Rock The Ballet review: Disjointed hip hop classical fusion

Go to Source

 

Like a cross between Men in Motion and The Chippendales, Rasta Thomas’ Bad Boys of Dance troupe aims to reach beyond the traditional audience for dance to get down with da kids.

 

The fusion of classical movement with hip hop and rocking acrobatics may not be wholly original but there is no denying the sustained energy on display.

 

Actually, the Bad Boys of Dance is a bit of a misnomer as the six very buff blokes are joined by a single female, Adrienne Canterna, who surely qualifies as a Bad Girl judging by her stage persona. For much of the show she is the catalyst for a succession of boy v girl dance battles, flinging herself around with professional abandon while taking time out for a sharp solo or an acrobatic duet.

 

But one glance at the song list makes the heart sink. Stuck in a kind of Eighties’ groove with add-ons from different decades, the playlist looks like a mixtape compiled by someone suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder.

 

The inconsistency of juxtaposing The Knack’s My Sharona with The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony or Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock with Beyonce’s version of Fever is painfully evident, especially when many of the tracks (like George Michael’s Faith) are abbreviated down to Listener’s Digest lengths.

 

The opening half is loosely linked by a girl/boy romance which never really convinces as Canterna is pursued, won and lost by one of the boys while the remainder jump and jive around them.

 

Flooded with emotional cliches, it is poorly dressed (polo shirts and chinos should be banned from the stage) and intermittently interesting. Abandoning the idea of concept altogether the second half is marginally better.

 

As the boys tease the largely female audience by removing their vests to flex their pecs, the atmosphere heats up but not in a good way. Although there are signs that the performers are versatile and agile dancers the lack of coherence in the choreographic design serves them poorly.

 

By the time we get to the penultimate and best numbers – David Guetta’s deconstructed version of Sonny Bono’s Shot Me Down and Disclosure’s fab When A Fire Starts to Burn – the show more or less comes together. But it is way too late.

 

I have nothing against mindless entertainment but dis joint is too disjointed for even that guilty pleasure.

 

Rock the Ballet runs at the Peacock Theatre until June 28. Visit sadlerswells.com or call 0844 412 4322 for tickets.

 

Comments are closed.