Stage: Dance around India

Beyond Bollywood
writer, director, choreographer Rajeev Goswami
with Alessandra Whelan, Sahil Mayenkar, Pooja Pant, Goral Joshi, Sudeep Modak, Soham Josh
music Salim and Sulaiman Merchant
lyrics Irfan Siddiqui
costumes Prajakta Gore
Peacock Theatre, London • 24.Aug-3.Sep.22

Setting out to explore the various dance traditions in India, this high-energy stage show is colourful and often beautifully performed. And with its 600th performance now under its belt, it's the company's cheerful and soulful talent that sustains what sometimes feels like a slightly undercooked show. When it focusses on either sheer spectacle or ancient traditions, the show is at its best, offering both riveting entertainment and some lively schooling in India's artistic gifts to the world.

Numbers are linked by a narrative about Shaily (Whelan), a young dancer who has grown up in Germany. Her late mother Jaswinder (Pant) drew huge audiences at an Indian dance theatre in Munich, and as Shaily takes over the show she struggles to understand her heritage. So she travels to India with her friend Emma (Joshi), where she meets sparky choreographer Raghav (Mayenker) and his goofy assistant Ballu (Modak). Together, these four adept hoofers travel around the country, learning a range of steps including kathak, lezim, bihu, garba and kalbelia.

Bollywood is a combination of these and other traditions, including more modern dance, deployed to tell emotional stories. So the show merrily mixes styles together in elaborate set-pieces, complete with often jaw-droppingly beautiful costumes. While some of the more modern numbers have a flashy charm (including a purely random Kinky Boots-esque burst of It's Raining Men), it's the traditional steps that catch the attention. And while the plot centres on the movie-style romance between Shaily and Raghav, the true star of the show is Pant, whose performances as Jaswinder are show-stopping.

Scattered between the dance numbers are little scenes with the characters, ranging from broadly silly slapstick to yearning melodrama. A team of first-rate dancers surrounds the lead figures all the way through the show, providing lots of spark and an almost blinding number of sequins. Their physicality is expressed joyfully, complete with some lively audience interaction. And the main characters dive in amongst them with even shinier costumes and full-on bravado. In the second act, there's even a gorgeously performed aerial interlude.

It's unsurprising that the show as a whole is uneven, partly because the stage set consists only of giant video screens with often dodgy digital backgrounds. This makes most of the more modern-tinged numbers feel thin, even if they're thumping along to a great track like Jai Ho. By contrast, the folkloric pieces are much more mesmerising, combining intricate movements that carry the weight of centuries of meaning. And there are enough of these to tilt the show's overall balance in the right direction.

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photos courtesy Sadler's Wells • 24.Aug.22