In making its first Middle East appearance at Dubai’s Global Village, Burn the Floor found a venue that complements its scope and ambition.
Since its first UK performance in 1997, the ballroom dance show has built a steady and international buzz, selling out tours in Europe, the US and Japan.
That success also translated on screen, with more than 70 of its alumni appearing in and, in some instances, winning various international versions of television shows Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars.
But it is on the main stage of Global Village where the kinetic energy of Burn the Floor is best appreciated.
“The venue is absolutely perfect for what we do,” says creator and producer Harley Medcalf.
“Many times, we play in smaller theatres where we don’t have as much room. But the Global Village stage, which is about 30 metres, is ideal because there is enough space for the full cast to really shine.”
A slick show
For those attending the month-long season, there is a lot to see and hear.
Eleven pairs of dancers twirl, dart and maraud across the stage, moving to a blaring and eclectic soundtrack that includes hits by Michael Jackson, Pharrell Williams and Ella Fitzgerald.
The colourful set and fast-paced show is Medcalf’s forte. Over a 40-year career, he has produced concerts for Elton John, Lionel Richie and Billy Joel.
He recalls how the concept was triggered after meeting a group of ballroom dancers after a performance in London.
“I was just inspired by the passion, commitment, drive and work ethic in what they do and I just fell in love with them,” he says.
“It made me think of ways I can take the qualities they possess and really blend them with my rock and roll world, with all its theatre, technology, costuming and modern music.”
Aside from creating a hit show that has toured the world, Burn the Floor’s biggest legacy lies in including dance forms that date back hundreds of years.
“It was viewed as old fashioned because some of the dances, such as the Austrian waltz, go back to the 1700s,” Medcalf says.
“That's why it took us a couple of years to get the show right and why everyone initially thought I was crazy in trying to do this.
“But I was absolutely determined to make this work, not for myself, but really for the dancers.”
A cast of champions
Accelerating that trajectory to the mainstream was the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing and the US spin-off Dancing with the Stars, launched in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
The immediate success of the shows spawned various international versions including in the US, Australia and South Africa.
While Burn the Floor can’t take full credit for contributing to the enduring appeal of the programmes, Medcalf states the show and television franchise share a non-official but tight bond in that it supplies dozens of dancers to appear on the programmes.
“They work with us because they know they can find dancers who have that great personality and physicality, as well as a deep understanding of the art form and its history,” he says.
One dancer that made the temporary crossover is Jorja Freeman, who won the 2019 season of the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars alongside fellow Aussie Samuel Johnson.
While the achievement resulted in the kind of attention that could have led to a new solo career, Freeman elected to stay with the company.
“I started with Burn the Floor when I was 19 and now I am 30, so I have pretty much grown up here,” she says.
“While I understand the allure of making it to television, it is when you are in a professional and international dance company that you can truly express yourself because you are always challenging yourself.”
Freeman’s tie to the company is also personal, as her husband, Italian ballroom dance champion Gustavo Viglio, is a fellow cast member.
However, don’t expect the couple to showcase that chemistry on stage. “The show also has other real-life couples and we are the only one who chooses not to dance together,” she says. “We just made the choice that it’s just better that way.”
Burn the Floor will perform several shows a day at Dubai's Global Village main stage from Tuesday to Sunday, until March 31, from 6pm onwards. Performance times vary. More information is available at globalvillage.ae or call +971 4 362 4114.
Kill%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nikhil%20Nagesh%20Bhat%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Lakshya%2C%20Tanya%20Maniktala%2C%20Ashish%20Vidyarthi%2C%20Harsh%20Chhaya%2C%20Raghav%20Juyal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.5%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Results
2.15pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,950m
Winner: Hello, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihi (trainer).
2.45pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,800m
Winner: Right Flank, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh115,000 1,000m
Winner: Leading Spirit, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
3.45pm: Jebel Ali Mile Group 3 Dh575,000 1,600m
Winner: Chiefdom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,400m
Winner: Ode To Autumn, Patrick Cosgrave, Satish Seemar.
4.45pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh125,000 1,200m
Winner: Last Surprise, James Doyle, Simon Crisford.
5.15pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,200m
Winner: Daltrey, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihi.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (All UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (11.30pm)
Saturday
Union Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
FA Augsburg v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Werder Bremen (6.30pm)
SC Paderborn v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Monchengladbach (9.30pm)
Sunday
Cologne v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
Mainz v FC Schalke (9pm)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
'Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower'
Michael Beckley, Cornell Press
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
