Burn the Floor, Australia's Ballroom Dance Show
The Popularity of Competitive Ballroom Dance Drives Burn the Floor
Oct 4, 2009
Anyone who enjoyed Strictly Ballroom – film director Baz Luhrman's funny, flashy Cinderella story set in the world of competitive ballroom dance – will instantly understand the point of Burn the Floor, a popular production that, like the film, originated in Australia.
For those unfamiliar with "Dancesport", as its aficionados call it, here's the lowdown: it's a fiercely-contested battlefield upon which couples dressed something like Fred and Ginger compete to prove themselves the best at waltzing, swinging or lindying. (There's also a category for Latin dances like samba, rumba and cha-cha.)
Dancesport is Popular Around the World
Despite the evidence of Burn the Floor and Strictly Ballroom, says performer Peta Roby, who joined the show at the very beginning, in 1999 (interviewed during the show's most recent stop in Toronto, Canada), Australians are more active in outdoor sports than in ballroom dancing. However, "There's a big Italian community in the ballroom industry," she says, also naming England ("It's huge!), Germany, where, she says, "it's on television all the time," and Russia." (The Japanese are also crazy about it, and flocked to see Burn the Floor when it hit that country.)
The competitive aspect is taken so seriously that its supporters have lobbied for years to have Dancesport included in the Olympics. (In fact, the International Dancesport Federation has already been accepted as a full member of the International Olympic Committee.) Only fair, believes Roby, who compares the pursuit to couples figure skating. "We really do the same thing," she says, "without skates."
Couples Bond in Ballroom Dance
As in figure skating, competing couples tend to stay together for a long time. In some cases, the relationship is also an offstage marriage. In others, it's just about the sport. Roby's dance partner of over 30 years at the time of this interview was Jason Gilkison, who joined Burn the Floor as a cast member, but became the show's director and choreographer about a year later. The two won numerous Australian Championships as well as international honours.
"We started together when we were seven, and we have been together right on through," says Roby.
When Gilkison took on the choreographer's role, the cast mainly consisted of pre-existing couples. "As the show began to evolve, we decided to recruit singles as well. It's allowed us to set up couples," Roby says. However, "The biggest transition is all these kids compete against each other, and it changes the whole nature of the beast when you get them to work together... And it's worked beautifully," she adds.
"Ballroom dancing is really all about the relationship between man and woman. I must say that that's something that Jason has a big spark for," she continues. "That's the whole beauty of ballroom dancing; it is the nature of the relationship between the two."
Roby, who has retired from competitive dancing, is now Executive Producer and Company Manager for Burn the Floor, which continues to run in New York. Gilkison continues as choreographer. It is possible to buy Burn the Floor tickets online. Read on to find out more about Broadway musicals in New York, Chicago or Toronto.
The original version of this article was published in Tandem magazine in April 2003.
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