Dance / Luminous, Burn the Floor. At Canberra Theatre, October 9. Reviewed by SAMARA PURNELL.

Jason Gilkison has done it again! Former Ballroom and Latin World Champion (whose record in Australasia for 17 consecutive winning years still stands), BAFTA award winner and creator of the original Burn the Floor spectacular, premiering in 1999, presents Luminous.

Burn the Floor has become a phenomenon, touring many productions over the years, including to Broadway and West End. And for one night, it was back to entertain Canberra.

The show opens with the international ensemble of world-class dancers performing a lively number, giving way to a James Bond-esque version of Billy Jean, in a routine with costumes of emerald green dresses, tunic tops and black martial arts-style pants. A couple of minor wardrobe issues almost went unnoticed.

The cast is led by the lovable and perennially effervescent Italian Gustavo Viglio (one of several dancers who has appeared on TV’s Dancing with the Stars).

The modestly sized ensemble comprises dancers from across Europe and Australia and this time includes a heavier focus on contemporary dance styles, with 19-year old freestyle dancer Rome Champion fresh off his Red Bull Dance Your Style Australia win and Ollie Pearce with a background in commercial and contemporary dance included in the cast, as well as showcasing ballet dancer and former winner of So You think You Can Dance, Talia Fowler.

From sorbet-coloured, short, fringed costumes to the loose pants and long dresses of a Hollywood-inspired sequence, featuring the stock blonde bombshell, this cast shimmies, pops, jives and waltzes its way through the show with unwavering energy and enthusiasm.

Two incredible musicians – Tyler Azzopardi and Carlos C Major – provide live singing and music. Both have fantastic voices and casually move between guitar, drums and percussion. They are given plenty of the limelight and interact with the dancers. The female singer was unwell and unable to perform. The live music blends seamlessly with recorded music, at times indistinguishable as to which is which. The volume teetered on the brink between party atmosphere and too loud.

Latin staples of Sway and Proud Mary (performed in the original Burn the Floor), give nods to past shows but this time contemporary hits feature: Despacito, Red Right Hand, House of the Rising Sun, Back to Black and Fix You are all covered with impressive style.

The featured dance sequence was Romeo and Juliet. Spanning several songs and styles, including music from Moulin Rouge and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, this dialled the drama up to maximum. The Capulet men looked insane in their black and red costumes and with red fans and striking dancing, they tore up the stage.

While tango, jive, rumba, waltz, Viennese waltz were all clearly present and remain the basis and focus of the show, the distinct Latin and ballroom dances and the exquisite execution of the fundamental steps that has been present in previous iterations of Burn the Floor were less obvious this time, especially to those less familiar with each style.

Instead there were more ensemble numbers, contemporary and hip-hop styles, capitalising on the specialised skills of the cast. French dancer Ana Riera was also particularly alluring throughout the show.

The latter part of the show when the heavy samba beat of the traditional, instantly-recognisable Magalenha dropped was when the audience really came to life.

The talent, energy, training, fitness and prowess of all the dancers, musicians and creatives is undeniable and powerful but the slow build of tension, emotion, chemistry, flow and appreciation for the pure artform is lost in the lack of focused and specialised partnered dances and more generalised choreography of the ensemble numbers.

Luminous is modernised for a new audience and will give devotees a decent fix, but it leaves a yearning for the heights of past productions.

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