Sensational hoofing
Giannandrea Poesio
Tap Dogs Rebooted Sadler's Wells Theatre
If the four weeks of Kirov Ballet left you longing desperately for something different, worry not. Remedy is at hand at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, where the Tap Dogs are back. The moment six pairs of
Blundstone-boots-clad feet appear beneath a half-raised curtain to engage in all sorts of antics, including some funnily ambiguous water squirting, you realise ballet's fairyland is miles away. What you are in for, instead, is a rollercoaster of energetic, sweat-and-sex, hyped-up dance action. The pun-title of the performance, Tap Dogs Rebooted, leaves no doubts about its content. Some of Tap Dogs' familiar and favourite numbers are reproposed amid new ones, in a dazzling crescendo of bravura and spectacle.
But the 'rebooting' process has also affected the company's structure, for this time the sexy guys who have so successfully removed the top hats and tails from tap dancing are joined by equally energetic and equally searing hot girls. The novelty works marvellously well, but only until viewers are confronted with an all too predictable 'boy-tries-to-get-girl' number, It matters little whether the boy manages to get any of the girls (he doesn't, by the way). The déjà-vu number diminishes greatly the significance of a feminine presence within the company, turning the ladies into characters that do not belong in any way to the well-affirmed, rock-housetechno-garage — or whatever else you want to call it — style of the show.
Luckily, the boy-tries-to-get-girl moment is only a brief parenthesis, and has little effect on the riveting game of 'whateveryou-do-I-can -do-better' in which each member of the company launches him/herself. Not to mention the fact that, apart from the superfluous soppy moment, the ladies remain constantly on a par with the guys, contributing greatly to the explosive atmosphere of the whole.
As I have said, old numbers punctuate the show. Yet, even if you think you have seen it all before — and you haven't, for there are some tremendous new bits too — you will still have no reason to complain. The performing skills and the variety of the dancing are such that it is always a pleasure to rediscover some of the company's most successful signature ideas. In addition, the frenziedly inventive, apparently impromptu approach of each dancer makes those features look new. Indeed, nothing is set in stone, as in the case of the opening feet number mentioned above, where the 'dialogue' between each pair of feet now includes a brief, wolf-whistle-provoking promenade of two beautifully arched female feet strapped into luscious stilettos. Similarly, the number in which each dancer taps onto a platform connected to an electric percussion-kit presented, if memory does not fail, considerable variations from the one I saw and reviewed a few years ago.
Indeed, the well-deserved success of Tap Dogs stems from and relies on the unpretentious linearity of the whole performance. Despite the technological and structural complexity of the scenic apparatus, the whole action takes place on what comes across as a fairly simple, never overwhelming set. Not unlike the itinerant performers of the commedia dell'arte tradition, the Tap Dogs create myriad different scenic effects by simply shifting, moving
and re-moving platforms and boards. The dancing, therefore, is never visually hindered and remains throughout the primary component of the whole performance — which is an utter pleasure.
Everything else serves the dancing, whether it be a flashy game of laser lights, a cloud of dry ice or a set of basketballs, around which is constructed one of the most exhilarating numbers of the whole evening. Yet the display of different technical skills is never circus-like — something it could easily become. In all the mad, sensational hoofing, the artistic element is never lost. These are not merely super-talented dancers, they are also, and most of all, excellent multi-talented performers, who maintain their uniquely captivating artistic individuality throughout the most demanding routines. They are also artists who are able to evoke images, emotions and situations with the simplest of gestures or through the immediacy of their dancing. Look, for instance, at the thrilling final number, which conjures up images from the golden days of tap dancing, where staircases and sticks were de rigueur. If you have not bought a ticket yet, do so.
Previous page
