Blaze

I took three 15 year old girls to see a dance performance called Blaze and they were completely blown away! It was street dance brought to a professional stage and it was very impressive. Young dancers from all over Europe and the USA, and a creative team with more credentials than you could poke with a body pop.

Director Anthony van Laast has choreographed and directed West End shows from Oliver to Mamma Mia and worked on films like Harry Potter, choreographers Ryan Chappell and Chris Baldock have worked with the likes of Janet Jackson, Kylie, Black Eyed Peas and done ads for Adidas and Nike, set designer Es Devlin designed the set for Lady Ga Ga's Monstor Ball tour and lighting designer Patricj Woodroff has done shows for the Rolling Stones andMichael Jackson. Add to that the video and projection genius of The Mega Super Awesome Visual Company (yes that is their real name) and you have a visual spectacle that beats any video clip or action film you've seen in the last 10 years.

Oh yes, and the dancers....wow. What I loved was the energy and vibrancy that was unashamedly street and young and kick-arse. And I loved that there was a gender neutral style to it all. Of course the guys and the girls had some different moves, some duets, some dance-offs, but across the board they were all equal players. The costumes were gender neutral street wear - baggy pants and tops, peak caps, sometimes tracksuits or black and white suits, but almost no difference between the male and female dancers.

And though were wa a beautiful duet that had a sexual tension, it was more about the discovery of movement and expression than anything contrived.

The audience was predominantly made up of teenagers who cheered and screamed at appropriate moments. Of course when the young male dancers stripped off to swap shirts and expose thier fit young bodies the theatre was filled with young screams of excitment from the girls. Interestingly when two female dancers did the same, with a wink, there was a far more self conscious and brief cry from the boys in the audience. They were happier to cheer for their male counterparts on stage.

And there was even an explicit commentary from the MC in one of the dances, which was a comic piece about food. It began with him saying " you don't need to be skinny to be a model these days. You're sexy if you like you're own body. You can eat what you like. Everyone who likes beef let me hear you scream! Anyone who likes chicken let me hear some noise!" He then begana dance about beef, chicken, broccoli, beans, cellery and had the adolescent crowd giggling and the more politically minded among us smiling quietly.

Really exciting to see street dance and top notch theatre producers collaborate on such a dynamic production and bring young people into the theatres. And really exciting that street culture is so conducive to breaking down gender stereotypes.