Former World champion dancer Ceili Moore told David Hennessy about the innovative new Irish dancing show Éireann by A Taste of Ireland ahead of its West End premiere.
The creators of the internationally touring Irish dancing show A Taste of Ireland are coming to London with the bold new reimagining — Éireann by A Taste of Ireland — making its UK premiere this summer with a strictly limited run at the Peacock Theatre from 28–31 August 2025. The London dates follow the Australian company’s Irish launch with dates in Galway and Tralee.
The cast includes 16 world-class dancers and four gifted musicians — including alumni of Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, as well as multiple Irish dancing world champions. Among the dancers are Alliyah O’Hare, a nine times World Champion from Birmingham and Callum O’Neill, a World Champion also from Birmingham.
The show is created and directed by Brent Pace (A Taste of Ireland – Off Broadway, Assoc. Producer This is Not A Happy Room – Off West End) with co-direction from Ceili Moore (World Champion, Riverdance, Lord of the Dance), and musical direction by Charlie Galloway (Talisk).
We spoke to Ceili Moore about the new show.
Did the previous show A Taste of Ireland lead to this new offering?
“Yeah, I think Éireann is definitely an evolution of A Taste of Ireland.
“A Taste of Ireland has certainly developed so much over the years.
“It started as quite a small show back in 2013, did bits and pieces and then in 2019 A Taste of Ireland did its first national Australian tour.
“And from there things have really exploded.
“A few years ago we introduced it to the American audiences and they absolutely loved it.
“We’ve been doing 150 to 200 shows a year ever since in different countries across the globe.
“Irish dancing certainly has evolved over the years.
“Riverdance first popped on our screens 30 years ago now and it has continued to develop but we just felt like it was the time for A Taste of Ireland to take the next step and that’s how we’ve landed here.”
How would you describe the show?
“I think it’s certainly taking A Taste of Ireland and viewing it in a new light.
“The Irish dancing itself in A Taste of Ireland has always been very complex.
“The choreography has always been very interesting, very new, very modern.
“One of the elements that is quite interesting about the show is that the taps in the show are completely live which isn’t always the case in all Irish dancing shows so that’s always been something that’s been quite unique.
“And as we move into Éireann, we kind of take that element of the show and really continue to develop it further.
“There’s going to be a huge amount of new technical elements that have been brought into Éireann that are going to really take Irish dancing, I think, to a new level and have it seen in a new light.
“Éireann is a lot more theatrical.
“I think a lot of Irish dancing shows that you see have a concert vibe where you’ve got performers and the audience sit back and watch whereas I feel like there’s going to be a lot of feeling in this show.
“They’re going to connect with the storytelling, all of the new elements of design are really going to make people feel something and that’s something that was really important to us when telling the story of Ireland: That people not only saw it but they felt it.
“There’s the talent of the performers that we’ve got involved in the show.
“Irish dancing is such an interesting and elite art form and you have to be athletic.
“You have to be incredibly strong.
“These performers train like Olympic athletes and we really have got some of the world’s best not only dancers but performers.
“The calibre of Irish dancers and musicians that we have in the show is next level and I know that talent is just going to be oozing in Éireann and I can’t wait for everyone to see how incredible the performers are.
“Irish people are very charismatic and I think that really comes through in the show.
“The cast members talk to the audience and I think one element, because it is live and the dancing itself is live, we don’t have to do anything a certain way.
“Whatever way the audience goes or the show develops, it really feeds off one another and develops from there which is kind of unique.
“But the Irish really love to have the craic.
“They love to have a lot of fun and the humour that the Irish love and bring to life we try to embody that in the show as well.
“I think Éireann certainly brings that to the table.”
You speak about how the show innovates but you also speak about the tradition. Is that the challenge? To stay true to tradition while innovating?
“Exactly.
“Irish dancing has been loved by millions around the globe especially with Lord of the Dance and Riverdance so you don’t want to take it too far.
“You still need to honour the roots.
“You want to honour the tradition.
“You want to kind of make sure you’re still embodying everything that is so beautiful and special about it but it also is time for it to be taken to new heights and to challenge those thoughts, so getting that balance is certainly difficult but I think it’s something we can do and I really look forward to everyone seeing how we’ve done it in Éireann.”
You mentioned bringing the show to America, what have reactions been?
“I love hearing all the different stories.
“We often come out to the front to sign and meet audience members and stuff like that and whether it be when myself was dancing or whether it be as a producer on the other side, sitting and listening to what people say after the show, it really is incredible to hear the impact that it has on people, I think.
“Everyone loves to go to theatre because it makes you feel something, it makes you forget about the outside world and knowing that we can have such an impact on individuals is really moving for me.
“I absolutely love going to the theatre and we have so many people whether it’s coming just saying they love the show or I have so many people that get quite teary because their mum was from Ireland and they’ve passed away or whatever it may be.
“We hear so many different stories like that and hearing that makes people feel something and their connection to the show and, in turn, to their family.
“Irish heritage is very, very special.
“No matter where we take the show, they really feel something and we often find we might have someone that brings their husband along and they say, ‘Oh, I was not looking forward to it all and this is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I had so much fun. I laughed, I cried, I had all the different emotions’.
“And no matter where we bring the show, that’s the reaction we do get.
“A Taste of Ireland has done a few very short stints in the UK and I have to say they were, without question, some of the best audiences we’ve ever had.
