Review: Burn the Floor

Dancing with the Stars Meets Broadway
By Lauren Yarger
It’s Dancing with the Stars meets Broadway as Ricky Rojas and Rebecca Tapia of the famed television show headline a group of 20 dancers performing some of the most unrelenting demanding choreography you’ll see on Broadway this year in Burn the Floor at the Longacre Theatre.

The non-stop nirvana for fans of international style ballroom competition features direction and choreography by Jason Gilkison who intertwines cha-cha, tango, waltz, samba, rumba, quickstep, pop, boogie and, well, just about every form of dance known to man, with the musical renderings of a heavily percussion band conducted by Henry Soriano (set up left and right behind the performers on the stage). Gilkison uses the aisles and incorporates some gasp-inducing lifts and face-almost-touching the stage spins as well as some nice softer visual moments where instrumentalists are silhouetted upstage behind two dancing lovers (Rick Belzer, lighting design), for example.

There’s lots of flash: Janet Hine’s costumes are liberal in their display of sequins and billowing, twirling skirts for the women and a sleek and sexy, often black and white, wardrobe for the men. They are a show in themselves, especially in their detail. Each dress worn by a group of women for a number appears at first glance to be the same, but closer examination reveals subtle changes and detailing to make each frock unique.

That’s where the flash, stops, however, as there is an apparent lack of chemistry between the dancers. They execute their moves well, but the extra sexy quality of ballroom dancing, and particularly a connection between Rojas and Tapia, seems to be missing, despite the show’s mature rating (there is one sort of bondage number, but compared to much of what we’re seeing on theatrical stages these days, it’s pretty tame).

There’s no real plot to this musical – it began as a special request for a party being thrown by Sir Elton John and then someone said, “Hey, this should be a musical,” though some of the numbers do express contained storylines. We’re treated to vocals by Rojas and Tapia. The ensemble dancer teams, worked so hard that the 15-minute intermission hardly seems long enough to replenish the water they must lose in the first half (sweat flies visibly with each turn), boast numerous ballroom dancing credits and awards and come from a myriad of countries, through surprisingly, not from any of the Latin countries associated with many of the dances.

Burn the Floor has been extended through Jan. 6 at the Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th Street, NYC. For tickets, click here (and make sure you indicate that the charity you wish to support is Masterwork Productions by clicking on “religious” and then on our name).

Christians Might also like to know:
• Mature rating (the above-mentioned bondage-themed dance, but again, I’ve seen worse. None of the costumes even qualify for what I would call “scantily clad.” )