Rock the Ballet has one intention: to blend classical ballet with a bass-heavy soundtrack and all manner of other dance styles, aiming it at those who enjoy the classical ballet style. And whilst Rasta Thomas’s Bad Boys of Dance are clearly incredibly versatile, it’s a blend that doesn’t entirely work, with its slightly cheesy choreography featuring more split leaps than Fame. 

Whilst the short show is very watchable thanks to the incredible technique, individualistic approaches and effortless energy of the six lead males, there is a sense that their talent is being slightly wasted. Choreographer and artistic director Adrienne Canterna’s mix of styles becomes clunky, never really settling on a direction. Instead we get a mixture of diluted hip-hop, displays of incredible athleticism and at the end, a form of striptease. Whilst the latter enthralled the middle-aged women of the audience, it did little else in demonstrating anything else.

Whilst Canterna herself displays an incredible flexibility and is a technically perfect dancer, being the only woman on stage she finds herself passed from male to male in a series of dances set to pop hits such as The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony, Beyoncé’s rendition of Fever, and Soft Cell’s Tainted Love.

Just when you settle into a number and begin to enjoy the group numbers though, the music changes and shifts the mood dramatically, often leaving the audience hanging. It makes it seem like the creative team couldn’t choose what song to use and, instead, have ended up with a hybrid of songs that are as random as the dances themselves.

Computer graphics that are set to the music and movements contribute little to the performance, and Dieter Bucco’s lighting design engulfs and pronounces often the weakest parts of the movement.

Sadly, the show seems a little confused as to what it should really be and is a waste of some truly remarkably talented dancers. In attempting to create a genre of dance that will appeal to everyone, I fear that Thomas may have instead created the dance show that appeals to middle-aged women on a hen night. Certainly, if the screams were anything to go by when the dancers decided to take their tops off, they’ve got that market covered. For everyone else though, it seems that Rock the Ballet doesn’t quite achieve its intention.

After their over-indulgent curtain call, The Bad Boys of Dance are certainly that – I’m just not sure that Bad Ballet is going to prove too successful with the classical audiences.

Rock The Ballet is playing at the Peacock Theatre until 28 June. For more information and tickets, see the Sadler’s Wells website.