At the end of 1998 Ilkka saw some videos of Riverdance for the first time. He was very impressed and soon got hooked on Riverdance and started to practise steps of Irish dancing by himself. Because Ilkka didn't have any real dancing shoes, he taped old coins on the soles of his old shoes to get the clicking sound! The first pair of real jig shoes Ilkka got as a Christmas present from his friends, who were dancing on the ship between Finland and Sweden
Ilkka started dancing under supervision in January 1999. First he started breakdance and soon after that tapdance lessons. The following year he also started ballet.
Ilkka started to study dancing by watching Irish dancing on the video. Ever since the summer 2001 he has had private lessons in Dublin, Ireland. Every time he has also been invited by Julian Erskine, the Senior Executive Producer of Riverdance, to visit the offices of Riverdance.
Ilkka hopes to be able to join an Irish dance group one day, especially now, when he moves to Dublin, Ireland, next summer. In future he dreams to become a choreographer and teacher; teaching future Irish dancers in Finland, and having dance group named The Restless Feet. That name is also by now registered for Ilkka.
Ilkka has made choreographies for traditional Irish dances as well as for heavy music. Both styles have been seen in solo performances and also dance plays and shows.
By the way, it's nice to see familiar faces in all different audiences nowadays!
