CAN it really be 20 years since a troupe of Irish dancers leapt to international acclaim in the interval of the Eurovision Song Contest?

It was spring, 1994, in Dublin, and something called Riverdance was introduced to entertain the audience, and millions of TV viewers, before the Eurovision votes were announced.

No-one remembers who won that year, but everyone remembers Riverdance. The show became a global success and changed Irish dancing forever. “It made it something you could aspire to for a career. That had never happened before,” said Siobhan Manson, who was a little girl going to Irish dance lessons in Galway in 1994. Now she’s one of Riverdance’s lead dancers. “Children in Ireland have always learned Irish dancing - I started when I was four - but now they see us making a living out of it, and travelling the world.

“I rose up through the ranks of competitions and was working in France with a choreographer who’d been in Riverdance. She encouraged me to send in an audition tape.

“The first time I saw Riverdance was on Eurovision when I was nine. The next time I saw it was when I was in it, and had to watch the numbers I was learning!”

Siobhan, who has been with the show since 2004, is in the 20th anniversary tour, which includes a new routine, Anna Livia, inspired by the River Liffey. “The core of the show is the same, but some things have been changed to keep it fresh,” she says. “People now identify Irish dance with Riverdance; in America they say ‘You’re a Riverdancer’. I love that. The music connects people, even after 10 years I still get goosebumps when I hear it.”

Set to Bill Whelan’s haunting score, the show is a celebration of Irish dance and culture, but includes other dance styles, including flamenco, jazz and traditional Russian.

“What sets us apart in Irish dance is it’s so specialised,” said Siobhan. “When I trained as a lead I worked with Russian ballet dancers on upper body movement, that’s something you wouldn’t normally learn as an Irish dancer.”

The 30 dancers have a gruelling schedule, maintaining fitness levels of top athletes. I wince at the memory of a Riverdance documentary showing the dancers plunging their legs into ice buckets backstage. “I love the ice bucket!” grins Siobhan. “We’re so hot when we come off stage, the relief is immense, then it goes numb. Your body gets used to high energy levels and there are injuries, mainly leg and achilles. I’ve got a bad hip from wear and tear. We have physios and massage therapists on tour.”

She said: “Everything revolves around sleep and meals; it’s all about the timing so food is digested before shows, then we re-fuel after each performance because we use up so much energy.”

Siobhan took a break from the show in 2007, to do a degree in History and English. Since re-joining it she has performed around the world, and will transfer to the tour in China after next week’s Bradford run. “Wherever I go I’m with a Riverdance family,” she smiled.

Riverdance is at the Alhambra from Tuesday to Sunday. For tickets, call (01274) 432000.