Show Notes

• Performing at Radio City Music Hall
• Life on the road
• Dancing at 22 months old
• The blessing of finishing second
• Watching Riverdance as a little girl
• What it takes to achieve at such high level
• How Amy Mae stays motivated
• The role of Dance Captain
• Balancing roles as a dancer and leader
• Inspiring and motivating others to reach their potential

Connect With Amy Mae Dolan

✩ Website – https://amymaedolan.com/
✩ Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/amymae.dolan/
✩ Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amymaedolan
✩ X – https://x.com/amymaedolan2
✩ YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/amymaedolan

Summary

Amy Mae Dolan is a World Champion Irish dancer. At just 19 years old, she became the youngest-ever Principal Dancer in the world-renowned production, Riverdance. Amy Mae shares how she fell in love with Riverdance as a little girl, and what she’s doing today to help others maximize their potential and pursue their dreams – just as she’s done herself.

Full Transcript

Brian  

Welcome to another episode of LifeExcellence with Brian Bartes. Join me as I talk with amazing athletes, entrepreneurs, authors, entertainers and others who have achieved excellence in their chosen field, so you can learn their tools, techniques and strategies for improving performance and achieving greater success. Amy Mae Dolan is a world champion Irish dancer. When she was just 19 years old, Amy Mae became the youngest ever principal dancer in the world renowned Grammy Award winning production Riverdance. By the age of 21 she took on the prestigious role of dance captain, solidifying herself as a leader within the prominent Riverdance team. Amy Mae’s artistry has taken her across the globe, touring extensively throughout North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. She has performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages and appeared on major television and radio programs, including America’s Got Talent, CBS Sunday Morning Show, Dancing with the Stars and Good Morning America. In 2020 Amy Mae’s journey reached a new pinnacle when she became one of the best known female Irish dancers of her generation with the BBC documentary, “Born to Riverdance.” The documentary showcased her unwavering determination and tireless work ethic as she prepared for her role as principal dancer in one of Riverdance’s most historic moments; the 25th anniversary gala performance. She is currently touring with Riverdance 30, a re-imagined 30th anniversary production that celebrates the extraordinary energy and passion of Irish and international dance. Amy Mae is not only an incredible dancer, but she also has a wonderful, uplifting and energetic personality. She’s joining us today from her home in Northern Ireland, and it’s an honor to have her on the show. Welcome, Amy Mae, and thanks for joining us on LifeExcellence. 

Amy Mae  

Thank you. Thank you for having me, Brian. I’m really excited to be here.

Brian  

Oh, I’m excited to have you. Amy Mae, you’re in the midst of a very exciting season of life for you personally, and also an exciting season for Riverdance. Just since the time we were introduced, which I think was about three months ago, you finished an extensive tour of Europe and the new production, Riverdance 30, has taken the US by storm. You just finished 16 performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and celebrated St Patrick’s Day in New York with a pop-up performance in Times Square and five shows at Radio City Music Hall. I know you’ve danced around the world, but how does it feel to perform in such iconic, world renowned venues like the Kennedy Center and Radio City Music Hall?

Amy Mae  

I think, first and foremost, it’s always a huge honor, and secondly, it always just feels like a pinch me moment. At Radio City Music Hall, I think those were some of the biggest performances of my life, because I grew up watching the 1996 version of Riverdance that was filmed at Radio City Music Hall. That’s how I fell in love with Riverdance, watching that video tape over and over again. So not only did that make me dream about being a dancer, but I remember constantly thinking, that’s the most iconic stage in the world, I really want to dance on it someday. It was one of those dreams that always felt a little bit out of reach, because yes, I get to be in Riverdance. Yes, I got to be a principal dancer. But Radio City Music Hall does not come around very often for Riverdance. It might be five years, might be ten years. So when this pinnacle moment was going to be on a tour that I could be a part of, I just knew that I had to be ready and good enough to be there and dancing the best that I possibly could. So it’s just you’re standing side stage, you’re in the wing, you can hear the audience. You’re about to jump out onto a huge stage, and you just have to take that moment and really believe in yourself. And because those big moments, they can be scary, and you can think, oh, god, am I good enough now? And am I tired? Am I sore? How do I feel? Am I good enough? And then you have to think, no, I’ve done this thousands of times. It’s another venue, it’s another audience, believe in yourself and take that leap. And so it’s a dream come true. That sentence just feels almost too casual, because we say it all the time but to perform in these iconic venues and get to meet audiences from all around the world, I’ll never fully understand how lucky I’ve been to be able to do this. And I just feel like I really am, like you said, in the best season of my life.

Brian  

You’re absolutely right about Radio City Music Hall. I had the pleasure of interviewing a Radio City Rockette a couple years ago on the show, very early on. The show is one of our first shows, and her name is Sophie Silnicki. My wife and I were actually able to go and see the Rockettes perform a couple months after the interview, and it was amazing just to be in the audience of Radio City Music Hall; I can only imagine what it’s like to perform there. You’ve performed around the world. Are there other places that stand out besides the two that I mentioned? Kennedy Center, for me, seems like another one of those iconic places. Not the Radio City Music Hall, but are there other places around the world that have stood out for you equally?

