KATHERINE MACALISTER talks to married couple Damien O’Kane and Bernadette Flynn about their 14 years with Michael Flatley’s hit show Lord of the Dance.

If you want to know about commitment and passion then look no further than Bernadette Flynn and Damien O’Kane, the Lord and Lady of the Dance.

Married not only to the job but to each other, these two leads in Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance, have been tapping away with the show for 14 years now, exciting audiences all over the globe with their sell-out performances.

So it must be addictive then for them to still be performing night in, night out?

“It is a bug,” Damien agrees, “but we enjoy performing so much and we just want to entertain the audience.”

Anyone who has seen Lord Of The Dance and been entranced by the rhythm and speed of Irish dancing will understand his sentiments.

“The adrenaline starts every night with the music and you feed off the audience’s reaction,” he adds.

“It spurs you on when you see them dancing in the aisles. But for me it’s all about the performance. And yes, it’s crazy, but the demand is still as high 14 years on.”

So why is Lord Of The Dance such a success then? “Because it’s a series of highs which then reach a climax. And it is exhausting to perform night after night but we are so privileged to be here doing what we love,” he concludes.

His lovely wife Bernadette agrees. “We have performed in some of the most amazing venues in the world. We danced at the Oscars for people like Tom Cruise, and at Madison Square Gardens.

“We have been so lucky, they have been perfect years.”

And to add to the success story the pair managed to sneak off and get married four years ago at a castle in Ireland. “It was quite hard dancing in my wedding dress,” Bernadette laughs, ”but we danced ‘til the end.”

So could the couple survive on tour without each other? “We both say we couldn’t because being on tour can be hard,” Bernadette explains “and it can be a lonely life on your own. We are both in our 30s now and touring is great fun when you are younger, but if it wasn’t for each other I don’t think we’d still be here,” she says.

“But I’ve been dancing since I could walk. It’s very natural for me and I think it’s what I was meant to do. But as we are both the only originals left from the Lord Of The Dance’s conception, we are more like the mum and dad on tour now, or maybe even granny and granddad.”

Lord Of The Dance is at the New Theatre from Tuesday. Call the box office on 0844 8471588.