AS the celebrity contestants in TV's Strictly Come Dancing practise their steps, Southampton theatre audiences are preparing for a ballroom experience of their own.
A new show produced by the Nuffield Theatre with The De La Warr Pavilion and Linda Lewis Productions is staged at Southampton Guildhall next month and promises all the dazzle and energy of the dance world.
Ballroom features a professional cast of four actors and four dancers and tells the story of a group of dance partners.
A chorus of community dancers will take to the floor alongside the cast to recreate a bustling atmosphere in the Guildhall, while the audience will be seated, cabaret-style, at tables around the edge of the dance floor.
In a half-empty dance hall, in the quiet of the afternoon, Roy, Audrey, Victor and Sylvia step softly into a new phase of their lives - one of opportunity, independence, friendship and desire.
As the rhythms of the dance take over, their poignant, funny and fantastic memories are punctuated with glittering flashbacks, up-tempo dance sequences and the magnificent sound of the big band.
John Retallack was inspired to write Ballroom by the stories of a lively group of tea-dancers at Bexhill-on-Sea.
It is at Southampton Guildhall Friday, July 9 and Saturday, July 10. Tickets cost £15. Box office: 023 8067 1771.
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