J o e   B l o g

Review: Simply Ballroom

Author: Moira de Swardt, 2 October 2006

What a glamorous and sparkling evening's entertainment "Simply Ballroom" provides! It's upbeat, classy, sensual, romantic and thoroughly enjoyable. If I remember correctly, ballroom dancing is South Africa's most widely practiced (as opposed to watched) sport. It's easy to see the attraction in this production now on at the Main Theatre, Civic Theatre Complex.

The special guest host is our own Ian von Memerty, and from the moment he sets foot on stage the audience loves him, responding well to his particular brand of humour, mostly off the cuff, and his classy song and dance routines. He leads us along through the evening with charm and ease, and we follow where he leads as good dance partners should. He very briefly outlines some of the points of ballroom and Latin dancing for those of us who are clueless, and introduces us to some, not all, of the couples who move around the stage so effortlessly and gracefully. Also featured is Vivienne Lawrence, von Memerty's lovely wife.

Even a brief glance at the programme reveals that the British version of the show, which has been running for a year, had only six couples, so the relatively smooth addition of two South African couples at this very late stage indicates the high standard at which our South African dancers function. There are a few tell-tale signs that they haven't danced as long in the chorus lines, but they fall far short of any serious deficiencies. The dancing was choreographed by Anton du Beke and Erin Boag, and it was interesting, lively and very effective.

The ambience on stage is almost exclusively created by the clever use of lighting, from the disco mirror ball effects with which it opens, through to the steamy tango "red light district" effects. One of the numbers does get a curtain backdrop behind the musicians.

The props are a few tables and chairs for the tango dance. The various costumes, I suppose one should call them gowns or dresses, were, for the most part, magnificent. There were a few gowns that were not terribly flattering. I think particularly of the horrible top Victoria Burke was wearing during the number where she and her partner, Gary Wright, featured as soloists. It made her look considerably more buxom than any of her other costumes, and not in a voluptuous, curvaceous way. And as one audience member whispered about singer Kate Galston's bright yellow dress, "Our songbird looks like a canary". Fortunately her singing was mostly as sweet. I was torn between declaring the black and white dresses featured extensively in the programme and the harmonious rainbow array of dresses for the final number as "the most beautiful". Both were flattering, feminine and flowed freely as the dancers glided around.

The souvenir programmes, as usual, are hideously expensive and exceptionally uninformative. For example, there's no play list of the music used in the show. I resent the fact that the Civic doesn't provide (or at least insist that the producers of the show provide) cheap "non-souvenir" programmes for people who aren't interested in the photographs, but still want the information which a programme should include.

Directed by the British Rick Coates, the South African band consist of Graeme Currie on the double bass and electric bass, Neil Etteridge on drums, Robin Finlay on Trumpet and Allan Thompson on sax and clarinet. British singers, Simon Coulthard and Kate Galston bring us a series of songs and add their bits to the dance routines.

The dancers worked their way through many of the "classical" ballroom and Latin dances, the blackbottom (no, I don't know why it is so called), the chirpy Charleston, the amusing turkey trot, the romantic Viennese waltz, the lively quickstep, the elegant foxtrot, the cha-cha, the sensual tango, the samba, the saucy salsa (as opposed the salsa sauce), the sexy rumba, the playful jive.

For audience members whose toes were itching to be moving, we were treated to a free lesson in how to shimmy one's way through the salsa. We also got to watch an embarrassing effort at an ordinary member of the audience dancing with von Memerty and the male dancers, especially selected from amongst those who "couldn't find a man to bring them". To be fair, this is quite a lot of fun when the women selected is a reasonable dancer because then it shows how easy the professionals make it look. So ditch your non-dancing partner, if you dare, and hope for your few minutes of glory, gliding away in the arms of real dancing men on the main stage of the Civic Theatre. As a determined non-dancer, I felt that both of these items could have been replaced with two or three items from the professionals.

At the end of the evening it was a bit surprising to note the passage of time and the audience was left wanting more, which is a sure sign that one was never bored.

Created by Jon Conway
Produced by Nick Thomas and Jon Conway for Qdos Entertainment (yes, the same people who brought us the tedious "Boogie Nights")
Staged and directed by Alan Harding
Choreographed by Anton du Beke and Erin Boag
Orchestrations by Simon Coles
Original lighting designed by Joe Atkins
Costumes designed and made by Jane Dixon
Tour director Quinton Young
Resident director Simon Coulthard

The couples were:

Bruce Lait and Crystal Main
Danny Last and Jodie Binsteed
Stephen Vincent and Emma Slater (the youngest couple on the stage)
Kagiso Ntseane and Mary Martin (South African)
Gary Wright and Victoria Burke (with a combined age of 37)
Muntu Ngubane and Salome Sechele (South African)
Daniel Garry and Anna Hewson
Rob Glover and Lucy Jones

I'm told that the show is not yet completely sold out, and I suspect that people may have been waiting for reviews before splurging on the tickets. The show is excellent and I'm sure that there will not be an unoccupied seat in the house by the weekend.