| | |  | Dance Music | Home » » Riverdance - Live from Radio City Music Hall (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Riverdance in China- A beind the scenes look at the historic performance in the Great Hall of the People in China.Riverdance on BBC's Pebble Mill featuring interviews and performances.System Requirements:Running Time: 102 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: NR UPC: 794051413222 Manufacturer No: E4132 | | | Features: | |
• Riverdance in China- A beind the scenes look at the historic performance in the Great Hall of the People in China. Riverdance on BBC's Pebble Mill featuring interviews and performances. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS Rating: NR Age: 794051413222 UPC: 794051413222 Manufacturer No: E4132
| | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Jean Butler, Colin Dunne, María Pagés, Katie McMahon, Morgan Crowley | | Director:
| John McColgan | | Format:
| Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| English | | Subtitle:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 2 | | Studio:
| BBC Warner | | Run Time:
| 102 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| February 19, 2008 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 10 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 Incredible!!!Oct 20, 2009
Totally an amazing dvd. Unbelievable performance. Totally worth it. Buy it, buy it, buy it!!
 An awe-inspiring show, but...Aug 24, 2009
An awe-inspiring show, but... the production of the DVD is flawed to the point that I'd rather watch my old VHS copy of the Dublin performance (and that's really saying something since Michael Flatley frankly leaves me cold). The picture quality is mediocre at best. Whether it's the lighting, the equipment they used or a combination of both, it tends to be dark and somewhat grainy. There is very little sharpness to the picture. It actually reminds me of a poor quality VHS tape, not modern digital video.
Now to address the real culprit: the Editor, Jim Duggan. Here's the scene - 30 Irish dancers in a straight line onstage, hard-shoeing their hearts out in outstanding synchronization, preparing for their signature move where they all stop dancing and then jig one-at-a-time in a kind of wave, down the line from one end to the other IN UNDER 3 SECONDS. Does the editor draw our focus to this awesome dance sequence? No! He chooses, instead, to capture forever all 30 of these incredibly talented dancers TURNING THEIR HEADS!!! Even worse, the camera angle he chose is from the side so we see all the action jammed together in half of the screen's width because of this awful perspective, when we could have seen this human "wave" travel 60+ feet across the stage faster than most of us can run. Thank goodness the dancers repeat this wave movement in the opposite direction a moment later. Unfortunately, Mr. Duggan once again features the head turns and not the dancers' feet!
There are just too many editing gaffs like the one noted above for this DVD to receive more than 3 stars. It's a brilliant performance marred by an inept editor's poor choices. Yep, give me the old VHS program any day. I wish they'd release THAT performance on DVD!
Real foot-stompin' enjoyment!Jun 11, 2009
Even if you don't have any Irish in you, I dare you to keep your feet still during this exciting rendition of traditional Irish fare.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Gift for my son with Autism.Jan 06, 2009
My son loves to watch music videos, and I thought he might enjoy the music and dance on this video. At this point it is too early to tell if it will become one of his favorites.
I will note that the service with Amazon.com is always superb and I have never had a complaint.
Thanks.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent Show, Average VideoOct 22, 2008
I saw this show on VHS 6 or 7 years ago and was waiting for the DVD release. It is hard to find the proper words to describe how amazing the show is. The disc is a compilation of the famous Riverdance Show live from Radio City Music Hall in New York.
Now, what is on the disc? First of all is the gorgeous Irish step-dance couple Colin Dunne and Jean Butler. They are just amazing; it is hard to stop watching their performances, expressions, speed footwork, and beauty. They are unbelievable and their scenes are never boring to watch again and again! I might like the performance with Michael Flatley a little bit better than that with Colin Dunne but again, it is very subjective and Colin Dunne is unbelievable too.
Although I am not a huge fan of Flamenco, Maria Pages's Firedance is special in the show. Even I am speechless when watching Maria's expressions in this dance. You might ask what Flamenco is doing in an Irish Music/Dance show? I have no idea but it just fits in perfectly.
The show has a very impressive scene when Colin Dunne and two more dancers from the Riverdance group try to "compete" with Tarik Winston, an African-American tap dancer from the Bronx, and another tap dancer. To me, Tarik won... I like this part (Trading Taps) the most after the Finale.
You should be warned - the show is not dancing only. It includes a musical performance and singing. I like all the outstanding voices and heartwarming tunes, though I personally am waiting for the dancing to begin.
Overall, the content is still super hot even about a dozen years after the performance. The DVD just appeared in 2008 and is much better than VHS. It contains a lot of special features with interviews and the history of this show (and is worth watching too, by the way). The Riverdance Show became a very refreshing event in the history of dancing and has its own special place there.
So, why 4 stars only? The reason is that I am not supposed to evaluate the show. It has been evaluated many times by many people and their evaluation is simple: Riverdance is a historical event that is hard to overestimate. I am supposed to evaluate the DVD I purchased. I am sorry to say that the video is, at most, of average quality. I can accept that a video recording from 1996 might not be as bright and sharp as a modern recording. Indeed, it is 16:9 but it cannot be called High Definition. I believe that the lighting was not good for the recording.
The real problem, however, is the editing of this recording. The video is taken from a few cameras and the producer (who deserves a dozen spoiled tomatoes thrown at his head for his cutting work) switches between them quickly, unpredictably and annoyingly. Sometimes you barely can see the dance composition. Instead the video can show you the feet of a random dancer for many seconds. It is awful and sometimes produces sea sickness due to loss of space orientation (at least for me). I cannot give the product less than 4 stars because it is a DVD any dance fan must have. However, you have been warned that the video quality is below average. Although it is watchable and very enjoyable, I am very dissatisfied by the quality of the video.
I highly recommend this DVD for purchase but be warned about the below average video composition.
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