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Maria Kearns
It’s often been said that no trip to Cape Town’s complete without an encounter with a really great gatsby, and until the 24th of June, that’ll be true in more than one way.
Hold on to your fedoras and get ready to be transported back to the Roaring 20s, my fellow cats and dames! LAMTA’s Vintage Jukebox is a student dance show that'll have you swinging and swaying like a true sheba.
From the Charleston to the jive, contemporary dance to tap and ballet, this gig is the real McCoy, blending the rhythmic beats of today with the vintage vibes of yesteryear.
While the show appropriately kicks off with an ambitious Charleston number (‘Sing Sing Sing’), some of the dancers seemed a tad tentative and posed here, though that didn’t detract from the lively choreography and generally enthusiastic collective execution. However, the students’ energy and enjoyment only really became palpable during the delightfully jivey ‘Something New in Africa’.
As you may have guessed from the gushing intro to this review, it’s hard to pick individual highlights. These up-and-coming performers couldn’t seem to put a foot wrong, from the menacing ‘Red Right Hand’ with its cross-dressing Peaky Blinders all the way through to the high-octane closing number, ‘A Little Party Never Killed Nobody’.
In between, numbers that stood out include the sweet, alluring ‘Wuthering Heights’ (sung by Jasmine Minter, Keely Crocker, and Leah Mari), the haunting ‘Creep’, the mesmerising ‘Life on Mars’ (performed by Diego Hamity), the unfalteringly smooth ‘Get Happy’ (performed by Amy Campbell and Sasha-Lee Duffy), and the steamy ‘Royals’ (performed by Austin Tshikosi, Dylan Janse van Rensburg, and Gianluca Gironi).
Singling these items out does a disservice to the whole, however, as the production’s a real toe-tapping, finger-wagging delight.
The show features an enchanting guest appearance by Amy Campbell, who was especially spellbinding during her rendition of ‘Halo’.
Fahiem Bardien's electric, exuberant lighting design deserves a lot of praise, as it’s a truly integral part of this sleek, professional production without ever distracting the audience from the students’ impressive performances.
Gather your gang and hightail it to the joint, because this shindig is the cat's pyjamas, bound to leave you zozzled and clamouring for more!
Vintage Jukebox features choreography by Michelle Reid, Sean Bovim, Jared Schaedler, Adele Blank, Liam Gillespie, Shameelah Kinnear, Brigitte Reeve, Robin van Wyk, Duane Alexander, and Ashley Searle.
The show will be at Theatre on the Bay until the 24th of June. Book your tickets online via Webtickets or the theatre box office on 021 438 3300/1.