Images: 
Total Rating: 
****
Opened: 
April 26, 2011
Ended: 
May 8, 2011
Country: 
USA
State: 
California
City: 
Los Angeles
Company/Producers: 
Broadway/L.A. (tour)
Theater Type: 
Regional
Theater: 
Pantages Theater
Theater Address: 
6233 Hollywood Boulevard
Phone: 
800-982-2787
Website: 
broadwayla.org
Running Time: 
2 hrs
Genre: 
Dance
Director: 
Jason Gilkison
Choreographer: 
Jason Gilkison
Review: 

Burn the Floor is aptly titled. Eighteen dancers, split between men and women, make fire with their feet as they interpret in virtuosic fashion such ballroom dances as the foxtrot, quickstep, swing, samba, salsa, rumba, tango, paso doble and Viennese waltz. Each of the dancers is a world-class performer, collectively having won more than a hundred dance titles in such countries as USA, Moldova, Australia, UK, Slovenia and Venezuela. Some of them, notably Anya Garnis, Pasha Kovalev, Robbie Kmetoni, Janette Manra and Karen Hauer, have appeared on "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Dancing With the Stars." Burn the Floor also features two dynamic vocalists, Peter Saul and Vonzell Solomon, second runner-up in the fourth season of "American Idol."

Decked out in an array of spectacular costumes, backed up by taped music tracks and two live percussionists, Joseph Malone and Henry Soriano, the dancers take turns on stage, sometimes dancing in twos and fours, other times solo, then as part of the ensemble. Just about every emotion is explored by these skilled performers -- sex, love, romance, anger, jealousy, joy, sadness. The settings rage from the Savoy and the Latin Quarter to the boudoir and the bull ring. (Kudos to the masterful lighting designer Rick Belzer).

Burn the Floor is directed and choreographed by Jason Gilkison. Gilkison and his dance partner Peta Roby are Australia's most successful dance couple, having won the World, British and International Ballroom Dance championships. Roby is one of the associate producers of the show, which has delighted audiences in thirty countries and comes to Los Angeles on the heels of a highly successful Broadway run.

For two swift, non-stop hours, Burn the Floor wows the audience with some of the most thrilling ballroom dancing ever seen on an American stage.

Cast: 
Anya Garnis, Pasha Kovalev, Kevin Clifton, Santo Costa, Igor Dogoter, Sasha Farber, Natalia Gorshkova, Karen Hauer, Fay Huddleston, Ashleigh Hunter, Robbie Kmetoni, Janette Mankara, Giselle Peacock, Damien Samuel, Aljaz Skorjanec, Emma Slater, Sarah Soriano, Gary Wright, Peter Saul, Vonzell Solomon.
Technical: 
Set: Ray Klausen; Lighting: Rick Belzer; Costumes: Janet Hine (based on the original design by John Van Gastel); Sound: Peter J. Fitzgerald; Production Stage Mgr: Bruce Fossey Bolton; Production Mgr: Peter Fulbright; Music Consultant: Charlie Hull; Creative Consultant: Raj Kapoor.
Critic: 
Willard Manus
Date Reviewed: 
April 2011