Burn the Floor – “The Reunion”
At The G Live, Guildford, 14th July 2022

Burn the Floor are simply the best ballroom dancers in the world. To get in to the Company, you don’t have to be a National, International, or even a World Champion – but it certainly helps! Many of these dancers have gone on to become stars with “Strictly Come Dancing”, the UK’s most popular TV show. It is these stars who are performing in the current Burn the Floor 25 Year “Reunion” tour. They truly are the “Harlem Globetrotters” of the ballroom world and “Reunion” goes far beyond the traditional boundaries of ballroom dancing.

“Reunion” has two excellent singers plus a drummer and a percussionist, but it is really all about the dancers and the choreography. The dancers are: Aljaz, Dianne, Janette, Joanne, Kai, Karen, Kevin, Luba, Robin, Gordana, Trent, Ash-Leigh, Anya, Robbie, Arduino and Pasquale. The choreographer is Jason Gilkison, who is also the choreographer for “Strictly”. At Guildford, Jason gave a brief introduction to the show. He set up Burn the Floor 25 years ago with his dance partner, Peta Roby, (Jason didn’t mention this but the pair were also World Dance Champions!) so they had 25 years of Burn the Floor’s greatest dance numbers to choose from. The “Reunion” show is the Burn the Floor greatest hits album playing in front of your eyes!

The dancers perform these greatest hits to the fullest. There are no pauses – each number leads into the next with some remarkably quick costume changes. I have been to dance shows where the dancers perform well within themselves as they are often on long and exhausting tours. But not this time. The dancers are tested to their limits and even the girls are ‘glowing’ by the interval. As Jason says in the programme, the dancers leave “their soul on the stage” – or did he mean sole?

All the dance stars are phenomenal and it is impossible to pick out any particular highlights, as the whole show, like any of the best greatest hits albums, is the highlight. For the ballroom purist you have Aljaz dancing with Ash-Leigh and Janette with Robbie. (Janette explained at her own show, “Remembering the Oscars”, that it is the height difference between her and Aljaz that explains their respective partnerships). Karen Hauer performed in a blindfold for an astonishing expression of faith in her dance partners, the Cliftons know how to wow an audience, Dianne is so expressive and Luba is just perfect.

The last two or three numbers were performed to a standing ovation that was incredibly well deserved. The rest of the “Reunion” tour has rightly sold out. “Reunion” should, somehow, become a permanent fixture in a West End Theatre – using whichever Burn the Floor stars are available from their formidable stable of dancers. I would certainly buy a season ticket.

***** 5/5

Rob
Dincwear Dancewear Team