Blaze the Show brings spectacular street dance to Dubai

What to expect from Blaze the Show, the West End street-dance spectacular landing at Dubai's Ductac theatre.

Top, the cast of Blaze and above, its artistic director Chris Baldock. Courtesy Roy Beusker

What is Blaze?

Blaze the Show is a street- and breakdance-inspired spectacular that opened in London's West End in 2010. Since then, it has toured the world, selling more than 300,000 tickets in Bahrain and in cities across Europe, Russia, Thailand, Australia. It arrives in Dubai on Thursday.

What’s in store?

Audiences will see a gang of about a dozen brightly clothed dancers strutting their stuff, performing acrobatic moves, backed by beats and a live MC. The blurb promises “some of the world’s best B-Boys and street dancers ... in a high-­energy theatrical show of non-stop dance”. ­Basically, it’s a big celebration of all things street dance, so expect plenty of breaking, popping and locking.

Sorry, what?

Those are all forms of dance that evolved on the streets of urban America and gained prominence out of the same block-party scene from which hip-hop evolved in 1970s New York.

So it’s all about the hip-hop? I never really got into rap music ...

Don't worry, Blaze is a celebration of hip-hop as a dance form, not as a musical genre. In the late 1970s, pioneering DJ Kool Herc defined hip-hop as an urban cultural movement built on four forms of expression – turntablism, emceeing, graffiti art and b-boying, or breakdancing.

While not technically part of the same movement, breakdancing has been brought alongside popping, locking and outdoor moves from all over the world under the umbrella “street dance”. Ironically, use of the term has gone hand-in-hand with these dance approaches becoming institutionalised, moving off of the streets and into the mainstream.

Gotcha. So is there a storyline to the show?

Not exactly – it opens with a five-minute sequence in which the dancers choose their own clothes, defining their personality, and each tune is linked by short routines, but there’s no plot, per se – it’s all about the dance.

Anyone famous in it?

Not quite household names, but the show is the work of a dream team of six well-known dance choreographers: Mike Song, Kenny Wormald, Lyle Beniga, Ryan Chappell, Chris Baldock and Kendra Horsburgh, who is the current dance captain. Heading the launch team was veteran dance director Anthony van Laast, whose credits include stage adaptations of Mamma Mia!, Siegfried and Roy, Sister Act and Batman Live.

So who’s in charge now?

Chris Baldock is now the show's artistic director. He is a street-dance veteran who discovered the form in the early 1980s. Following a career-ending injury that sidelined him from performing on stage in 1987 – sustained while playing football – Baldock moved into choreography. He has gone on to work on major UK TV spectacles including The Royal Variety Performance, Top of the Pops and the Brit Awards, and with some big music and dance names including Gene Kelly, Tom Jones, Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran. However, he won't be in Dubai because he is busy working on a new musical called Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, starring David Hasselhoff.

Right. What about the dancers? Anyone famous there?

As a company, Blaze boasts a roster of 50 dancers, recruited from London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and Melbourne, who are called on to bring the production to life on the road.

If you're still looking for big names, you might be interested to know that the show's sets were designed by Es Devlin, who has worked with Kanye West, Take That, Pet Shop Boys and Lady Gaga. And lighting director Patrick Woodroffe has lit stars including The Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson's final rehearsals, which appeared in the This Is It movie.

Nice. What’s the music like, anyway? More hip-hop?

Wrong – Blaze's mission statement is to appeal to as many people as possible. So the show is backed by a 90-minute mixtape that combines pop classics and contemporary hits, so expect to hear tunes from the likes of Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, David Guetta, Rihanna and Snoop Dogg.

"We've put together a show that has a family-based, pure party atmosphere," says Baldock. "People have this idea about hip-hop, that it's going to be aggressive – but the whole show is something everyone can enjoy. Hip-hop is the contemporary dance – everyone is doing it. It's mainstream, it's moved on from the streets."

I can work with that. So what's next for Blaze?

There are plans for Blaze the Show to visit the US for the first time next year – as it is, Dubai is getting the production before New York. Further ahead, we're told a sequel could be in the works.

Blaze the Show is on as at Ductac, Mall of the Emirates, in Dubai from Thursday, August 20 until Saturday, August 22, at 7.30pm daily, with a 2.30pm matinee on Friday and Saturday. Tickets cost Dh125 from www.ticketmasteruae.ae