'TUTU' review — this popular and playful show puts skilful male dancers centre stage

Read our review of Philippe Lafeuille's TUTU, now in performances at Sadler's Wells East to 15 February.

Summary

• Philippe Lafeuille's dance show TUTU comes to Sadler's Wells East
• The playful production gives male dancers the chance to wear a tutu and take centre stage
• The skilful cast of six pastiche everything from ballet to Strictly Come Dancing

The tutu is a traditional symbol of femininity that little girls aspire to twirl around in, and many a male dancer has also wondered what it would be like to be the ballerina who embodies such lightness and ethereality – as well as being the star attraction (much of the time in classical ballet, the danseur is there to be the support). That is enjoyably addressed by Philippe Lafeuille’s popular and playful production, which has been touring the world since 2014 and is danced by six highly talented male dancers in a host of eccentric costumes.

The show is presented as a series of vignettes with no overarching narrative, showcasing a host of dance styles that includes ballet, ballroom and Latin, disco, hip hop, and more. These fragments do vary in impact but the six dancers, Marc Behra, David Guasgua, Julien Mercier, Kamil Pawel Jasinski, Vincent Simon, and Vincenzo Veneruso, all display tremendous strength, grace, and versatility – and all are blessed with great legs.

Swan Lake becomes Duck Lake and Flamingo Lake, and all the performers have the opportunity to dance on pointe, in which they emerge uncertain at first and then blossom in confidence. A parody of the Rose Adagio from The Sleeping Beauty is a delightfully slapstick interpretation of one of the most technically challenging dances in the canon. The “Dying Swan”, however, takes an understated approach, evoked purely from rippling arms and shoulder muscles.

Naturally, one of the most crowd-pleasing sections is the Strictly Come Dancing montage (with snatches of feedback from Craig, Bruno et al), featuring a Latin-style routine set to a jazzed-up version of the “Blue Danube” that showcases the high camp and the theatricality that has made the long-running series such a hit. There’s also a reconstruction of the iconic Dirty Dancing routine that’s filled with barely concealed exasperation between the partners.

Some of the mime, ironically, gets lost in translation, and the sequence in which the cast become babies in fluffy towelling is pretty baffling. But there are some poignant moments amid the clowning, most notably when one dancer is surrounded and bothered with the questions that most male dancers have been badgered with (“Isn’t ballet for girls?” “Do you know Darcey Bussell?” “Are you gay?”).

Is there any style of dance that isn’t pastiched in the show? Well, there isn’t any tap. But dance lovers are unlikely to feel shortchanged by the eclecticism on offer and the skill and commitment of this troupe to its craft.

TUTU is at Sadler's Wells East to 15 February. Book TUTU tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: TUTU (Photos by Michel Cavalca)