Spirit of the Dance

Love the dance, pretty much all of it.

Spirit of the Dance, a touring company loosely patterned after Lord of the Dance, played a long weekend at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts. I thought it was sensational!

Full speed and great young dancers who looked like they enjoyed performing, outstanding costumes, no intermission and they started on time. Hallelujah!

The Irish step dancing that thrilled the world has been a wonderful inspiration for many touring and competing dance troops and this was one of them. It's not a game for the young especially at this pace and doing two shows a day, but then it is great to be young and these 22 couples and 2 leads were. A gremlinish violin player with way too much enthusiasm won me over with the bridges between segments, he brought some needed continuity and he wove in with the canned music. I guess we never will see the live orchestra again but the memory was there on the same stage a decade ago with the Bolshoi and the Moscow Orchestra.

This started out with the familiar line of tap dancers and that theme played in and out of the 88 minute show. There were some other good segments like the can-can, cowboys, challenge and Bob Fosse's traditional "hands on" with the 22 sitting on the stage and doing hand movements. This was the closer and it was strong, I just kept looking for the intermission and this was so nice to get my 88 minutes of full speed dance and hit the road.

The show had some outstanding talent and it was evident that this was not thrown together last week. It was wonderfully choreographed with timely music and world-class talent. The back stage area must have been a trip in itself, given the numerous costume changes (which were quick and well done). The whole thing was a treat and brought me back to see it again. The old Aladdin theatre, with its size and large stage, is the perfect venue for this type of show.

There was a decent crowd on Friday with two big levels and with the thousands of seats this place can look empty. There is more to come soon with The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (starring Ann-Margret), Rent, Guys and Dolls (with Maurice Hines as Nathan Detroit) and then in October, Blast.

My grade on this show: boy it was a perfect A+ 101 over the top, that's my opinion but its my column. Sammy Davis Jr. is still the standard that all shows are judged by.