The tight whirl of ballroom dance is about to be turned on its head. Next month, Burn the Floor infuses the traditional beats of Latin dance with energy - and acres of bare flesh - over three nights at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The 70-minute show also portrays the evolution of Latin dance from its bordello origins in South America, through the stuffed shirts and cheesy grins of the 1970s, to the global recreation it is today.
The show is performed by a 20-strong cast from Australia, Ireland, Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and the US, some of whom are world champions or performed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Burn the Floor executive producer Nic Notley says the show highlights the sensuality of Latin dance, although he admits it has had an image problem. He says he still finds it hard to convince people to watch the Australia-based troupe he has managed for the past 18 months. They will visit Hong Kong at the start of a 42-week world tour.
'For the Perth opening night, I gave 20 tickets to my mates and only two turned up,' he says. 'The guys [who] turned up couldn't believe it. When the guys [who] hadn't gone found out how good it was and asked me for more tickets I told them to p*** off.' Notley says, quickly, that his decision was driven by demand for seats - but not without a little malice.
Burn the Floor promises its audiences an eyeful, with bare-chested, toned men gyrating, jitterbugging and jiving with lean, scantily clad women through about two-dozen scenes evoking the pulse of early samba, the flirt of the rumba, the romance of the waltz and the rhythm of 1920s Harlem.
Topping the bill are Sasha Farber, Giselle Peacock, Damien Whitewood and Sarah West, plus husband-and-wife team Damon and Rebecca Sugden.
'It's a wild ride of energy and surprises,' says Damon Sugden, 30. 'Your perceptions of ballroom dancing get blown away.'
