Fan’s welcome for honorary Corkman Michael Flatley

Dance superstar Michael Flatley got a Rebel passport and found a new dance partner after meeting one of his biggest fans yesterday.

Mr Flatley, who jetted in to Cork Airport at 11am ahead of the Cork Person of the Year awards ceremony to be made an honorary Cork man, took time out to meet Irish dancer Kerri Hourigan, 14, from Douglas, in the arrivals area.

Kerri, a second-year student at Christ King secondary school, is recovering from spinal surgery and is under doctor’s orders not to dance for six months. She said meeting her hero was the best day of her life.

“I really admire him. He has showed a different side to Irish dance and has been an inspiration to me,” she said.

Mr Flatley paid tribute to her bravery and determination to recover. In the long-term, he said: “Keep dancing. Don’t let anything stand in your way.”

He then hot-footed it to the Rochestown Park Hotel, where Oscar-winning actor and honorary Corkman Jeremy Irons presented him with a Cork passport to honour his role as a global ambassador for the county, and for restoring Castlehyde to its former glory.

“Quite simply, he has been a great ambassador for Cork throughout the world, promoting the county as a good place to live, work, and play, which helps attract inward investment and tourism,” Mr Irons said.

Mr Flatley said he was honoured to have been welcomed by the people of Cork, and Fermoy in particular, as one of their own.

“They have treated us so warmly since the very first day we arrived,” he said.

“I have lived in a lot of places — Beverly Hills, the South of France — but no place has ever been as inspiring to me as walking on the banks of the Blackwater.

“There is something in the land, the air, in the people — there is something very motivational.”

Mr Flatley joins Mr Irons, who jetted in specially for yesterday’s ceremony, and Oscar-winning director and producer David Puttnam and his wife Patsy, on the list of honorary Corkonians.

Mr Flatley continues touring his hit show Lord of the Dance — Dangerous Games in London. The show, his final live tour, arrives at the 3Arena in Dublin in March.