Amy Mae  

We’ve had some extraordinary moments. Sometimes it’s as simple as being able to perform in Dublin for your family and your friends and the people you grew up with and your dance teachers at the Gate Theater in Dublin. We perform there every year from June to September, and that truly feels like home. I feel like I’ve really grew up in that theater so that’s always very special. Something that was unique and just extraordinary was the Amman Theater in Jordan. It was outside, and it’s this giant outdoor amphitheater, and behind you is the city of Jordan. And you just look up and you see the stars, and you just kind of wonder, how did I get here? How am I doing this? And members of the royal family are there. That was really just kind of like, I’m Irish dancing here, like what? You know! So it’s hard to name them all. We’ve done Dubai Opera House, which was really special. Sometimes it comes down to the show that particular day, how you’re feeling. So it might not necessarily be the extraordinary theater that you’re in, but just those really special shows that hit home for you and you think that you’re on top of the world.

Brian  

What incredible experiences. You make them come to life; I don’t know if it’s your Irish accent but I can just picture myself being in Jordan for that show. Amy Mae, most of us will never have the opportunity to tour the world or even the US like you do being on the road for weeks and even months at a time. Share with us what your lifestyle is like on the road, both the adventurous part of getting to visit so many amazing places like New York and Jordan and Dubai, as well as the sacrifices of being gone so long.

Amy Mae  

It’s a really interesting dynamic. There are moments where you feel like you’re here on top of the world, and then there are also moments where it is extremely tough. I will never underestimate how privileged I am that I have got to see so much of the world. Sometimes what can happen is we’re going in and out of these places so fast, and we’re seeing the best places that these places have to offer; if that makes sense. We go to New York, and they’re like, we want Riverdance here, let’s take them here. And we go to Dubai, and they want to show us Dubai. We are so lucky. Recently, we were in New York, and I remember just turning to someone and I said, we have to keep remembering that we are so lucky to see these places, because you almost get… it almost becomes a little bit normal. You’re on top of the tallest building in New York, and you look out and you’re like, oh, wow, okay. And then you think, no, snap into it, this is where you are, be present. I think that’s something that I’ve realized recently. Since I’ve been touring the world for eight years, I have to remember that it’s truly unique. It’s very, very extraordinary. A typical day for us can be exhausting, because you can wake up in a city that you want to explore, which you will do, but you’re also trying to keep your body in peak shape and conditioning for the show that night, because the show has to be at the best every single night. Especially as a dance captain, I have to be really good every single night to lead by example so that the entire cast are following that. Sometimes you have this conflict, an issue of like, I want to be a tourist and walk all day, and then you get to the show that night and your legs are exhausted and your energy is low, and so you’re constantly trying to balance that. We start our typical like work day – it’s strange to call it that – around 4pm and we will head in and we’ll have some pre-show massages or physio. You have hair and makeup. We have rehearsals with every new city. We have to what we call, LX the show. So that’s set up the lights and to make sure that everybody is lit correctly for every number of the show. That takes a long time, and we’re doing that every city. We rehearse every single day so we’re in the venues from, let’s say like 4pm to sometimes 10:30pm and then you try to eat and get to bed, and you could travel the next day. So the effects of tour are really hard on the body. We dance eight shows a week. And again, they are high energy, high octane performances. We are pushing, pushing, pushing to the max and we really, really, really are. We consider every night, opening night. We see every single day as a chance to improve, and we’re constantly watching the show to see what needs to be fixed, what can be better, what can we change? When you go into something like the 30th anniversary of Riverdance, you have that pressure of this has to be the best it’s ever been. And you know our alumni are constantly coming to see the show. They’re watching it, and you just hope that they leave and say this is the best they’ve ever seen it. So there’s that constant competitiveness and a little bit of pressure to keep making it incredible. But I would say the toughest part for me about being on tour is being away from my family for so long, you miss out on really big moments, like I’ve missed family weddings. I missed my little sister’s Holy Communion day, which is a huge thing for us in Ireland, and parties and milestones and things like that, because you can’t just take a day off. You can’t take four days off. The logistics of tour doesn’t work like that. So for me, that’s definitely one of the biggest sacrifices. Then also just sometimes the toll it takes on your body. I don’t think you can kind of put into words sometimes how exhausted, you can feel it. But we have that little dancer instinct, that little energy inside us that’s like, no matter how kind of awful you’re feeling, you know that you can do this.

Brian  

I appreciate you sharing all that insight, because the audience really doesn’t get perspective on that. We go to shows and Riverdance is very high energy, very exciting, and we’re entertained, and we leave feeling very good, and have really no appreciation for your life, for your day or your week. So I love hearing about the highs and hearing the gratitude. I know that you really don’t take it for granted. I think that would be hard to do when you live the highs of the life that you live, getting to travel, getting into amazing places, getting to visit so many amazing places in the locations where you travel, and yet you don’t take that for granted. You have that, that gratitude that’s underneath it all. But it’s wonderful to hear the insight, the behind the scenes, which is really a lot of what we do on this show is go behind the scenes. So I appreciate you sharing that with us. It seems like you’ve been dancing for as long as you’ve been walking, and I know you started competing at a very young age. Your accolades include winning the world championship in your age group at the age of 12, and finishing second in the world championships an impressive six times during your competitive career. When exactly did you start dancing, and how did you discover at such an early age that you were so incredibly talented?

