Dance review: Tango Moderno

THE show begins with an announcement: sadly Vincent Simone, one half of tonight's star team, is injured and won't be performing. Instead, says Flavia Cacace '“ his dance partner from Strictly Come Dancing days and beyond '“ she'll be joined by 11th hour replacements Pascale La Rocca and Leonel Di Cocco.

Tango Moderno, Playhouse, Edinburgh ***

It’s a situation that would throw anyone, and yet this is the least of Tango Moderno’s worries. Cacace has always been a joy to watch, and tonight is no different. She floats and glides with La Rocca and Di Cocco just as beautifully as she does with Simone – he’s missed, but only just.

Had the whole show been confined to their routines, it would be a hit – backed as they are by strong live musicianship and powerhouse vocals. Alas, their whip-fast legs and passionate embraces are shoe-horned into a storyline that’s packed with lazy stereotypes.

Four men and four women look for love in a contemporary world, where swiping left or right on Tindr dictates who you might hook up with. It’s a scenario wide open for depicting 21 st century zeitgeist and diversity, but instead we find the women dressed in pinnies doing the cleaning while the men don DIY belts; everyone gets together with members of the opposite sex – except one dancer who leaves her man for a woman, but abandons her new-born twins in the process.

Add in a couple of ‘sex mad’ women whose behaviour, were the genders reversed, would be roundly condemned, and Tango Moderno doesn’t feel very ‘modern’ at all.

Kelly Apter