The audience in Tunbridge Wells, made up of ardent “Strictly” fans, was never going to be disappointed at seeing one of their TV heroes live on stage. Most were here last year for Pasha’s “Life Through Dance Tour” and will probably be here when he returns with his next tour, despite the shortcomings of this year’s offering.
The show is introduced, on video, by Pasha’s 2015 Strictly Come Dancing partner, weather presenter Carol Kirkwood, who tells us of the passion of dance and how it has the power to change lives before the four backing dancers, James Wilson, Marcella Solimeo, Victoria Burke and Robert Rowinski, take to the stage for the first dance number.
They are joined by Pasha Kovalev and his dance partner Anya Garnis and the dancers do work very hard to show off their moves, but with pre-recorded music and little in the way of staging, it doesn’t ignite the audience as much as was intended.
After the first number we head back to the video screen so that Carol can introduce West End singing star Ricky Rojas. His job is to provide the entertainment while the dancers do their, many, costume changes and, no doubt, get their breath back.
Rojas is an extremely good singer and it is he who starts to engage with the audience and entices them to sing and clap along to his first number, James Brown’s I Feel Good. He has a very charming personality and, as the show progresses, the applause for his numbers gets louder and louder but, once again, without any live music his performance is really just karaoke, albeit very good karaoke.
Act one runs for just 45 minutes, with dance numbers and songs alternating throughout, but it is very noticable that, without a panel of judges to critique each dance number, the effort that is made on the TV show is not replicated on the live stage. Extensions are sloppy, energy is lacking and, at points, the performance is both lacklustre and dull.
Act two is about the same length as the first and is mostly taken up with an opportunity for three ladies from the audience to join Pasha on stage for a dance. To “audition” them the house lights come up and anyone who is interested (for that read “extrovert enough”) is invited to stand and dance by their seats to Walk The Moon’s Shut Up and Dance With Me.
After a painfully long time, three lucky ladies are chosen and they take their turns to dance (for that read “gyrate and grope”) with Pasha. Much like passing an accident on the motorway, you know that you shouldn’t look, but you can’t really help it – and you never like what you see.
The final number sees the entire cast on stage but even their combined efforts don’t really generate the kind of reaction that I had anticipated seeing, but then maybe such a low-key performance is the reason for the low-key response.
*** Three Stars