{"id":268012,"date":"2026-01-28T08:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T08:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/268012\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T08:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T08:36:11","slug":"firm-barring-michael-flatley-from-lord-of-the-dance-tour-just-a-management-agent-court-hears-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/268012\/","title":{"rendered":"Firm barring Michael Flatley from Lord of the Dance tour just a \u2018management agent\u2019, court hears \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The company which barred Michael Flatley<\/a> from any involvement in The Lord of the Dance tour is \u201cnothing more than a management agent\u201d and should only be entitled to an agent\u2019s fee, the High Court in Belfast has heard.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a barrister for the retired choreographer said newly released documents filed by the company staging the shows, Switzer Consulting, show it had \u201csought to hide\u201d behind an agreement \u201cwhich doesn\u2019t actually give it any rights\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has sought to restate accounts over the weekend to try and render it solvent. It has no employees, it has no assets, it has no money,\u201d David Dunlop said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it is seeking to do is exercise some control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Switzer was granted a temporary injunction barring Mr Flatley from participating in any upcoming productions.<\/p>\n

It is suing the 67-year-old for alleged breach of contract. <\/p>\n

Two years ago, both parties struck a formal service agreement which allowed Switzer to run Lord of the Dance.<\/p>\n

A tour of 30th anniversary shows is to open in Dublin next week and Mr Flatley\u2019s legal team had previously argued it is in \u201cgrave danger\u201d of collapsing in the absence of his artistic direction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Flatley attended the latest hearing, where it emerged he holds a beneficial shareholding in the company<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Flatley leaving the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast on Tuesday after the latest hearing in the case taken by Switzer Consulting, which is suing the choreographer and former dancer for alleged breach of contract relating to an agreement the firm says was reached to allow it to run the Lord of the Dance shows he created. Photo: Claudia Savage\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

The information was provided in a deed of trust document released last week, which his barrister said contained an \u201castonishing provision\u201d that the key detail regarding his shareholding was to remain confidential. <\/p>\n

Mr Dunlop acknowledged that Switzer was entitled to be paid a monthly fee, but argued it should not \u201cdemand and dictate what happens in relation to Lord of the Dance\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSwitzer says that it requires an injunction to stop Mr Flatley exercising any control in circumstances where it is nothing more than a management agent entitled to a fee,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

An undertaking had been made to the company that the \u00a335,000 (\u20ac40,300) monthly fee will be \u201cpaid and held\u201d pending the outcome of the legal case, the court heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIronically, what that means is that Switzer can be paid for doing nothing for the duration of the time until this matter can be properly dealt with by the court,\u201d Mr Dunlop added.<\/p>\n

The court was told that fresh accounts were filed to Companies House by Switzer on Saturday, which showed that the company had net assets of \u00a32.1 million.<\/p>\n

Previous accounts show that it had \u201czero\u201d employees in 2023\/24 and no money, Mr Dunlop claimed.<\/p>\n

Barrister Gary McHugh, acting for Switzer, asked for an adjournment in the case following the submission of a second affidavit by Mr Flatley the previous afternoon.<\/p>\n

There were issues that \u201ctraverse a number of jurisdictions\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

The second affidavit had \u201ccome as a surprise\u201d to Switzer\u2019s legal team, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Emails and bank statements may be produced in reply to Mr Flatley\u2019s new statement, according to Mr McHugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a substantive reply. It raises new issues\u2026 they will speak to the creditability and reliability of certain assertions of Mr Flatley as to how he has managed his finances,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The judge in the case, Mr Justice Simpson, acknowledged there was an urgency to resolve the matter ahead of the opening of the Lord of the Dance show in the 3Arena on February 5th.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever happens, a decision is going to have to made this week, if even it\u2019s ex tempore [oral judgment], rather than a written judgment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The hearing will resume on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The company which barred Michael Flatley from any involvement in The Lord of the Dance tour is \u201cnothing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,2050],"class_list":["post-268012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-michael-flatley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}