Let me just say this right off the bat... BURN THE FLOOR is quite possibly the most entertained I have ever been at a dance-centric stage show. From its electric start to its rousingly gangbusters finalé, the show truly lives up to its scorching name. The show is such a ball full of kinetic energy that even as a passively seated—albeit thoroughly entranced—audience member, you can't help but feel like you've just sweated through the most rigorous dance-a-thon in the world.
After a series of performances that set the Pantages in Hollywood ablaze a few months ago, the tour is now calling the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa its temporary dance home for the next two weeks through June 12. As it touts in its marketing subtitle, the show is indeed "Ballroom Reinvented."
Thanks to the on-going pop culture saturation of televised dance competition shows like Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, it seems like, suddenly, even the average joe/jane knows the difference between the Viennese Waltz and the Quickstep. And on BURN THE FLOOR, you get a purposely-amplified sampling of it all... from Swing to the Rumba, from the Foxtrot to the Cha Cha, from Tango to Salsa, all the way to the Paso Doble. All 10 distinct "international" styles of competitive Ballroom dancing are represented here, with music provided by a pair of hardworking live percussionists and two distinct singers that occasionally inter-mingle with the beautifully writhing, superbly-toned bodies of the international cast.
The idea seems simple enough: what if you had a show where the focus is just on the dance sequences? Dance numbers have always been staples of the Broadway musical, where an entire troupe bursts into a seemingly spontaneous flash mob of leaps and bounds, conveying emotions via the art of the dance. Jettisoning a book, BURN THE FLOOR is all about the dance, and, boy, are these guys really, really good at it! Using different "locales," costumes and moods (via lighting and smoke effects), the cast literally glide and stomp through their laundry list of dance styles with purposeful gusto.
Much like the Broadway show that originated it, this tour version features no definitive storyline—just one sensational dance number after another, without a boring vignette in the bunch. There is a subtle, underlying motif that finds the women seemingly always engaged in catfights over the men's lusty affections, but the playfulness of the often wordless repartee supersedes any deep meanings the creators may have set out to include. Set pieces, rather, are loosely grouped in more open-ended themes like "inspirations" and "the latin quarter," allowing for seamless transitions that feel organic. Dances come in pairs and sometimes in ensembles, performed with painstaking expertise by an international cast (England, Australia, Russia, and Venezuela are among the nations represented). When the entire troupe dances in dizzying unison, though—like in the technicolor dream setting of "The Dirty Boogie" or the sexy slow-burn of "Sway"—it is truly a magnificent display of technique and skill. You will constantly find yourself perplexed by how such feats of dance are achieved in such perfect execution.
At the heart of the touring company of BURN THE FLOOR are a couple of Ballroom stars that emerged as standouts during their tenure on the 3rd Season (and the 7th "All Star" Season) of So You Think You Can Dance: the gorgeously bawdy Anya Garnis and the charmingly agile Pasha Kovalev. Though their talents are certainly undeniable, but their inclusion in this kinetic collective places them squarely amongst an even playing field—every single dancer is impressive in their own right. You will truly be in awe as every dancer straddles the fine line between athleticism, eroticism, and pure entertainment.
While the acrobatic syncopation of its up-tempo numbers will no doubt have you at The Edge of your seat, they also allow for moments of pure, ethereal beauty, as seen, for instance, in the breezy splendor of the Viennese Waltz performed during a new haunting rendition of the otherwise cheesy song "Nights In White Satin." The pacing of the dance numbers is wonderfully balanced all throughout with nary a speed-bump.