Amy Mae  

I actually started dancing… my mom likes to say 22 months old. So before I was two years old, which is just crazy to think, but it’s like you said, I’m dancing as long as I can walk. My mom was babysitting her niece, my cousin, and she was picking her up from dance class, and basically, I kind of went missing. As a toddler, there was a bit of a panic that happens; where she went, and it was like a busy community center, the car park has lots of cars, people being picked up from football and dance class and all of that. But when they found me, I was in the dance class running around on my tippy toes trying to Irish dance. And from there, I think I went once a week, and then they discovered that there was talent, and then it was three times a week, and then it was every day, and then it was just my whole entire life. But I think the first time my parents would say that they really realized that I did have this innate talent for it, or like a love that meant that I was going to do whatever it takes to be good at it, was when we went to a competition here in Ireland. Basically how Irish dancing works, when you start off, it’s in grades, and they have Irish names. There’s like Bung, Tús, Meánghrád, and to go up a grade, you have to win before you go up the next grade in that specific dance. So as a kid, you’d have a reel, a jig, a hornpipe, a heavy jig. They took me to the competition, and in one day I went up through every single grade and every single dance, I just won everything on the first day that they took me to a competition. I had all these trophies and I think my parents then were just like, oh, god, here we go. I was an only child until I was six years old, so I think they were able to put a lot of time and heart into it, because they could see how much it meant to me. My mom grew up as an Irish dancer. She’s from a family of nine, and they grew up during the troubles here in Northern Ireland, so there wasn’t much money to invest in Irish dancing, or it was very tough to get to Irish dance class. For her, I think, she was a really good Irish dancer and but again, they just couldn’t commit to it. So I think when she saw what it meant to me and I loved it, I think she thought, okay, this is the journey that we’re going to have. I’m going to have it with Amy Mae, and let’s see how it goes. So I think I’ve spent every single minute, nearly of every day, thinking about Irish dancing for as long as I can remember. It’s crazy. It’s my whole… it’s a lot of my identity, and it means the world to me, and I’m very attached to it. I’m very, very lucky that my parents were able to sacrifice so much for me to grow up and push boundaries and try to be the best dancer that I could be, and get to live the life that I’ve got to live. It’s just, it’s extraordinary.

Brian  

I love that you have that for you and for your family. I also love that everybody you touch, everybody who comes to see one of your shows, gets to experience that incredible talent, and it’s really a blessing all the way around. You are a world champion competitive dancer. What I want to ask you about, though, is the six times that you finished runner up, and we can look at that a couple ways. I’ve heard it said that in the Olympics, it’s worse to finish as a silver medalist than it is a bronze medalist, because the silver medalist is so close to the gold medalist; just comes up a little bit short and finishes second, where the bronze medalist is on the podium and generally thinks it’s just great to be there rather than being fourth. I know you’re such an introspective person, and I love your insight on everything that you’ve talked about so far, tell us how that shaped you to be runner up six times, and what that felt like for you.

Amy Mae  

I think now, at 27 years old, I can totally reflect on it and just see it as a complete blessing. There’s so much beauty in being second, and especially for it to happen so often. We were considering the world championships where I got second six times. I was getting second everywhere I went, every single major. Now I’m very lucky that I have won every major at some stage, some of them two times, some of them three times. But I think if you looked at Irish dancing scores from all over the years, I probably got second more than anyone else and it’s a really interesting part of my story, and I’ve come to really love it. I don’t believe I would be in Riverdance or a principal dancer in Riverdance, if I hadn’t got second so many times. Because I think what it was doing to me, I think I was in a very lucky position. I think if you’re always the winner you are so scared of everyone that’s coming behind you, and so there’s this pressure that stunts your growth, because you can’t try anything new. You can’t jump outside of the box too much as a dancer, because make a mistake and someone else can take over. Whereas when you’re sitting there in second a lot, you’re constantly thinking outside the box. What more can we do? What needs to be better? What more can I improve? Let’s go back to the drawing board. So having that  mindset from ten years old, of what else can I do to be better, it just instilled in me this like constant growth mindset. And it came through in academics, it comes through every single day. I think at the time it was so frustrating. The first time I got second in the worlds, I was only ten years old, and we weren’t expecting it, and it was like, oh my god, runner up in the world Irish dance championships, like this is huge. That was in Belfast. I’ll just never forget it. I remember that shock and feeling like I am someone, everyone’s going to know my name in Irish dancing, like it was really special. And then we went to Philadelphia the next year, and that day everyone was like, I think she has it, I think this is her day. Then I was second again, and still, you’re like, oh, it’s twice now, but I remember that time being a little bit more disappointed. You’re like, oh, I really felt like I was close, I had it. You do have to hold back tears because they come very naturally. I mean, I’m an emotional person as well, and you’re watching the scores come out. They come out on this giant board, and as the board comes down, there’s this huge atmosphere. You’re watching these marks come out, and you’re adding them up, and you’re thinking, so close, but I’m second, and you have that little tear. I always remember my mom saying, anyone else wants to be you and anyone else would love to be runner up today. Keep the tears for the bedroom, keep them for the pillow. Then the following year, I won the world championships, which was extraordinary. I just wish I was a little bit older to have fully understood it. I think it came a little bit young for me. I mean, I was doing all the work for it. I worked so hard, but I don’t know if I fully appreciated that. I wish I could remember it more. Then from there, it was a lot of seconds. So to go from winner and then just constantly trying to get it again, it was hard. My dad always talks about when I would phone him and I’d say I got second again, and he’d think, oh, that’s it now, there’s no way she has the strength to come back and keep going. That might be a Sunday night and then Monday he’d come home from work and I’m in the shed, beating the floor. And he always talks about, wow, she won’t stop. And so I feel like my win came then whenever I got into Riverdance, and then all of a sudden I was principal dancer. It was like that wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to win five world championships, or three or ten, like some other people might. I really do think that I was supposed to dance in this role, and that is probably the biggest achievement of my life. But it’s a nice question, I think now I find so much beauty in second, and I think it’s really come through in strange ways. I think I’m very willing to take a back seat for someone else to excel and I love to help them. That’s where I really thrive, is when I’m helping and looking after people and being their coach or being their captain and trying to bring them across the finish line. I think part of that has come from my experience.

