Dance review: Strictly Come Dancing: The Professionals

STRICTLY COME DANCING: THE PROFESSIONALS ****EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE

LIKE teenagers let off the leash for the first time, the Professionals are an excitable bunch. Out from under the judges' gaze and no longer saddled with amusing but incompetent celebrities, the real stars of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing are finally allowed to shine – and boy do they!

Bursting on to the stage to Robbie Williams' Let Me Entertain You, the ten dancers spend the next two hours fulfilling his request.

Backed by three full-voiced singers and a superb seven-piece band, who jump from Lady Gaga to Glenn Miller with ease, the hoofers take us on a whirlwind tour of the ballroom and Latin dance genres. Whether it's a hot, steamy Argentine tango from Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace, a high-energy salsa from Brian Fortuna and Kristina Rihanoff, or an elegant waltz from the entire cast, everything is executed as if their lives depended on it.

Lest the audience miss them, judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood beam down on us from a giant screen, explaining each dance style before it begins and praising the dancers with a level of enthusiasm of which the TV celebrities could only dream.

As we've come to expect from this glamorous dance genre, the sequined costume changes come thick and fast, with witty banter and gentle in-cast ribbing used to fill the gaps. And while the men's low-buttoned shirts may feel a step too far into retro cheesiness, in the end it's all part of the fun.