Search - Burn the Floor on DVD

Hot, hot hot!

Meriam Matthews | Lake Toxaway, North Carolina USA | 01/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Prepared to be disappointed, my husband and I were awed by the dancing in this unusual and unique stage performance and too wired to sleep. We were not at all disappointed, though. "Burn the Floor" is a fusion of ballroom dancing with Fred & Ginger, Martha Graham, Bob Fosse, boogie-woogie, Buzby Berkely, Riverdance, ballet and jazz. The resulting amalgam is something entirely new and heart-racing. I cannot recall seeing so many fabulous dancers in one place at one time.



The costuming was sensational, especially for "The Continental" number. It would be hard to get more elegant. The music was pounding but not overly so, the sound rendition was excellent, and the editor, Nick Morris, should get a special award for excellence. While he could have utilized far fewer slo-motion cuts which tend to throw the music track off rhythm just a fraction - enough for purists to be annoyed - he was mercifully judicious about his camera cuts. They were not overdone as in the Michael Flatley DVD's. In future DVD's of new "Burn the Floor" shows, should there be any, I hope Morris is used again -he is an artist in his own right except for a slight overzealousness about using slo-mo.



As to the content, with the exception of the second number, a black-lipsticked punk-rock number that struck a discordant note among an otherwise stellar program, the rest of the numbers were mesmerizing. The variety of themes and choreography are superbly innovative, especially the use of props, and both create a pleasant tension by being unpredictable; you never know what's coming next.



Just as John Curry raised ice dancing to a new level and made it a new creature known as ice ballet, "Burn The Floor" has also taken ballroom dancing, tweaked and enhanced it, made it tell a story, and made it a new creature. Don't expect straight ballroom dancing in this program; it's more, much more, but the ballroom influence is ever-present.



Having said that, the strong sexual nature of bits and pieces of the program, plus some of the costuming, make it unfit for family viewing unless you don't care that young children see nearly-naked butts and a good deal of cleavage. The self-groin-grabbing in the otherwise wildly exciting finale could (and should) have been left on the cutting room floor and for certain, should not have been a deliberate part of the otherwise fantastic family viewing.



All things considered, this is a spectacular dance DVD and will wipe the floor, let alone burn it, with all the others."

A review from a BTF dancer

Rebecca De Roche | CA United States | 03/11/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, so the video might not be great, but I'll tell you one thing, we dancers worked our butts off in that show, and the audience loved it. I agree that the lighting was a bit much, and the video cuts make it so that you can't really enjoy the dancing, but it is damned good dancing, and it was directed by one of the best directors in the history of theater, Anthony Van Laast. Not only is he one of the best directors, but one of the nicest, sweetest people I know. If you want to criticize this video, the video itself deserves criticism, but not the dancing or the direction. And I may be biased, but I don't find this video to be a complete waste of time and money..."