Brian  

I was hesitant to even ask you the question, because you’re such a wonderfully positive person, and I know you look at the bright side of everything. I love your perspective, and yet I know that we can learn so much from you coming in second. It also will help our listeners and viewers when they come in second or third or fourth, because we don’t win everything that we compete in, and we’re the sum of our collective experiences, whatever those were. You even went so far as to say you probably wouldn’t be where you are today unless those things had happened. So I love that perspective. I love your growth mindset and your positivity in terms of wanting to be a little older when you won the world championship. I think it’s natural to, later on in life as we mature and get older, reflect and have different thoughts about positive things that happen earlier in our lives and and also negative things. But it’s nice to see your humanity, because I think finishing second for somebody who wants to achieve at a high level, you can’t help in the moment but to be disappointed by that. Yet I love how you’ve used all of those – and you’ve had six of them – to be able to use those as fuel to become the person that you’ve become, who, again, is a pretty special person making a tremendous difference In the world. And so I appreciate that. Amy Mae, you, like most of your team at Riverdance, weren’t even born yet when the stage show of Riverdance opened in Dublin, Ireland in 1995. What’s your earliest memory of Riverdance? You talked earlier about watching it when you were very young, over and over again. What’s your earliest memory of Riverdance, and how old were you when you joined the show?

Amy Mae  

I think my earliest memory is our living room, and the TV with the massive box at the end of it, and the TV was probably smaller than the computer I’m talking to you on right now, it sat on the floor – there was no table, there was no nothing. I just sat on the floor and I had this little baby arm chair with dinosaurs and things on it. And I can just see myself sitting as close to the TV as I can. Riverdance beautifully and magically has other dance styles within the show, but as a little girl, I didn’t have that respect yet, and I just fast forward through them as quick as I could to the Irish dancing parts. So that’s my real memory of it, first memory. But we did go to see it live when I was about seven, and I really struggled to be able to see the stage for the majority of the show, I would be going in around people’s heads and standing up. At the end, my dad just put me on his legs, and I stood up and I got to watch the finale. And you just can’t help but think, like, I want to be there someday. You are almost like, I want to grow up, I want to be old enough to dance like that. Because the competition scene is so different; you go up there and everyone’s watching and everyone’s analyzing you, and they’re pulling you apart. Whereas my experience with the audience with Riverdance is just that they want to love these people. They want to love the show, and they were invested in them, and they were cheering with them. So I just knew that; let’s get through the competition thing so I can do this someday. Then, as you get older it goes into the back of your mind a little bit, because that’s so big being a part of one of the Irish dance shows, the biggest Irish dance show in the world. It can go to the back of your mind a little bit, because you’re trying to win a world championships and you’re trying to do well in what we call our GCSEs and our A levels, which are our exams in school. And so I was very invested in that. Then when I was 18, the Riverdance summer school had just done its previous year, the very first year of the summer school, and a lot of people that were just a little bit older than me came out of that experience auditioned for the show and either got into the show or done the Riverdance Flying Squad, which is if they have a gig in a random place around the world, usually the trip is on tour, so they pull in the Flying Squad dancers, and they get to do these Riverdance performances. And I thought to myself, I’d really like to be a part of the Flying Squad at least, and then maybe I could work my way into the show, and I could do that whilst I’m at university. That was kind of my plan. So I’d done the summer school and auditioned for Riverdance and then a few weeks later, I got my A level results, and my university offers on a Thursday, and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. And then on the Friday, I got the call from Riverdance. I was 18 and they actually spoke to my mom on the phone. They asked my brother, they called our house phone that we don’t have anymore, and they said, oh, can we speak to Siobhan Dolan? It was one of the managers from Riverdance. They said, we know she’s so young, what’s her plan? And my mom said oh, she’s considering University, that is the plan. But I know that this phone call will mean a lot to her. The first tour was in China, which is when you’re 18, you’ve no idea what to expect going to the other side of the world. And I said yes, and that was the beginning of the greatest story ever.

