The costumes might be on the shabby side, the backdrops a little rackety and co-ordination occasionally upstaged; but endearingly, what it lacks in polish Havana Rakatan makes up for in hectic enthusiasm. As my companion, recently returned from Cuba pointed out, the performance is almost painfully authentic. The dance troupe, of mixed African and Hispanic origin, dance their hearts out and I have never seen a fitter group of performers anywhere. Ripped torsos and racehorse tendons were a marvel to behold: just the ticket for the salsa-cize generation reared on the latest craze. As the delighted Sadler's Wells panjandrum Alistair Spalding reminds us in the programme, dedicated fans can even take part in a salsa class followed by a DJ-led dance session on fridays. Not bad for a run talent-spotted by Spalding after Ballet Rakatan's DVD travelled across the Atlantic to land on his desk in a cold call rendered red-hot in the flesh.
      A rabble-rousing accompaniment is performed by the sensual Turquino Septet from Santiago de Cuba, a collaboration which began in 2003. These splendid musicians accompany vocalist Geydi Chapman on her first trip away from her native land and she acquits herself just fine. The show's staging follows a time-line beginning with a torrid Flamenco introduced by the conquistidors 500 years ago; to the ever-evolving hybrid that is todays's Salsa - a hyper-ventilating climax of influences as diverse as rumba and jazz, foklore and hip hop. The bulk of the first act derives from the African ancestor worship of the enslaved tribes brought over after the colonial invasion. These dances were performed by the exiles to remember their origins and alleviate the pain of oppression. On the night, moments of nobility and magnificence were sometimes diluted by unsynchronised choreography when the stage was densely populated and the action difficult to follow for the european eye. The second act runs the gamut of musical styles adopted by Cubans from the 1920s. Known as 'The Island of Music', twentieth century Havana exploded with a panoply of rythms - Mambo, Guantanamera, Cha cha cha and Rumba among them - galvanising the populace in clubs, casinos and cabarets - as a modern legend was born.
      Particular mention should go to the delicious Amarilys Pons. She shook, strutted and shimmied with admirable energy and also found time to double as Assistant Director under the redoubtable Nilda Guerra, herself a virtuoso dancer-turned-producer and co-founder of Ballet Rakatan. Indeed, everyone deserves a name-check in this populist but captivating musical extravaganza. Dedication and chutzpah have propelled Guerra's dancers from Castro's republic to the United Kingdom. It is their moment in the sun and they carry the day with brilliant, irrepressible energy.
Caroline Kellett Fraysse