The energy and passion of all the dancers (too many to name in a brief review) is clear in Burn the Floor. They are dedicated artists and each and every gesture tells a story. They move effortlessly between styles and forms of dance, captivating as they go. The small musical troupe of musicians is equally versatile, touching, as they do, on disco, soul and rock. This alone would be sufficient recommendation for the latest iteration of a performance ensemble of 25 years’ standing. But in their latest floor show, they have taken a risk.
An indigenous perspective of dance and music has been included with the works of Mitch Tambo and native dancers Albert David and Sermsah Bin Saad.
This would have been a creative challenge for director Alberto Faccio and choreographers Jorja Freeman and Robbie Kmetoni, but from the first sinuous extension of limbs, it is clear there is a correlation between forms of dance.
This was best exemplified in the song Native Dance where the lyrics of identity and dispossession were interpreted movingly by the dancers. The art forms complemented.
Voice and dance, the ageless and the contemporary, merged for a moment. A further nod to that unity was to be found in the final iconic Australian song, You’re The Voice, sung by Tambo in the Gamilaraay language. His tenor voice is a match for Farnham’s.
The first half’s simple set of a native gum was tastefully done (James Kronzer) lit for effect (Adam Nicholls) to evoke the Australian landscape; the red horizon, a storm.
The sense of cultural heritage is further developed in the programme where each individual’s biography contains an acknowledgement of ancestry.
While the melding of indigenous and contemporary forms doesn’t always hold, it does provide the overall structure topping and tailing the evening. The company returns more to its roots in the second half as it dances its way through a variety of forms and styles.
Dancers tell stories with each look and gesture. These performers do it in spades.
What has been added in this production, however, is an appeal to a shared cultural history of dance which is ageless and, for Australians today, relevant and topical.
Burn the Floor was presented at The Palms at Crown, Melbourne.

• Review by David McLean