TONY COOPER Norwich Theatre Royal

TONY COOPER

> Norwich Theatre Royal

The Ballet Boyz - Michael Nunn and William Trevitt - have triumphed in this latest work of theirs, a story of love, betrayal and revenge (nothing changes!) which was performed by a sextet of dancers in their prime with the girls, dressed for the catwalk and dancing in heels,looking absolutely stunning and ready for the kill!

They portrayed their roles in a sexy, sultry and erotic manner dancing to some extremely masterful and inspiring choreography and movement - created in conjunction with collaborator Russell Maliphant - allowing them plenty of freedom of expression. It was exciting to watch!

The whole piece was forceful and creative to an exacting degree encompassing atmospheric lighting to video projection of athletic images that, in turn, were taken up by the dancers.

The score was eclectic and electric - a fusion of contemporary sounds from minimalist Finnish composer Arvo Part to Fernando Corona's haunting Latin-influenced sounds while strong percussive beats played continuously on the nerves and built-up tension between the various partners as they worked out their relationships - fragile, violent and loving - with one another.

Musical relief came with Richard English's setting of Doris Day's Perhaps and Patsy Cline's Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray. It allowed for some fine dancing particularly from Kiev ballet school graduate Oxana Panchenko and former Birmingham Royal Ballet star Monica Zamora.

In all it was about a 90-minute work with the audience silently counting down the last five precious minutes from a computerised clock (which even showed tenths of a second) adding to the climax as two strong, muscular male dancers battled it out as if they were participating in some Ancient Greek Games. The final second, the final embrace!