Jim Dandy

Kimberley McGee

Friday, March 16, 2001 | 9:19 a.m.

As a boy he endured teasing from classmates, quizzical looks and long hours of Irish-dance practice.

That didn't bother Jim Murrihy.

He knew he was good. But Murrihy says he didn't think his talent for fast-stepping Irish dance would take him from a desk job, as an accountant in Boston, to stages around the world.

Murrihy is the lead dancer in "Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance" production at New York-New York.

After three years on the road performing as a back-up dancer to in the Lord role, he has settled into a routine in his newfound desert home.

The lean Murrihy lives in an apartment in west Las Vegas. He rises at 10 a.m. to work out, lifting weights and swimming laps each day. He rehearses three days a week with the show's cast. He finds his way home after work in the show around 3 a.m. most nights, and fixes a dinner of steak and potatoes traditional Irish fare.

"I'm getting to be a better cook," Murrihy said in an accent laced with an Irish lilt. "That's the good thing."

The dark-haired, brown-eyed dancer counts his lucky stars that his hard work and a simple twist of fate brought him to a Las Vegas stage.

"It's thrilling to be up there," he said. "I would never have thought I could do this, what I love to do, professionally."

Path to glory

At 28 Murrihy is older than most of the previous lords, who typically have quick-stepped the traditional Irish dance onstage while in their early 20s.

Murrihy took a different road to becoming Lord of the dance.

He began dancing at the encouragement of his Irish-born parents, Clare and James Murrihy, who had moved to the United States from Ireland in the late '60s and settled in Connecticut.

He said his parents had no intention of leaving the old country behind entirely.

"We went back to Ireland (each year), and at home we practiced the dances and learned the instruments," Murrihy said. "Family was important and they wanted to make sure that we didn't forget" where they had come from.

At age 3 he was hoofing it with his sister, Eileen, at dance class and showing off at family dinners. His sister was pegged to be the belle of the Irish dance, but Murrihy took to it with an all-fire passion. It was in his blood.

As he grew older, the number of boys in the dance classes began to dwindle.

"They didn't like the teasing," Murrihy said.

But when he was ribbed for his kilt and fancy footwork, he simply shrugged it off.

"It was always fun," Murrihy said. "And the ratio of girls to boys was like 100 to 1. Not bad."

There were no calls for professional Irish dancers, though, in the late '80s. Only the die-hard dancers endured, he said.

"I couldn't have stopped, I didn't want to," Murrihy said.

He continued to compete in and win regional, national and world-championship dance competitions throughout high school and college.

At school, however, he was drawn to the logic of math and the rigid rules of number crunching. After all, he thought, he'd eventually need a career to support a family and his dance hobby.

In 1994 Murrihy graduated from Stonehill College in Boston and became a certified public accountant.

He toiled behind a desk at a firm in Boston for two years, confining his dancing to weekend competitions and volunteer jigs for Irish bands.

Murrihy saw his life stretched out before him in orderly fashion. "I thought I'd get married, have kids, the typical life in Boston," Murrihy said.

Fate had other ideas.

In the early '90s Flatley began hiring dancers for a production. It was a professional job, a dream come true for many Irish dancers worldwide.

Students of Irish dance left their day jobs and college to rehearse and audition for Flatley's group.

Murrihy didn't have to do that.

In 1996 at a world-dancing competition in Ireland, Flatley admired Murrihy's footwork, and tapped him to dance as a dark soldier character in the European tour of "Lord of the Dance."

Murrihy gave the firm in Boston four days notice, and left his job and his family to go dance around the world.

Irish, with flair

For those not familiar with "Lord of the Dance's" plot, the two-act production is based on an ancient Irish tale of the dark Lord Don Dorcha and his warriors, who want to crush the Lord of the Dance, who prevails in battles of dancing skill.

Jim Thomas, company manager for "Lord of the Dance," said Murrihy is a sincere and diligent Lord onstage.

"There're not many people in the world who can do what he does," Thomas said. "His personality comes out onstage. He brings a unique style and he's a consummate professional."

There are three productions of "Lord of the Dance" traveling the world -- the American and European tours, the Las Vegas show and a fourth show performed during the summer at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

Meanwhile traditional Irish step dance is performed at a much slower pace than is exhibited during the "Lord of the Dance" productions, with more concentration on footwork and posture.

Flatley's version of the dance is all about "flash and entertainment. He brought it to a whole new level," Murrihy said. The show features pyrotechnics, dueling electric violins and dancers in Irish-inspired costumes.

The cast members pound the stage for 70 minutes of the 90-minute show, and wear through numerous pairs of shoes each year.

"Without Flatley," Murrihy said, "people wouldn't have heard of Irish dancing."

Under Flatley's steady gaze, Murrihy became a strong dancer worthy of the title of Lord. In September 1999 he debuted at New York-New York to work with dancers and friends he had toured with over the years.

The 40-member "Lord of the Dance" cast at New York-New York is comprised mostly of dancers of Irish descent, with only a handful of American dancers.

"It's quite close, actually," Murrihy said. "There's a bond, working so many years together and so many hours a day."

On Saturday for St. Patrick's Day, the cast will parade through the hotel prior to the 8 p.m. performance.

After the show Murrihy plans to grab a pint of beer and relax with his fellow castmates and his girlfriend, who is flying in from Ireland for the occasion.

"I'm just going to take it easy," Murrihy said.

And what about those boys who snickered at Murrihy's hobby?

"They are kicking themselves," he said.