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Tap DogsAugust 2003 London, Sadler's Wells © Jeffery Taylor Former dancer, Critic and an Arts feature writer for the |
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It is noisy, hairy and fairly leery and about as far away from the misty Irish whimsy of Riverdance than you can get. But when it comes to record toe beats per second, the six blokes and three girls from Australia who crash their way through ninety minutes of good-humoured madness as Tap Dogs Rebooted certainly give Michael Flatley something to think about. On the premise if something ain't broke why fix it, little has changed in the basic 1995 concept when founder Dein Perry, inspired by his steel town background in Newcastle, Australia, plucked labourers off the building site and dumped them on the stage. Only these navvies can dance.
Just to help then feel at home, Perry kept the Blundstone boots, the scaffolding and sheet metal, threw in a chain saw or two, turned up the microphones and has gathered international awards ever since. What sounds like finger nails rippling on a table top turns out to be Perry's young brother, Sheldon, with disgusting pony tail and magic feet, warming up. He is joined by the lads and the audience are shaken, not so much by inspiration, but perspiration and the shuddering sound track.
 © John Ross Among the gang there's a cheeky mite, (James Doubtfire), a bald Lurch (Drew Kaluski, an original cast member), a chirpy kid (Ryan Gravelle) and a curly haired hunk (Garon Michalitsis). And like all boys, they just love to make a din. The show's secret is the pretence of normality, the clothes they wear would be banned from any decent beach or café and in between numbers they wander on and off stage apparently to answer the telephone or wash their hands. But in reality each has a tap technique that would give even Fred Astaire sleepless nights.
Perry and Douglas Mills slump alone between scenes but a nonchalant cascade of beats is soon pouring from Perry's restless feet as he shows Mills how it is done. But there is nothing educational about Kaluski, the Terminator in tap shoes, as he leads the group making fantastically silly noises with a giant underfoot keyboard, especially the whoopee button - naturally.
 © John Ross The artistic bit has silhouetted ladders rising and falling to spaced out music but it doesn't last long as the dancers get down to some serious scenery abuse. And just to prove that a modern plate-layer can do old world charm, Michalitsis soft shoe shuffles up to the girls, Leah Howard, Bec Jeffs and Rachel Schmalz, only to receive a good natured put down.
This is a show that gets the lips upwardly mobile within the first five minutes and keeps the smile there until the splashy soggy finale. And the other good news is the Tap Dogs are in town until Saturday.
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