‘Riverdance’ on last leg of journey

‘Riverdance” has beat a path with its feet from Dublin around the world. After 15 years, however, the show coming to The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts for five performances Friday, Saturday and Sunday is on what is being called the “Riverdance” farewell tour.

Is this really the end of the river — or, rather, road?

“Yes it is, definitely,” said Melissa Convery, the blonde who is lead female dancer. “It’s the end of my time as well. It’s been a huge part of my life. It’s going to be very emotional.” Convery joined Riverdance in 1997, and so has been along for most of the ride. It has been an eventful journey. She has been with the show worldwide to England, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Convery even met her husband through “Riverdance,” she said.

At its core, the show is built on breathtaking Irish step dancing and electrifying Irish music, but there is much more besides. When “Riverdance” came to the Wang Center in Boston in 1997, an almost reverential review in the Telegram & Gazette by Todd Olson stated that it “bespeaks the vibrant spirit of a new Irish optimism, all the while managing to shed light on oppressed people throughout the world … It’s a theatrical rarity, an event that must be experienced simultaneously with the ear, the eye and the soul.”

The full-length show opened in Dublin in 1995 after a period of development and buzz after an individual song and dance of the same name caused a stir when performed at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.

“Riverdance” immediately made dancer Michael Flatley a star (he subsequently branched out on his own as “Lord of the Dance”), while the U.S. tour brought recognition to Irish-American fiddler Eileen Ivers, who is well-known to Worcester audiences.

Asked if there have been changes to “Riverdance” through the years, Convery said there have been a few, but not too many because people always liked what they saw. “Obviously ‘Riverdance’ didn’t need to change.” She also noted that part of the show’s appeal is that it has “different things for everybody. … It’s not 100 percent stomping from beginning to end.” The show coming to Worcester also includes flamenco, American tap and Russian folk dancing.

Convery is originally from Banbridge in Northern Ireland. She showed early promise as an athlete but soon took to Irish dancing, winning many All-Ireland, British National and World Championship awards. She said she was scouted by the producers of “Riverdance” while performing at one of the championship events. “I happened to be lucky enough to be in the right place.”

The producers of “Riverdance,” feeling that the show has likely run its course for now and with other interests that they are working on, are scheduled to have the finale in Dublin later this year.

However, Convery speculated that in a few years “Riverdance” will be back in some shape or form.

Meanwhile, she and her Dublin-born husband are planning some moves of their own when the show ends.

“We’re moving to Orlando, (Fla.,) to open an Irish dance school,” Convery said.