Review: Burn The Floor - The Reunion, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

Burn The Floor The Reunion was the hottest ticket in town and set the stage ablaze with an absolutely scorching two hours of fiery footwork.

The Shrewsbury venue was filled for two performances on Wednesday, and also for Tuesday's dress rehearsal, as dance fans flocked to see their BBC TV Strictly Come Dancing favourites.

A prestigious roll call of past and present Strictly professionals, including no fewer than three glitterball champions, featured among the Burn The Floor alumni in town as the touring stage show celebrates its silver anniversary.

Burn The Floor started in 1997, when 12 young ballroom dancers were asked to provide entertainment at Sir Elton John's lavish 50th birthday celebration. Under the guidance of founder and producer Harley Metcalf, Burn The Floor went on to become a hit stage show which has provided a platform for hundreds of dancers, including scores of Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars pros. It has provided 70 worldwide TV champions.

Sixteen of the very best were in action in Frankwell, including Aljaz Skorjanec, Janette Manrara, Kevin Clifton and his sister Joanne Clifton, Dianne Buswell, Kai Widdington, Luba Mushtuk, Karen Hauer, Robin Windsor, Anya Garnis and Trent Whiddon.

These were the most well known but matching their skills were fellow international dance stars Ash-Leigh Hunter, Gordana Grandosek-Whiddon, Robbie Kmetoni, Arduino Bertoncello and Pasquale La Rocca.

This was a fast-moving, slick and seamless show, as one routine merged into another and the attention was never on one dancer too long, in what felt like a real team effort.

It began with a surprise for the audience with the stars dancing down the theatre’s aisles to reach the stage, roaring into action with a cavalcade of fast and furious choreography.

I have seldom seen so much content squeezed into a two-hour dance show and it is to the credit of director Jason Gilkison that his choreography was thrilling throughout. Perhaps that is not totally surprising as he is also the creative director for TV's Strictly.

The emphasis was on Latin. The Hispanic highlights included a frenetic Magalena batucada routine that brought Rio carnival thrills. Karen Hauer shone with sultry slinky rhumba moves in the Weatherstorm routine and contributed to the precise pasodoble passion the dancers brought to a Spanish-themed segment.

Of course, the show benefited from its own Cuban-American firecracker in Janette Manrara, whose whoops urged on her fellow performers. The faith she placed in husband Aljaz was handsomely displayed by one kamikaze-like leap that would have seen her land in the fourth row of the stalls had his reliable arms not been there to catch her.

Kevin, who like Joanne and Aljaz, is a glitterball champ and now former Strictly pro, displayed enough vitality to solve our nation’s energy problems. Flame-haired Dianne was simply stunning and the elegant Luba managed somehow to be both cool and sultry. New Strictly hero Kai and the ever-popular perma-smiley Aljaz brought the beauty of ballroom as they whirled and twirled their partners around the stage.

The show did use some recorded music but the addition of two live percussionists gave the production extra punch, as did the inclusion of two exceptional vocalists from the Strictly fold, Patrick Smyth and Rietta Austin.

In short, this show proved to be a total dance delight which had the audience out of their seats, dancing and clapping along with the big Ballroom Blitz finale.

Burn The Floor The Reunion is on tour and calls at Birmingham Symphony Hall on Friday, July 22. Watch out, it’s hot stuff.