Rock the Ballet @ Assembly Hall

Show offs' Show Time

Feature by Clare Sinclair | 11 Aug 2011

The idea of men and ballet has always been controversial: Billy Elliot is one of the higher profile explorations of this theme where the stereotypes are turned on their head. Rasta Thomas has flipped the idea in another way with his Bad Boys of Dance, performing Rock the Ballet.

Six ‘bad boys’ and one ‘pretty girl’ perform to a combination of Michael Jackson medleys, U2 and the Black Eyed Peas mixing ballet and gymnastics with hip-hop and tap. The result is a high-energy hour full of iconic dance moves and music.

There can be no denying that Rock the Ballet is a crowd-pleaser – the use of popular music kicks things off and the dancers all perform with exceptional talent and enthusiasm. But there is the reminder of peacocks strutting in the way the men perform to the – predominantly female – crowd.

Cheeky winks and provocative peeling of layers of clothes until topless indicate that the choreography has been designed with an acute awareness of the appeal these men will have to the audience – an idea further cemented as they play out the final encore to Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy, shirts peeled off once more. Satirising themselves? Perhaps. Too peacock-like? Definitely.

Assembly Hall 4-7, 9-14, 16-21, 23-28 August, 6pm

http://www.rastathomas.com/