{"id":374046,"date":"2026-01-16T21:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374046\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:57:11","slug":"lord-of-the-dance-tour-could-fall-apart-in-flatleys-absence-court-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374046\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord Of The Dance tour could \u2018fall apart\u2019 in Flatley\u2019s absence, court hears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Upcoming Lord Of The Dance shows are in \u201cgrave danger of falling apart\u201d if Michael Flatley is not permitted to engage with performers, a court in Belfast has heard.<\/p>\n

The Irish traditional dancer and choreographer rose to international prominence performing Riverdance at Eurovision in 1994, before going on to create the stage show The Lord Of The Dance.<\/p>\n

The production\u2019s 30th Anniversary tour is due to play in Dublin\u2019s 3 Arena on February 5, continuing in 2026 in a number of countries including the UK, Germany, Croatia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelUpcoming Lord of the Dance shows are in \u2018grave danger of falling apart\u2019 if Michael Flatley is not permitted to engage with performers, a court in Belfast has heard. Photo: Niall Carson\/PA.<\/p>\n

Switzer Consulting is taking legal action in a civil case against the choreographer and dancer for alleged breach of contract, relating to an agreement the firm says was reached to allow it to run the dance shows.<\/p>\n

Switzer has already secured a temporary injunction to stop Flatley from interfering with the shows.<\/p>\n

The case was mentioned at The Chancery Court in the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast on Friday, during which legal representatives for Flatley responded to an earlier affidavit submitted on behalf of Switzer Consulting.<\/p>\n

Flatley\u2019s Barrister John Coyle, told the court there are shows coming up in two weeks that are in \u201cgrave danger of falling apart\u201d if Flatley can\u2019t speak to the dancers on the tour.<\/p>\n

\"RoyalThe case continues. Photo: Liam McBurney\/PA.<\/p>\n

He said the company is solvent and the \u201ceconomic havoc\u201d the move would inflict on Flatley would be \u201csubstantial\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Coyle went on to tell the judge that unless Flatley can participate in the show, losses will inevitably be incurred because his \u201cartistic direction\u201d is a vital component.<\/p>\n

He also highlighted recent press coverage of the case, producing a copy of a newspaper report, stating its printing would be \u201clibellous\u201d if it was not a court document.<\/p>\n

The judge clarified that the affidavit was presented before the court and is therefore in the public domain, adding that he hadn\u2019t read the piece and the case is not being heard in front of a jury.<\/p>\n

Mr Coyle said Flatley is currently not in the jurisdiction, but an affidavit from him would be submitted by next Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The case is scheduled for another hearing on January 27th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Upcoming Lord Of The Dance shows are in \u201cgrave danger of falling apart\u201d if Michael Flatley is not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-374046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}