Dance to the Music (Tour - Manchester)

Dance to the Music is the new Strictly Come Dancing theatre tour featuring former champions Kara Tointon and her dance partner Artem Chigvinstev alongside professionals Kristina Rihanoff and Robin Windsor. The quartet is joined on stage throughout by the fantastic 15 piece Strictly Band lead by Dave Arch and the four fabulous singers. 

The concept is a good one, however the execution is perhaps a little lacking the promise you would expect. Tointon’s enthusiasm is plain for all to see however her ability to hold her own against the three professionals is very evident and found wanting in places. 

Obviously nervous, she performs amongst other things a fairly lacklustre tango that fails to ignite and during the couple’s famous and much loved piece set to music from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake when a minor mistake is made, Tointon grins throughout this moving and haunting piece of music taking away all the drama and passion that made it a special moment in the television series. It is a shame that she does not exhibit the professionalism that sees the show goes on regardless of a minor mistake that is exaggerated by her response to it.

The major flaw in this production though is the ratio of music to dancing. In Act One there are approximately nine performances by the band and singers without the dancers on stage compare with the roughly five times we see any dancing on stage. As great as the band and singers are it is more sing with the band than dance to the music which is a little disappointing.

There are some strong moments however such as Kristina and Robin’s Rhumba which is a delight to see. Robin Windsor proves himself a very personable character on the microphone and is very engaging with the audience. Act Two sees a better ratio of dancing but there is a reasonable amount of audience participation from people getting to go on stage to asking the audience to stand and dance for the entire disco section in the latter half of the Act in which the dancers remain on stage for only one fo the three songs in this section. 

A fantastic contemporary number by Rihanoff and Windsor shows the quality of the dancing in this production, however this is simply not quite enough of it as this is billed as a dance show. Having recently hosted Flavia and Vincent’s Midnight Tango at the Opera house which was a pure dance piece that showed the audience the delights of tango, this show needs to revisit its format to ensure it does what is says on the ticket and dance to the music. 

It is an enjoyable night out for fans of the show but is lacking somewhat in actual movement.

- Ruth Lovett

(Reviewed at the Manchester Opera House)