Imagine Michael Flatley’s “Riverdance,” but with children, teens and twentysomething dancers.

That’s “Celtic Throne: The Royal Journey of Irish Dance” by Armstrong Dance.

“We take inspiration from the ‘Riverdance’ shows, but it’s more modern and has a lot more contemporary elements with more arm movements,” said lead dancer Jude Flurry. “We’ve taken an Irish dance show and modernized and innovated it.”

The show features mostly original music by Brian Byrne, minus a few traditional Irish American songs, and original choreography by Flurry, his sister and his cousin that features Irish dancing set against imagery of Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, the British Empire and the U.S. It’s Wednesday at Pikes Peak Center.

“Power, strength and energy is what we’re getting across to the audience,” Flurry said. “It’s energetic. You can’t dance for more than a minute and a half without being totally exhausted.”

Armstrong Dance, based in Edmond, Okla., consists of 30 dancers ages 5 to 23. Many of them are related. In addition to Flurry’s sister, he also has cousins in the show and his mother is the co-director.

“The family element makes us special,” Flurry said. “Most people have one sibling or a cousin in the show.”

Flurry was 6 when he started dancing, a year or two after his sister started.

“In Oklahoma, Irish dance isn’t that popular,” said the 22-year-old. “Our families started and so many of us did it and it caught on in our little community.”

Flurry and his family moved to the United Kingdom in 2015 where he trained for almost six years under John Carey, one of the world’s most well-known Irish dance teachers, at Carey Academy of Irish Dance in Birmingham. In 2016, he placed third at the World Irish Dance Championships and fifth in 2018. In 202,1 he took home first at the North American Nationals.

In 2020, the dance troupe began to put shows together.

There are a lot of rules to Irish dance, Flurry said, including crossing and turning out your feet and doing specific foot placements. And though competition requires straight arms, the troupe adds upper body movements to spice it up.

“Before the shows I drill the troupe and give corrections,” Flurry said.

“We keep everything tight and precise and drilled. Because there’s so much technique and order and structure to the dance it’s a constant battle of getting a little bit loose, which takes away from the energy we’re trying to get across.”

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