Jazz or improv is one part of the international dance style featured in Burn the Floor, the thrilling show choreographed by Jason Gilkison at the Longacre Theater, running since last August. An ensemble of 24, ballroom competition winners that have been touring since 1999, from Latvia, Russia, Italy, Latin America, Australia, as well as the U.S. let their passions rip in one of the most exhilarating, athletic and breath-taking events I've ever seen on Broadway. Beginning with the cha cha, and moving through the Viennese waltz, foxtrot, rumba, swing, the lindy, and tangoes, this non-stop sexy revue dazzles for its pace, 4-piece band (although some of the music is recorded), and vocalists. The set is a club's dance floor with a disco ball overhead casting its glitzy, syncopated sheen. From number to number, favorites with fringes aswirl, sequins, marabou, and spandex emerge, and fade, to be replaced by new favorites. Peta Murgatroyd, a lithe blond seemed to take the floor most prominently, as in a sequence with six male partners, their pecs bare. For the finale, to the tunes of “Proud Mary” and “Turn the Beat Around,” performers shimmied into the aisle, pelvises gyrating. Dancing hard, sweat flying, they looked like they could go forever.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura