Ballroom Dancing to Heat Up Seoul
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Hot and sexy ballroom dancers will burn up Seoul's stage this month. After wowing Korean audiences with its dynamic ballroom dance show last year, the Australian dance production ``Burn the Floor'' returns with the all-new ``FloorPlay.''
Described as ``ballroom dancing for the new millennium,'' ``FloorPlay'' promises to present sizzling dance numbers such as the salsa, waltz, rhumba, tango, samba and jitterbug.
Harley Medcalf, the show's producer, said ``FloorPlay'' takes ballroom dancing to a new level, incorporating all the lessons they learned from staging the first ``Burn the Floor'' production. The show started in 1999 and has been seen by three million people in 93 cities.
``Since the first show, we always looked at our performances, and looked at ways to improve. After five years, we felt it was time to take everything we learned from music, fabric, color, and choreography and put those lessons into a new feeling and make it more expressive. I feel we reinvented ourselves,'' he said, during a recent press conference at the Seoul Plaza Hotel.
``FloorPlay'' is directed and choreographed by artistic director Jason Gilkinson. ``The show demonstrates the true essence of ballroom dancing: the beauty of the man leading the woman on the dance floor. ... We take you now to see it as an art form. I do the rhumba and I dance with five men blindfolded to show how sexy and raw the art form has become today,'' dancer Jessica Raffa said.
It features 22 award-winning dancers, two lead vocalists and two percussionists from Sweden, Germany, Finland, UK, Ireland, Slovenia and Australia. Most of the dancers in the cast have actually competed against each other in dance competitions.
Husband-and-wife team Damon and Rebecca Sugden have been with ``Burn the Floor'' since it started in 1999. In an interview with the Korea Times, the Sudgens recounted how they met as young dancers, became a couple on the dance floor and off, and how they joined the show
``We all come from a competitive background in dance sports. We used to compete against each other. ... Now, we are working as a team. We are part of this big happy dancing family,'' he said.
Both Damon and Rebecca are very enthusiastic about the show, and are heartened with the reception they have received from the audiences around the world, especially in Asia.
``Last year in Korea, we got a great response from the audience. We have toured in Japan, Beijing and Shanghai, where we had audiences mobbing the stage and holding up signs. It was so exciting for us to have audiences feel the passion as much as we do. Obviously, this is our life. It gives us great joy to have people from all over the world, enjoy it as much,'' she said.
During the press showcase, the cast performed lively swing dance ``Sing Sing Sing''; a classic foxtrot ``Tonight'' from West Side Story; and a wildly energetic ``Proud Mary.'' Judging from the short performances, critics are right in praising the show as one of the hottest dance shows anywhere.
Medcalf, who has worked on concert tours for Elton John, Queen, Rod Stewart and Michael Crawford in the past, said he is particularly proud of the Burn the Floor production and cast.
``The difference for me is I never fell in love with Elton John or Michael Crawford, but I fell in love with these dancers and the show. That's what sets it apart, the storyline, which is about heart and passion. ... there will always be a 'Burn the Floor.' Certainly, this current version will evolve and grow like our first version of the show evolved and grew,'' he said.
A unique feature of ``Burn the Floor'' is the level of audience interaction. The cast promises to have the audience dancing in the aisles by the end of the night, with a few surprises along the way.
``The show is all about the audience. It is not about the dances but it is about involving your audience and feeding off the energy of the audience,'' Medcalf said.
``Burn the Floor 2: FloorPlay'' will run from Oct. 17-27 at the Sejong Center. There are no performances on Monday. VIP tickets are 150,000 won, while other tickets cost 100,000 won, 80,000 won and 40,000 won. For more information, check www.seoularts.com or call (02) 548-4480.