The Rhythms of Ireland will bring Irish flair to the central west in October, playing shows in Bathurst, Orange and a swathe of other regional centres.
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This season is part of the 10th anniversary tour, with the show being seen by over two million people worldwide.
Lead dancer Tom Brosnan loves Australia. He toured with the original show in 2009, being called up after the original lead dancer pulled out.
He jumped at the chance to tour on the other side of the world back then, and had no hesitation about signing on again.
“I love the show, and being able to go out and do it again it fantastic,” he said.
Mr Brosnan, originally from Bristol, said the pull was to go somewhere new and fresh.
“The pull was coming to Australia and travelling all through Australia and New Zealand,” he said.
I’d never dreamed of coming out to this part of the world.
“From the small regional towns to the bigger cities, I loved it.
“I loved the regional towns, they were brilliant – everyone was so grateful and we were so grateful for coming out to see us.
“We’d go out to dinner and grab drinks with audience members and it was lovely,” he said.
He says what makes the tour special – aside from the dancing – is bringing the show to towns that normally wouldn’t have a show come through.
Mr Brosnan has been dancing since he was 7, and picked up plenty of accolades while he was young.
“I started when my mum dragged me along to her dancing. I was only a boy and didn’t want to dance, but I fell in love with it,” he said.
“It was very intense, by the age of 12 or 13 I was dancing 30-plus hours a week.”
The practice paid off. At age 12, he’d come second place in the world Irish Dancing championships, and also was part of a team that won five World Championships.
By that stage though, he “wanted a life outside of dancing,” and Mr Brosnan gave the sport up and did something else that involved being light on his feet – playing soccer with the Bristol Rovers.
However, he couldn’t resist dancing’s call, and went back at 16 or 17 for a year.
It was then he got the call to come out to Australia on the tour Rhythms of Ireland, which is proudly all-Irish produced, choreographed and written.
Rhythms of Ireland will play at the Orange Civic Centre on October 13, and will visit the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre on October 14.
