Balletboyz: The Talent – review

All-male dance companies are something of an anomaly. At one end of the scale you've got the Trocks in drag, at the other the dickie-bowed Chippendales rippling their pecs at hen parties. In between is a multiplicity of crews such as Diversity and Flawless, given running speed by reality TV. The Balletboyz' new show, The Talent , gives us nine genially buff young dudes from varying dance backgrounds, and deploys them in three well-crafted pieces. These occupy the largely uncontested territory where art-dance meets boy band, and it will be interesting to see if directors Michael Nunn and William Trevitt can make it their own. Torsion is a remix of the powerful Russell Maliphant work originally made for Nunn and Trevitt in 2002, Alpha a winsome display piece by TV choreographer Paul Roberts, and Void a harder-edged streetfighter number by Jarek Cemerek. All elicit girlie screams, X Factor -style. Can the all-male format be taken further? Without the inescapable dynamic tension of a mixed-gender cast, can it engage us, long-term? If anyone can tell us, Nunn and Trevitt can.