Gettin' real with the Gardiner Brothers
These world-renowned Irish dancers talk failure, 2020, and what almost always resolves an argument
This is the second installment of Not Til Now, a series that features never-before-told stories or first-time feats from artists, innovators, or anyone taking creative risks.
If you don’t already follow the Gardiner Brothers (They have over a million followers on all their social media accounts!), I bet you will now. These Denver-born, Ireland-based, world-famous brothers are known for pushing the limits of Irish dance.
Not only are they five-time World Champions who’ve been traveling the globe with Riverdance since 2015, but their innovative videos have garnered over 800 million views on social media and landed collaborations with brands like McDonald’s, Red Bull, and Hugo Boss.
Here’s just one of the many appearances they’ve made on TV:
And here’s my favorite fact about them:
They grew up in the house I live in now.
In fact, the mirrors they used to practice in front of are still in our basement:
And their height markers are still in the garage:
How do I even know this?
Well, my husband grew up in the house next door, and I’m pretty sure his mom was their biggest fan. She would often update us on what Matthew and Michael were up to, thanks to all the updates and new dances on their Facebook page.
Years later (and well after we moved into their old digs), David came across an article about Riverdance’s 25th anniversary show in Denver and how this would be a full-circle experience for the Gardiner boys. He also read that one of biggest things they wanted to do while back in town was see their childhood home.
They probably just planned on circling through the cul de sac and calling it a day, but once I got word of this, I immediately contacted them via their website and totally invited them to come see it.
They showed up the next day.
They only had about 20 minutes to see it before they had to make it back for rehearsals, but what an incredible visit it was for all of us! With their parents in tow as well, the stories and memories were flowing.
And yes, they are kinder than you already think they are. They are humble, modest, and very level-headed, and I’m SO grateful they took some time to share their wisdom, humor, and honesty with us!
Let’s get to it, shall we?
Brit: Tell me about a mess-up moment you guys have had that the public doesn’t know about.
Gardiner Brothers:
We have definitely both come up against our fair few failures or mess-up moments! We would be lying if we said we didn’t. I think everyone experiences these moments in life, but an important thing is to not let it affect you mentally or emotionally too much and to understand that everyone goes through them!
We aren’t made to be perfect, and without these moments, we would never learn right?
One major mess up that we never really speak about is when we were on a national talent show when we were teenagers in Ireland. It was the first time that we had performed as the Gardiner Brothers and the real start of it all for us getting into the performance world after our competitive career was eventually over.
We got through all of the rounds and really impressed the judges and audiences the whole way through the competition and made it to the FINAL! We were so excited and our whole family was there at the final to cheer us on.
We had to perform twice in the final, and we nailed the first piece. However, on our second piece, we had a very risky move where we do the Michael Jackson-style moonwalk, but from either side of the stage and going towards each other (but with our backs facing each other), we couldn’t see each other and the precision required to nail it had to be 100%.
Unfortunately, we didn’t quite nail the move and crashed right into each other which put the ending of our piece off by a couple seconds.
It was so unfortunate, it cost us the winning place!
We couldn’t believe it, but it was a great lesson to learn. We hadn’t practiced that part on the stage before, so even though we had done it 100 times in a studio, the stage was always going to be slightly different. Especially as younger dancers (11 and 14) it was a very important lesson to learn given the world that we were getting into eventually! Always rehearse on the actual stage — exactly how it is going to be during the performance.
It felt awful at the time, but we look back now and laugh. It’s something we have kept with us forever, and we haven’t made the same error again!
B: Do you get nervous, struggle with self-doubt, or compare yourself to others? How do you push through it?
GB:
ALL of the above!! Of course we do. We’re human! However, we have learned to deal with each of the examples you’ve given throughout our career as performers.
Do we get nervous? Definitely. If we didn’t, it would mean to us that we don’t care enough. It is all about channeling those nerves to help you perform to the highest level possible.