Brian  

And the rest is history. I love that, although I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing you perform live yet, I’ve watched countless videos, and you are absolutely amazing. Your technical proficiency is astounding. But I have to say there are two things that impressed me even more than that. First, you became lead dancer of Riverdance at the age of 19, the youngest ever. And I have to ask you, what is it that you do differently than other dancers, either within or outside Riverdance, that causes you to achieve at such a high level?

Amy Mae  

I think it’s heart. I think it’s passion and love for Irish dancing. I think I’m a deep thinker, I have a lot of empathy as a person and when it comes to dancing that comes through in a way. That I would just think about the show and the role or technique, like you said, that’s even before becoming a lead dancer. I remember being on that first tour and usually it takes maybe, like two, three, four years before someone would be considered to be a lead dancer. Already in my mind, I was thinking, okay, what do I need to do to be good enough for that role in three years time? How do I need to mature? How does my dancing need to be better? What is it that lead dancers do that troop dancers don’t do? And for me, that was the performance element. From a young kid, that was my strength, that was when I went out on stage, I had this beaming smile, because I loved dance and I knew that when you know your strengths, there’s so much power in that. If I know I can really perform, I have to invest time in it and make it better. But I think when it comes down to being able to achieve the things that I have, or being one of the youngest ever lead dancers in the show, it truly comes from that passion and grit and determination. If I want something I will work so hard for it and that’s because I’ve been lucky enough to see what happens when you do. If you are a person that’s worked extremely hard, and you’ve reaped the rewards, then it’s easy for you to try that again. That’s what I try to tell people, just do it once. Just really fully commit to something that you want see what happens, and then you’re willing to do that again. So I think for me, I was able to see that when I invest my heart and soul into something, it can work, and you can get what you want. I think, I have to say as well, my parents, my mom especially, she just really embedded this belief in myself that, yes, Amy Mae, you can do whatever you want. She’d be like, you’re Amy Mae Dolan, you can do whatever your heart desires, and she still does, she’ll still say that to me. I think I’ve just had a really good support system. I’ve had this crazy, naive belief in myself that if you just work hard you can do what you want. It doesn’t always happen right away for me, but then you go back to the drawing board and you try again. I think that’s an important thing for people always to think about with dreams or with plans. There are obstacles and there are twists and turns and there’s turbulence, and you just have to stick with it. You have to choose to stick with it. Hopefully you get to where you need to get, and I think that’s where hopefully the achievements have come from.

Brian  

I love everything that you just said in the last couple minutes, because you’re talking about mindset and the importance of, you mentioned things like, surrounding yourself with success, which is a super important concept that I talk about and write about a lot. You have the fortune to have two amazing parents who really helped instill that mindset in you. And I think there’s something also inside you that gives you that grit and determination and drive, fueled by seeing, as you described it, the results of that hard work and seeing people around you too. You’ve been competing for a very long time, and so you’ve been able to see people around you who maybe have the same level of talent that you do, or very close, but don’t have that grit and determination and drive and naivety; that naive belief that you talked about that you can accomplish great things. I’m sure through the years you’ve seen people get out of dance. There are a lot of – and I talked about this with Sophie Silnicki, the Radio City Rockette – when you grow up dancing, there are hundreds and thousands of other little girls dancing around the world, and only a few of them get to be Radio City Rockettes, only a very small percentage get to be in Riverdance, let alone be a team captain or principal dancer, and it’s not the talent that takes you there, it’s all those other things. It’s that growth mindset, it’s that determination. It’s getting up every day when you don’t feel like getting up and going to work that set you apart from others. You’ve been an elite dancer virtually your whole life, Amy Mae, and you’ve arguably been at the pinnacle of your profession for years now, certainly during your time with Riverdance. How do you stay motivated to train and stay at such a high level year after year after year? One of the things that you mentioned, that I’ve heard other people talk about who are touring performers, is that desire, and it starts with the recognition that when you show up tomorrow night for a show, it’s your 100th time performing the exact same show, but for that audience, for most of those people, it’s maybe the first and only time that they’ll ever see you perform, recognizing that when you go on stage to make sure that you’re bringing your A game every single night. How do you do that night in, night out, week in, week out, year after year?

