HOW does that song go?
“To feel the rhythm of life, to feel the powerful beat, to feel the tingle in your fingers, to feel the tingle in your feet…”
Well, the eight boys who are Tap Factory certainly live and breathe rhythm in every ounce of their being. Their show is an imaginative fusion of quite exceptional tap dancing, acrobatics, hip-hop, street dance and spine-tingling percussion all in one show.
Set on a factory floor, with a backdrop very reminiscent of our own Teesside Wilton plant, this talented troupe of Frenchmen won over the hearts of the audience with their comic interludes, and their naive and childlike pleasure in creating sound and rhythm from anything and everything, from step-ladders to empty oil drums, from sand and water to brooms and chairs.
With competitive male bravado, they tried to outdo each other in their speed of foot and acrobatic expertise.
There are flashes of Mr Bean, Charlie Chaplin and some good old-fashioned hoofing numbers along the way.
The first tapping chorus line was seen in 1907 with 50 girls in Ziegfeld’s Follies. How far tap has evolved in the subsequent 100 years or so to encompass this masculine, fast and furious style and enable these eight guys to hold centre stage for more than two hours is evident.
Special mention must be made of Tarek Rammo, whose gymnastic contortions, strength and grace on aerial straps was simply breathtaking.
They are on tour in the UK until mid-May when they head off to South America, Spain, France and Switzerland. Catch them at Billingham Forum on March 30. Box office 01642-552663 and online forumtheatrebillingham.co.uk
Marj Nelson
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