Do we struggle with self-doubt? Sometimes. This used to happen a lot more when we were younger, but as we have gotten older, we have slowly stamped that out of our mental routine. It is important to us to remember our accolades and who we are and what we have achieved.
So if we ever do get a feeling of self-doubt, we tell ourselves our achievements and why we have gotten to where we are and that usually helps with any doubts about if or why we belong where we belong.
Do we compare ourselves to others? Again, sometimes! This can come a lot from social media! There are a lot of positives on social media but it comes with its fair share of negatives, too.
One of these negatives is the constant comparison people do with other people’s lives and their skills or abilities. Something we always try to remember is that you don’t see everything that people are going through on social media.
However, in terms of performance or dancing or style, it is good to watch and learn from others but remember to stay true to who you are and know that you are following the right path for you!
B: Do you guys ever argue or disagree?
GB:
The two of us are very, very close! We have a very special bond and are very lucky to have each other for so many reasons. However, we would be lying again if we said we never fought.
Of course, as siblings, we have the odd fight or argument about little things here and there. We seem to have figured out that it is usually because one of us is either tired, hungry or both, and a nice plate of pasta and a good sleep usually fixes it all!
B: Is there anything about your origin story that no one knows about?
GB:
I think the fact that we were born in Denver used to come as a surprise to most, but the fact that we dance for the Nuggets, Broncos, and Avs all the time, it has taken away some of those question marks.
We have told our story in detail a lot since our social media has taken off so we don’t think there’s any juicy stories left unfortunately.
B: How long does it take you to choreograph and perfect your dances?
GB:
Sometimes the choreographic process can take 10 minutes, and sometimes it takes HOURS! This really depends on our mood during the day.
One thing that we are very grateful for is to have each other. Because sometimes one of us has ALL the ideas and we just let them flow, sometimes it’s the other way around and sometimes both of us are bringing ideas to the table.
But it is great to have two sets of eyes on the projects to know that we are getting the best choreography for each project!
B: You guys first went viral in 2012 with your “Smooth Criminal” video, but the pandemic was when you really started showcasing your moves online. Pretty cool silver lining, huh?
GB:
Yes, 2012 was the first time that a video of our dancing really took off.
From then, we always knew that we would or at least could have a social media presence. We wanted to showcase to the world how modern and versatile Irish dancing can be!
The only issue was that we never had the time to do it properly. We would post one or two videos every 6 months but between school, college, and touring with Riverdance, we never had the chance to go at it 100%. That is until the pandemic, when we all had ALL the time in the world!
So you could say that it was definitely a silver lining for us and we were able to make something out of that time!
B: What “firsts” do you have under your belts?
GB:
Yes we have been fortunate to have a few ‘firsts’ on our list. We were the:
First brothers in 40 years to win the World Championships in the same year (2015 in Montreal).
First Irish-dancing influencers.
First Irish dancers to hit 1 million followers on Instagram, Facebook, etc.
First brothers to be leads in Riverdance.
First Irish dancers to do brand collaborations online with McDonalds, HugoBoss, RedBull, etc.
B: What recent things have you done for the first time? Subscriptions for Instagram, I saw? How’s that going? Was that recent “Cha Cha” video the first time you guys showed some hip action? Ha!
GB:
The Instagram subscription thing is definitely a new one for us so we are still exploring that world. We don’t have the stats yet because it’s in its first week but hopefully we will get a few on board at least!
The Cha Cha Reel was one of the first times for the hip action, haha. We have done others in the past but not focused on the cha cha! We love having fun and putting new styles of dance into our videos.
We have a few exciting projects coming up and look forward to a fun St. Patrick’s Day, but we are also going to challenge ourselves to get some new styles of content out in the new year.
We want to diversify our content, so we will see how that goes!
Ah! I just adore these guys and am so grateful they shared some behind-the-scenes goodness with us. To keep up with Matthew and Michael, check out their YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and official website.
Until next time,
I have been following them in TikTok. Their dancing is so attractive!!
Um, this is amazing! I love that they grew up in your house!