Riverdance, the Irish hard-shoe sensation that took PBS viewers by storm, underwent its second incarnation with Live from New York City, a 1996 performance filmed at Radio City Music Hall. While most of the attributes from 1995’s Riverdance: The Show remain–the dazzling ensemble choreography, Bill Whelan’s energetic score, and the New Age-y view of Celtic mythology–the most significant difference is at the top, where Colin Dunne replaced bombastic lead dancer Michael Flatley. Though lacking Flatley’s bravura, Dunne is a superb technician who works well with Flatley’s former co-lead, Jean Butler. Flamenco dancer Maria Pagis returns, as do the Riverdance Singers (formerly known as Anuna) with soloist Katie McMahon and the orchestra with fiery fiddler Eileen Ivers.

Formally intervening with found footage of commercials, this experimental video allows one to rethink image while creating narrative which discovers one of many skillfully covered senses of media images. As the title suggests this video performs Lacan’s opinion that in contemporary capitalism ‘surplus value’ is no longer capitalized for later libidinal enjoyment – nowadays surplus value is re-invested in production process.