BALLET REVOLUCION

This was the second visit to Australia of this Cuban dance company who originally toured in 2011. If you like Glee and TV dance programs, then you will be enthralled by the pyrotechnics of a show that fused classical with hip-hop, rap and other contemporary styles.

On the surface Ballet Revolucion was a dazzling display of dance, but underneath the technical skill there was no soul, and if Latin dance has anything, it’s soul. The choreography rarely rose above that of a pop music video. Not surprising as it was performed to a selection of pop hits by Ricky Martin, Usher, Beyonce, Prince and others. It was athletic, energetic, masculine (the girl’s moves were indistinguishable from the guys) and technically it was superb, but unfortunately there was no heart. Nothing built to a climax, it just went on and on and on with the same or similar dance moves repeated endlessly.

The tango, which was created in Buenos Aires early last century, is known for being a dance of love. In this show it was stripped of its sensuousness and there was no passion. Likewise Concierto De Aranjuez, which was supposed to represent on one side of the stage the beginning of a love affair and on the other the ending of it, lacked the most important ingredient - sex. The dancers might have shown plenty of flesh but any passion was absent.

Despite that, the audience were astonished time and again by the dancers’ technique and by the live on-stage band which sizzled. Particularly thrilling was the unbelievable conga work of Luis Palacios Galvez and the trumpet of Thommy Garcia Rojas.

Peter Pinne