Amy Mae  

I think it’s actually, it’s nice and simple. One of the things that really keeps me motivated is the fact that I have been here, and I have been great at this, for anyone to see me – not just haunt me, like my peers or the people who inspire to be in the role that I’m in – for them to maybe come and watch a show and think she’s not that great, or she used to be better and or she hasn’t really gotten any better. That really motivates me, that outside factor of… maybe it’s wrong but I want everyone to watch me in a rehearsal room or on stage and think she deserves to be where she is, like she has worked so hard the last eight years. It would be easy for me to achieve being principal dancer and then get to be that dancer for the film show, the 25th anniversary show, and then for me to just kind of like level out, to stay there because, well, I’ve achieved these things; I must be good enough. But I really never wanted that to be the case. I would like to leave the show better than what I was when I was 19. Thankfully, when I watch videos when I was 19, when I was 23, last year when I was 26, I can watch those videos and think, oh yes, I’ve improved. Thank goodness, I’m still improving. So that’s one thing. Secondly, it’s exactly what you said. Audience members buy these tickets like a year in advance, or for some of our audience members still, they bought them before COVID, and now the show is coming back around to dance those canceled shows. They spend a lot of money. They get dressed up, they come out in their groups. They go out for dinner. This is their night out, and they’ve looked forward to this. I have to give them everything I have. And sometimes the sad thing is my 100% or my 150% doesn’t look the same every night. It doesn’t, and that’s something I’ve come to learn. Early in the week on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, my 100% might be right up here. My 100% on a Sunday night will be a little less based on the blisters on my feet or the ache in my calf or my sore knee. That is just part of it but I will be satisfied if I know that I’ve went out there with the intentions of giving them the best show I possibly can. When I feel the cast around me a little bit tired or low in energy, that’s exactly what I’ll say to them. For these audience members, this might be the only time they see the show. It might be their tenth time they’ve seen the show. It has to be better than the last time they’ve seen it, or it has to be so good that they want to come back, because we are part of the legacy, and it’s important that we have so much respect for the show that it continues so someone like my little sister gets to be a part of it someday. I hope it does go on for another 30 years at least, because it’s one of the only places an Irish dancer gets to be a professional dancer, and a lot of Irish dancers deserve to experience that.

Brian  

That’s awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that. I mentioned there were two things to me that were more impressive than your technical ability, and by the way, your ability is extremely impressive. But the second thing that I find really fascinating is that you took on the role of dance captain at the age of 21 and you’ve mentioned that role a couple times already. For our listeners and viewers who don’t know, the role of dance captain is very prestigious and it’s also very demanding, and the skill set required to succeed goes way beyond technical excellence. Tell us more, Amy- Mae, about how you became dance captain and what’s required of you in that role, because that’s very different than even any kind of dance role. It’s a leadership role.

Amy Mae  

Yes, and it’s a role that I love so much, and primarily because of what I’ve learned from it. I did get asked to become a dance captain when I was 21. The reason at that time was we have a Riverdance sister show called Heartbeat of Home, and a huge portion of our cast were going to be a part of Heartbeat of Home. And so those that were left behind with Riverdance, we had to really step up to the plate to this new group that were coming in to make sure that they knew the standard that was needed. Strangely enough, it was a shock at the time they asked me to be dance captain, at the time I thought, I’m not ready for this. This is so much responsibility, and I have so much to learn, because you have to know the show inside out perfectly, because at any given time, five people could be asking me questions. As a 21 year old, I had this pressure that I have to know the answers to everything. Now, with a little bit more experience, I know that I just have to ask the right people who might know the show. It’s important to give a little background. The show is based on height, so there are all different parts of the positions, so you can be a smaller cast member and so you dance a small girl role, and there are tall girl roles, and there are middle girls or small boys, middle boys, tall boys. The show rotates based on the lead dancers, so whoever is the principal dancers that night, the show works around them, so making sure that the height goes from smallest to tallest. And also we run massages during the show. So if someone’s in massage, they can’t be on stage. Massages have to run fairly, so each night different people are in different massages at different times. We rotate the show every single day. It allows a lot of things to happen. It keeps the show extremely fresh, because it’s not the same show every single night, which people might think. It also gives dancers breaks. Not each dancer dances every dance, every single night. One of the roles as a dance captain is to make sure that that’s happening fairly. We have a whole point system, like tick sheets of what dancers on what each night, and the points add up. When someone gets injured, other dancers will take on more points, and then you have to make sure they’re getting more massages. There’s a whole system and that allows the right amount of dancers to be on stage at the right time. However, what can happen is, if someone gets injured, you’re looking around for who knows a tall girl spot, who knows a middle girl spot. I have to know all those spots and figure it out. Back when I was 21 I think it was a lot really fast, but I was thrown into the deep end, and I’d done the best that I could. Then the show came back, everyone came back, all that Heartbeat of Home trip came back into Riverdance. So I had a few years of break where I wasn’t a dance captain, and I think that done me the world of good because I was able to sit back and really learn. It was in 2022 that I really stepped up to the role, that it became my role and it’s just been incredible. You get so attached to the dancers. You’re trying to bring the best out of them. You also get so attached to the show, like, I love the show more now than ever, because I’m watching it every night, and I’m seeing okay, who stood out, who didn’t drop a heel at the right time, who didn’t point their toe in a cut. You’re picking it out, and you’re watching it, and then some nights, it’s just fabulous, and you have so much pride. Then the role is significant, you’re keeping it fair. You’re watching the show, making sure it’s in tip-top shape. You organize and direct all of the rehearsals. You coordinate with the crew, with the massage therapist, with the physio, you LX the show. You look at the lights and see if they’re in the right place. The lessons from it are just unending, I just feel like it set me up to do some really, hopefully exciting roles in the future, because every day there’s just a new question or a new obstacle or a new problem, and sometimes I just have to pretend to know the answer or really look at the team, look at everyone around me, and pick out that person and say, you know the answer to this? Okay, you fix that problem. So I’m very grateful for it. I really, really am.

