MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
6 March 2010
HE has spent years touring the world as a top dancer but it could all have been very different.
For Paul Devers - aka Don Dorcha, the evil dark lord in popular show Lord of the Dance - spent much of his early life battling a debilitating hip problem.
Born with Perthes' disease, a condition that causes the hip socket to crumble, he was lined up for a hip replacement at a very early age, an operation that could have consigned his professional dancing career to the dustbin.
"My mum was a typical Irish Catholic and believed that faith would see us through," said Paul, 34, who has recently returned to Edinburgh after living the dancing dream.
"My cousin had the same disease and had a hip replacement but my mum refused the operation, so I spent over a year on a traction bed, strapped down with weights on my legs to strengthen them. When I was about five she decided to enrol me in Irish dancing classes to strengthen my legs further."
It was a fateful decision that would decide the course of his adult life.
Leither Paul, who grew up on Montgomery Street and attended St Mary's Primary and St Thomas's High, was thrown into the world of dance competitions when many of his friends were kicking footballs round the park.
It was a life he was sometimes reluctant to accept.
"I often had to be dragged kicking and screaming to dance classes," he says.
"I did come in for a bit of stick from some of the people at school, but I've always been able to take it on the chin. Most of it was motivated by jealousy.
"I started entering major competitions when I was about 11 and was selected for the World Championships every year."
In 1996, Paul was among the top ten dancers in the world, and the following year he auditioned for Michael Flatley's dance sensation Lord of the Dance at the SECC in Glasgow. He was soon launched into a gruelling rehearsal schedule before being whisked off to the States on tour.
"I'd never lived anywhere other than with my mum so it was pretty exciting," he continues.
"We stayed in Reno to prepare for the production, and then it was off round America and Canada throughout the winter of 1997.
"The following year we took a scaled-down version of the show to Hawaii for the centenary celebrations of Pepsi, where I bumped into loads of famous people.
"Ray Charles said he really enjoyed the music in the show, and I shook the hand of George Bush senior.
"It was the year before his son took power. I didn't speak to him, but I'd have a few things to say to him now. We were also treated to a really intimate gig by The Rolling Stones."
The show toured again in 1998, including a St Patrick's Day show at Radio City Music Hall in New York, attended by, among others, Sinead O'Connor.
One night, a few representatives from MGM Casinos in Las Vegas were in the audience, and quickly signed up the show for a permanent run in the Nevada desert. The show ran for eight years at various Vegas casinos, bringing Paul into contact with many more famous people.
"Shania Twain was one of the nicest people I've ever met," he says. "She loved the Irish dancing and even had a few dancers on stage with her. I also became good friends with the boxer Wayne McCullough. Siegfried & Roy came to see us a few times, and I was told Madonna was in the audience one night.
"But my proudest moment was when Pele came up and asked for my autograph. How about that!
"The Lord of the Dance days were just mental. Michael Flatley's a great guy and he's always been really good to me, and really encouraging. Lord of the Dance became so big that he did end up with a few critics, but I have nothing but affection for him. At its height we were outselling U2 15 to one, and Michael Flatley was making something like GBP 1.6 million a week.
"I never saw anywhere near that but we were very well looked after, and as a result I've had a very good life. I've been able to move my mum to Morningside, and I gave her holidays to the States every year. Every time she came over she would come and see the show every day without fail, and still does when it comes to the Playhouse. She can't get enough of it."
It was a far cry from the GBP 200 a week Paul was making as a teenage tiler in Leith.
He currently runs dance classes at St Columba's Church Hall, in Upper Gray Street. He is also planning a series of Irish dancing workshops at Dancebase in the Grassmarket.
He is also indulging in other passions including playing regular gigs with his band Keava, and spending time with a new love which, he says, "is still in the early stages but going very well".
"This city did so much for me in the early days," says Paul. "Now that I'm getting a wee bit older I think it's time I gave something back by teaching the next generation of dancers."
Paul's dance classes are held every Monday and Thursday from 6-8pm at St Columba's. Call 07929 268 223 for information. Keava are playing at The Ark, Waterloo Place, on 26 March.
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