“We had people up on their feet in the middle of the show so we’re really looking forward to bringing Éireann because we know Irish culture is so appreciated in the UK and we just think that they’re going to love what we’ve put together.”
Before that you take it to Ireland, how does that feel?
“It feels fitting that this show will be launching in Ireland.
“Everything about it has so much to do with Ireland and not just because it is an Irish production.
“It tells the story of Ireland whether it be the Vikings, Brian Boru, there’s so many different stories.
“We do the Easter Rising, there’s just so many incredible stories.
“It certainly feels very fitting and it feels like it’s exactly where it should be launching.”
Ceili was lead dancer for A Taste of Ireland when it started. From an Irish dancing family, she followed in her mother’s footsteps by becoming World Champion in 2014 in London. Her brother Jonty has also kept up the family by taking a world title.
“Since I was really little, we were always taught to work hard for anything that you believe in.
“It’s always about pushing the boundaries and always trying to be better in whatever aspect of life that is and I think that kind of embodies what Éireann is.
“It’s about pushing boundaries.
“It’s about continuing to deliver high and world class entertainment while keeping the specialness of Irish dancing.”
You had a tradition of it in your family but were you aware of the effect of Riverdance encouraging a whole generation to dance?
“When I was seven or eight and first competing, we had thousands and thousands of kids at the National Championships and the State championships.
“I remember rocking up to a state championship and there being in excess of 100 kids in my competition so I was certainly at the height of all the people that began Irish dancing.
“And there’s such a wonderful community that we got exposed to.
“Especially being out in Australia, we had a couple of shows come around but when I was younger, that accessibility to Irish dancing wasn’t as common as it is nowadays.
“We didn’t have Tiktok.
“We didn’t have YouTube.
“I think that’s one thing about Irish dancing.
“It’s become a lot more accessible through the years as social media and everything has developed, we’ve got it at the tip of our fingers where we’ve never had that before.
“It’s never really been as mainstream as it is now.
“It’s never really been seen in that light.
“I think COVID kind of did it a favour a little bit because everyone relied on social media and some of those incredible performers and creators really took that opportunity to make it a little bit more wider known and we’re very lucky to be bringing this show in that environment.
“I think people are certainly a lot more open to it.
“I think they have access to it because it is such an incredible art form.
“You have to be as pretty as a ballerina but also as fit as a footballer or an Olympian.
“And then we’re going to tell a story and bring theatre to it and everything while we’re doing it.
“I think it certainly is becoming a lot more mainstream and we hope to continue to bring it to wider audiences and really there’s no better time to do it than now.”
It was in London that Ceili became world champion in 2014.
“I definitely do, especially so many years later, think that the things that I learned along the way are probably far more important than the day that I actually stood at the top of the podium because they’re actually the things that have carried me on in my life.
“It’s the work ethic, the friendships you make, the things you learn along the way.
“Sometimes you have to miss birthday parties but if you want to achieve something, you have to make those sacrifices and you have to work the hardest you can and you have to be humble and you have to be able to pick yourself back up when things don’t quite go to plan.
“It’s actually all those things that have carried me and probably actually now mean more to me than the actual world title does because I wouldn’t be standing where I was today if I hadn’t learned all those lessons.”
After winning your world title you joined the cast of Riverdance. What was it like to dance with Michael Flatley?
“I performed in the back line alongside Michael Flatley in the West End back in 2015 so it’s a bit of a full circle moment to be coming here 10 years later with my own show.
“That was so incredible to be able to dance alongside Flatley and then do the lead role later on with him in some of his last performances.
“We would certainly be hoping to be able to deliver something as special as Michael Flatley himself does.”
With the Taste of Ireland show you also gave back to the community doing outreach work with cancer sufferers, that is important to you, isn’t it?
“It’s always been a really, really important thing to us that we get out into the community in whichever way we can.
“We were very lucky to have a relationship with Camp Quality.
“For many, many years we raised money for them.
“We also gave a lot of free tickets away to the shows to allow them to have a theatrical experience.
“It’s certainly very, very important to us and we have really close relationships with a lot of the local dancing schools.
“We’re doing a lot of meet and greets.
“We’re bringing them into the theatre for the West End run and having them sit in on sound check which is just incredible to be able to provide that experience to the next generation of performers.
“Both me and Brent grew up in Australia where those opportunities were very far and few between.
“We didn’t get to see an Irish dancing show every couple of weeks.
“We just didn’t have that access so it’s really important to us that we kind of widen that opportunity and kind of give people that belief that they too can achieve that even if it’s against the odds.
“It’s very important.”
Are there plans to bring the show back perhaps for a longer run?
“Yes, it’s definitely on the cards.
“I think it’s really important to us to get things right and we don’t want to rush into things.
“And that’s why we’re kind of doing a shorter run and just hitting Ireland and the West End, because it’s really important that we have the time to ensure that this product is exactly what we want it to be.
“But we know the audiences in Ireland and the UK are just going to love it and we definitely will be bringing it back so looking forward to that.”
Éireann by A Taste of Ireland is at Town Hall Theatre in Galway 21 and 22 August, Siamsa Tire- Theatre and Arts Club Tralee, 23 and 24 August and Peacock Theatre, London Thursday 28 August- Sunday 31 August.
For more information and to book, click here.
For booking for London dates, click here.