Brian  

I’m overwhelmed just hearing you talk about the role of dance captain, and really, it’s such tremendous responsibility. I’m wondering how a dancer can also be a dance captain. I mean, even even a troop dancer, let alone a lead dancer, it just seems like there’s so much that goes into that, and debriefing the show afterwards, and pouring into each of the dancers, and the scheduling and the coordination. How do you keep all of that straight, and especially being having been thrown into it as a 21 year old? I know you said that now it’s easier, and you probably develop systems and tools and techniques and maybe you delegate some things, but it really seems overwhelming.

Amy Mae  

It can be. Some days it truly can. You could be the principal dancer that night, and you could have – recently in DC, actually, we had four girls injured at once – to re-stage the show because you can’t… missing four people is a lot in some of the numbers. So there are days where you 100% feel overwhelmed, but what I’ve learned is that if I can keep a really calm face and a calm voice, we get things done, it just always seems to work. The show is a machine, it’s been on the road for 30 years, so it’s been through an awful lot of experiences, so something that we might be experiencing, someone else has probably been there before and has some sort of a solution to it. I have found that just being on stage with the entire cast and figuring things out together, we just seem to get it done, but you do have to rely on certain people. I could be on stage – and this has happened many times, performing the principal role – and I’ll come off, and they’ll say, this person’s injured, they can’t go on to the next number, and you just have to take a deep breath, and you’re like, okay, so who’s free? Who’s off that number? Let’s go. You’re on. Do you know what you have to do? No; okay, who else knows what they have to do? But often, what will happen is someone else already within the team has figured it out, and they’ll come up to me and they’ll say, so this person’s injured, but this person knows it, so they’re going to go on for them. Is that okay? And I’m like, Absolutely. I think trust, trusting the people around you is just huge. If I were a micro-manager in that situation, I would get frustrated and think, how dare they fix that without me? Whereas if you have the trust in your people and know that they have the best interest of the show at heart, then things can get done without you having to do it all. I think just like waking up at the right time, feeling your body, drinking enough water, sticking to your schedule, having to do lists, checking them off, all the things that everyone has to do in their normal life to be successful, that’s what I have to do to get through each day and just make sure that I’m committed and there are no distractions. Any kind of distraction can just set me off course a lot. 

Brian  

As with everything, you have a wonderful outlook, a wonderful way of looking at it. It seemed to me that you’re always smiling, and you have this delightful voice. I can’t imagine your angry voice and your angry look as dance captain, but it’s really a testament to your leadership ability, which is a far different skill than dance ability. As you know, it seems like it’d be tricky to also balance being a peer as a dancer within the cast and also to be a leader and teacher and coach. How do you balance all those roles as dance captain?

Amy Mae  

I think that’s a great question, because I think it is. It’s really hard for both the dance captain and the dancers to have that kind of friendship. What happens there; when you take on this role, there are people who are your closest friends and we are like a huge family. There are 13 girls and 11 boys within the Irish dance cast. We also have flamenco dancers, tap dancers, folk dancers, but the Irish cast form an extremely close bond, because you’re going through some very hard things together, but also incredible moments. Trying to make sure that the friendship doesn’t get hurt is hard, however it does happen. You have to come down hard on people sometimes, and I hate doing it, but when you do it in a way with respect and if it’s fair, if it’s the right thing to do, you have to trust that they will see that someday. I think that was really hard for me at first, because you hear things back like, oh, they were so annoyed with you. You kind of have to put it out because at the end of the day, if you’re doing the right thing, if you’re carrying out your role in the correct way, you have to do it. I think as long as they respect you, you can really try to keep that friendship but also their captain, and you can keep both roles alive. What I try to do is I try to be so fair with everything dance captain related, and I try to work my hardest so that they have trust in me every time I’m on stage. I try to give it everything that I have so when they’re watching in the wings, they think, first of all, okay, she’s leading by example. I want to do what she’s doing. But also that continued respect, because I think if I took my foot off the pedal at any moment, I can’t come up to them and give them notes, because they’re going to say, well, she does this terrible, and she doesn’t try her best. And so it’s just that balance, I think, that’s been the most important thing, always really trying to lead by example, be fair, have that mutual respect and trust. And what I have found, thankfully, is, by being their dance captain, I’ve created even stronger bonds with a lot of them, because they do come to me with things because they’re away from home, and it’s tough, it’s really tough on the road, and we just work through certain things that’s allowed the bond to be stronger. So I hope that answers your question, but that’s my outlook I’ve had on it. It’s been tough, and there have been days where I’ve annoyed a lot of people, and I just have to know that, no, it was for the right reason, and tomorrow they’ll be okay, hopefully.

