At age 20 Gillian has been dancing for 10 years, she started at age 10. She is the daughter of Desmond and Mary Norris, her dad is a carpenter and a well know tenor locally. Her mother is a former Irish dancer. She is the youngest in her family. She has three brothers, Michael, Steven, and PJ. She also has two sisters Annie Marie and Claire. She has taken irish dancing at Higgins school of Irish Dance. She was tought by Phil and Mary Higgins. She is from Kilmathomas, country Waterford, she plays Bernadette's rival (the good girl : ) Gillian has said that Bernadette is a comical romp to be around! Morrighan, the temptress. She still has trouble believing the incredible journey that has become her life for the past few months.
she has already won All-Ireland, Great Britian Nationals and third place in the World championships. Lord of the dance is Gillian's debut in performance in a show."Being New York was n abosolute dream come true, I always wanted to go there, but I never dreamed so soon. My family saw me onstage when we were prefroming in Dublin, and my mother came to see the opening noght in Radio city music hall. Thay were delighted to see me up there!" she says.
Gillian describes dancing with Michael Flatley as " An experience of a lifetime" and adds " he has such charisma, he's tremendous to dance with. Bernadette's a comical romp to work with also." "The music is so fast and wild and the dancing is so different then I did in competions that was very automatic but this is free and expresive. Everyday you learn new things to do with your hands and such."
Gillian loves chocolate and eats it when ever she can get her hands on it. Once Arleen said that she had to hide the chocolate just so Gillian wouldn't eat it all : ) This info is from a friend who got to meet Gillian David Allen(below)
Gillian was very much the Tomboy growing up. She liked to play soccer and some other Irish games I didn't understand. Her mum signed her up for dance classes - a 6:00 class after school. She would manage to miss her ride home and such to avoid going to class. Finally they put her in a later class where she would have no excuse. "But mum, I don't like it!" was her response (in that beautiful accent, adding a "little girl lost" flair that goes straight to the heart). Finally the class started a new dance number that she was interested in and she went more regularly.
After some discussion on the type of padding they have in the hard shoes (there is none) she commented that some of the dancers develop foot problems and disfigured feet from the shoes, but that her feet are perfect. She demonstrated a few dance steps for me, also. She's really excited about being in Troupe 2 and quickly pointed out John Carey who will be the lead in T2. Though Gillian was in Troupe 2 for almost a year she is back in troupe one where Damien O'Kain is the Lord of the Dance.
Her mother was a dancer and her father plays accordian and sings. All her aunts and uncles are talented in similar ways, too!
It wasn't easy to audition for the show, however, Gillian recalls the confusuion of the trained Iriish dancers who were asked to abandon their rigid arms at the side & dance more freely. " At audtions we were told to dance 8 bars and move our hands however we wanted to,instead of holding them at our sides, Everyone's reaction to this was kind of a puzzled sorry? We just didn't know what to do." Her next step? "It depends on how this show goes" says Gillian " but I think I'll be doing this for a long while." During one of the Phoenix shows she injured her back and was out for a week, but is back now. If you have any info on Gillian please send it I would love to hear it I'll never shun a comment : )