In the late 1990s, his fast-dancing feet \u2014 which once held a Guinness World Record \u2014 were insured for some $30 million, according to the BBC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Michael Flatley is retiring; catch his last performances in ‘Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games’<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Flatley retired from dancing in 2016 after a string of injuries. \u201cPeople don’t realize how brutal it actually is,\u201d he told The Washington Post at the time. \u201cI know a lot of professional athletes and we trade horror stories about the legs and the feet and the backs and the necks. And I think I got the worst of it!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
He also hinted at the unique pressure of live shows. \u201cIt’s not like any other art form,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to paint our picture every night \u2014 live \u2014 and it has to be as close to perfect as we can, every night \u2014 live. It’s been a long road.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Last year, the \u201cLord of the Dance\u201d returned to the stage to mark its 25th anniversary \u2014 this time with a new lead dancer \u2014 and donated the proceeds from its opening night performance to support Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The Irish dancer also made his directorial debut with the movie \u201cBlackbird.\u201d The film, which stars Flatley as a troubled ex-spy living in the Caribbean, briefly aired at London’s Raindance Film Festival in 2018 but took years to reach mainstream cinemas. The film was panned by some critics as a vanity project. A headline in Britain’s Guardian newspaper described it as \u201cegosploitation cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Flatley was previously diagnosed with a malignant melanoma in 2003, and has raised money for cancer since.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cI’ve got a lot of miles on me,\u201d he said in a 2022 interview with Britain’s Daily Mail weekend magazine. \u201cI’ve taken a few knocks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comment on this story Comment Irish American dancer Michael Flatley, who shot to global fame for his performances in the \u201cRiverdance\u201d and \u201cLord of the Dance\u201d stage shows, has been diagnosed with an \u201caggressive\u201d form of cancer. The star has undergone surgery and is \u201cin the care of an excellent team of doctors,\u201d a post …<\/p>\n
Michael Flatley, 64, diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ cancer<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMichael Flatley, 64, diagnosed with 'aggressive' cancer - harchi90<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n