Ablaze!

When I found out about "Burn the Floor" coming to the Pantages Theater, I immediately used the promo code to obtain my ticket. Three months later, I was rewarded with a spectacularly entertaining, mesmerizing, and impressive show that celebrated music, dance, artistry, and the wonders of the human body in the performing arts.

Shortly before the show started, one of the ushers informed me that I have the choice to move to a closer location from my original seat, given that the mezzanine section was hardly filled. I was pleased with my choice of a center-stage vantage point that was comfortable enough for my enjoyment.

Watching the show reminded me of a long-ago time when I took dance classes in ballroom, swing, and Latin. I remembered how liberating and invigorating it felt, with a focus "in the moment" that was especially validating.

Words can not do justice to the actual experience of witnessing the show's live performance. I liked the infectious, high-energy, athletic expressiveness of the faster beats that alternated with the slower, quieter, and more intimate interludes of the waltz and rumba, exemplified in Pastorale and the hauntingly lyrical and intense Burn for You. The vocalists (Peter Saul & Vonzell Solomon) enhanced the texture and drama of the experience, and the percussionists (Joseph Malone & Henry Soriano) awakened the beating of your heart and impulse to move.

All of the dancers showcased their talent and professional experience that left me gaping in awe and admiration. Dancing, performing, and touring may be their livelihood but in its essence, they share the generosity of their heart and energy to entertain and inspire.

"Burn the Floor" is a show that figuratively melts the stage, but it is also a hearth that forges the spirit and mind towards nostalgia, and perhaps new actions to experience once again (or for the first time) the magic of dance.
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Show description from Broadwayla.org


The international dance sensation BURN THE FLOOR visits the Pantages Theatre direct from its record-breaking run on Broadway! You've seen Ballroom dance on shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance." Now, with Burn the Floor, you will feel, live on stage, all the passion, the drama and the sizzling excitement of 20 gorgeous champion dancers, in a true theatrical experience, a performance with a grace and athleticism that The New York Times calls, "Dazzling!"

From Harlem's hot nights at The Savoy, where dances such as the Lindy, Foxtrot and Charleston were born, to the Latin Quarter where the Cha-Cha, Rumba and Salsa steamed up the stage, Burn the Floor takes audiences on a journey through the passionate drama of dance. The elegance of the Viennese Waltz, the exuberance of the Jive, the intensity of the Paso Doble - audiences will experience them all, as well as the Tango, Samba, Mambo, Quickstep and Swing.

Burn the Floor - it's Ballroom. Reinvented.