Brian  

That’s part of leadership. If it were easy, everybody would do it. It seems like you, as with dancing, are an amazingly effective leader, and what you described, modeling the way, setting an example, being fair, really, I think people, I’m guessing almost all the time, understand your heart and what’s at the foundation of everything that you’re doing. I think when people feel that way about leaders, that they truly are trying to do the right thing for everybody, individually and for the organization, that sometimes you have to make tough decisions or make decisions that not everybody agrees with. But if people are looking at it objectively and understand the 360 degree perspective of what goes into that, then I think that helps to get through some of those trying times. Amy Mae, you’re such a positive – I’ve said this over and over again – you’re such a positive, uplifting person, but it’s clear to me that you not only strive for excellence in your own life, but you’re also very committed to helping others maximize their potential and live the life of their dreams, just as you’ve been so fortunate to have done. When did you develop a passion for not only achieving at such a high level yourself, but also for inspiring and motivating others to do the same?

Amy Mae  

I think it came about really naturally. I am a big sister, I have three younger siblings so I think from a very young age I was just always a little bit of a natural leader, I guess you could say, trying to help them out, bring them along the journey. My little sister is 16 years younger than me, the youngest, which is this huge age gap, but I think at 16, I learned so much so quickly. My mom had been really unwell so to have Scarlet come into our lives was this huge joy, and she’s really a miracle, and she’s allowed our family to be even closer and stronger. I think really, it might sound strange to say, but when I think about this growing up, taking on a little bit of a mother role with her – because my mom was unwell – really allowed me to have so much love for that, helping someone, seeing them grow. And during lock-down, I was teaching, homeschooling her, and watching her learn from me; that gives me a lot of satisfaction as well. So I think naturally, very quickly, I realized that I really love helping people, and I love taking care of people, and I think a lot of that has come from being a big sister. I think more professionally only, in the last few years, I have been allowed to teach dancing as well on my downtime. When I go into dance class and I’m working with these kids, and they can’t do something, and they can’t do it, and they can’t do it, and then all of a sudden they can, and you’ve helped them get there, it’s this shared bond that’s just extraordinary, and sometimes I cannot believe that the information that I have in here is able to help someone else. What I’ve realized is that I’ve been so lucky to reach my potential, although I think everyone’s potential is limited. I don’t think we can ever fully get there, but I’ve gotten high enough in terms of my potential that I’ve been allowed to have these incredible opportunities. What I want is for more people to dig deep and to go for it and get to see what it feels like. That self-satisfaction, that sense of belief, that feeling of I’ve done this, or I’m good at this, or I’ve tried so hard, and look at how much better; I really get such energy from that and so I want to do that more. Now I get to mentor dancers and teach dancers, and I want to deliver keynote speeches on things like this, because I feel like I have a huge passion and energy for trying to encourage more people to step out of their comfort zone, push themselves, look after themselves, look after those around you, so that every day you’re just getting a little tiny bit better to, like you said, reach your potential, or even to just feel better. And I love it. I love working, especially with dancers. I mean, that’s what I know and as a dancer for 25 years, I guess I have so much information. I’ve been through so many little things that now I just want to give it back and allow more dancers to have the opportunities that I’ve had.

Brian  

I love that you have so much information that you’ve built up over time, but you also have so much wisdom. I know that the dance community is your place, but everything that you’ve talked about today can be transferred into virtually any profession in any area of life. As you know, that’s what we do on LifeExcellence, is try and uncover the tools and techniques and strategies that our guests use in their specific profession. What we found over time is that those aren’t unique to the Riverdance or to the dance community, that everything that you’ve talked about can be applied by our listeners and viewers, regardless of what they do in life. I love that it’s not a new gift, it’s a gift that you’ve been given, that you are realizing more and more in time after being in a leadership role for a while, that it’s the the gift that you’ve been given, not just your technical dance proficiency or your performance artistry being able to perform as part of Riverdance or becoming a world champion competitive dancer, but also you have the gift of inspiring and motivating and teaching others so that they can become the best version of themselves. The world is the limit; there is no limit in terms of where that can be applied for you. I can’t wait to see what happens with your speaking career and with teaching and coaching and inspiring others to live their best life. Amy Mae, as you know, our show is called LifeExcellence, and I wonder, what does excellence mean to you?

Amy Mae  

I think it’s trying your best every single day to just stay on track. It’s knowing what’s important to you, knowing your values, your beliefs, your goals, and then just every day, choose to do the right thing, choose to be kind, choose to be empathetic and choose to work hard. I think that someone trying to live their most excellent life is just trying to be a good person that works hard and goes after what they want. I think that’s what it means to me, Brian.

Brian  

I love that. That’s very well said, and that’s definitely excellence. Amy Mae, thank you so much for the role that you play in sharing the beauty and electrifying energy of Irish dance with the world. Thank you so much for being on the show. It’s great to see you, and I really appreciate your taking time during your busy schedule to be with us today.

Amy Mae  

Thank you very much for having me, Brian. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Brian  

Thanks for tuning in to LifeExcellence. Please support the show by subscribing, sharing it with others, posting about today’s show with Irish dancer Amy Mae Dolan on social media and leaving a rating and review. You can also learn more about me at BrianBartes.com. Until next time, dream big dreams and make each day your masterpiece.