that after three years of performing he

hasn’t reached his creative peak with the role. He said he also

doesn’t have plans to leave the show anytime soon.

“The more excited [the audience gets] the more they give you and

the more you want to keep going,” O’Donnell said. “It’s a great

feeling bringing the audiences to their feet.”