Marvelous feet

A muscular young Chinese dancer mixed Irish tap dance with martial arts. Another young Chinese dancer, who drove to Beijing from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, wore a beautiful ethnic costume and did the same step like Flatley did in his shows.

"It was the same sounds he produced with his feet, but his moves were totally different from mine," says Flatley.

"He told me that he was a self-taught dancer, and that he spent months learning Irish dance by watching my videos. I started crying because I was so touched by the passion. I knew that he would be successful one day."

Though Flatley lost contact with the two Chinese dancers, he is aware that there are a great number of gifted dancers in China.

"Someday, it would be great to have a dance group full of Chinese dancers," he says.

Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games premiered at the celebrated Palladium Theatre on London's West End in 2014. And, in 2015, Flatley realized his dream by making his Broadway debut with Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games at the Lyric Theater.

With Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, Flatley broke the mold of traditional Irish dancing by incorporating upper body movement and creating edgy rhythm patterns that departed from tradition.

"The Irish are passionate and full of expression. And the core value behind Irish dance is discipline. So, by making those changes to traditional Irish dance, I wanted to make shows that grabbed the audience's attention and got them involved," says Flatley.

Born in 1958 to Irish immigrants in the United States, Flatley enrolled at an Irish dance school in Chicago at age 11. His mother and grandmother were both prize-winning dancers.

At 17, he became the first American citizen to win the Irish Dancing World Championships. And, besides dancing, he was a flautist, winning the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil Concert Flute competitions and releasing two albums.

In 1998, Flatley beat his first Guinness World Record of 28 taps per second set in 1989 with 35 taps per second.

And, on March 17, 2016, Flatley embarked on his final tour and performed on stage for the last time with Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games, at Caesar's Colosseum in Las Vegas.

"I had given so much of myself to my career. I was ready to retire," he adds.

Now, the dancer-choreographer focuses on bringing young stars into the spotlight. And he has also made his debut as actor, director and scriptwriter, in his first Hollywood movie, a romantic thriller, Blackbird, which was shot in Ireland, London and Barbados and is due to be released next fall.

On April 23, Flatley showed up at the Beijing Dance Academy with his dancers to interact with students majoring in Chinese folk dance.

Speaking about the experience of meeting Flatley and his team, 20-year-old student Zhang Han from the academy, says: "I couldn't help tapping the floor when I saw the Irish dancers perform. Though we are dealing with two different dance languages, they are both emotional and powerful."

As for Flatley's observations, he says: "I am very impressed and I see the passion of these students. I am inspired by the performance of the folk dancers, and I want to come back to the school to create something beautiful with the dancers."

Flatley has been made an honorary professor by Guo Lei, the president of Beijing Dance Academy.