Dance review: Dynamotion discos down

Dynamotion's D.i.s.c.o gets a helping hand from its lurid costumes.

Dynamotion, Auckland's one and only comic dance troupe, has been putting the fun into funk since its first show, Terror Island, in 2012. Discovering there was an audience for its brand of wonderfully silly dance shows, the troupe's now up to show number six and getting groovier with each passing year.

Having previously taken the mickey out of dystopian sci-fi/horror films, road and spy movies, this year it's put dance movies under the spotlight. Written and choreographed by troupe founders Lara Liew and Thomas Sainsbury, D.i.s.c.o is a gloriously outlandish take on a genre known for its steps rather than stories.

It's the 1979 World Disco Championships and behind the scenes, things do not sparkle as brightly as the disco balls and lights which illuminate the competitors' dance floor. Dancing dynamo Faheem Sahind (played with charm by Zak Enayat) is a newcomer from Oman and soon to discover his disco dreams come with a nightmare edge of win-at-all-costs competitiveness, thwarted love and substance abuse.

Sainsbury, an astute observer of the wry and ridiculous side of human nature, has produced a story which isn't as sharp as previous ones but, as I said, dance movies aren't about ground-breaking stories. D.i.s.c.o parodies well the clichés, character trajectories and ludicrous underdog triumphs plots.

But you don't come for the substance; it's all about the moves - and the dancing, performed by a charismatic and fearless cast, is fantastic. The opening number, where the six performers make lightning quick costume changes to portray 18 different competitors, heralds the start of energetic and impressive routines.

Liew's roller-disco number and Roberto Nascimento's interpretive version of It's Raining Men are stand-outs in a show where innuendo-laden and physical comedy reign supreme.

A costume designer isn't named on the programme but someone - maybe the whole team - deserves credit for the best get-ups seen on a dance floor since, well, 1979. They are characters in their own right and bring a heap of atmosphere to D.i.s.c.o.

With more hits than a Solid Gold '79 album, D.i.s.c.o is a bit like a pair of fluro-leggings - bright and eye-catching, maybe doesn't cover as much as it should, but pure entertainment. Nothing more and certainly nothing less.

Lowdown:
What: D.i.s.c.o
Where & when: Basement Theatre, until Saturday, July 29.
Reviewer: Dionne Christian