Dance of Love: Bernadette Flynn Tribute Video

Bernadette Flynn is one of the most prominent names in the world of Irish dance. If you factor in all her performances over the decades -- live, TV, home video, and cinema -- it can be reasonably argued that she has been seen by more people than any other female Irish dancer in the world. Bernadette also faced some unique challenges. Until Lord of the Dance, there was no such thing as an #IrishDance drama. She was cast as Saoirse, but what does it mean to be the “good girl“ in an Irish dance show? Where are the performance boundaries on being too strong, too coquettish, too austere? There was no one to study; she had to define the role purely based on Michael Flatley’s direction and her own intuition as a performer. The second major challenge is that Bernadette had to hold her own onstage with Michael himself. Stolen Kiss is one of the most iconic numbers in the 24-year history of the show; the audience has to be swept up in the emotion of the number, and that requires Irish dancer