Dance Xpressionz ... clearly knew what they were doing (Photos: Jermaine Barnaby)

It took more than four hours for the audience gathered at the Green Gables Theatre to get through the 2008 Dancers Boom programme Tuesday night.

The show opened up with a musical number from show organisers, Dance Xpressionz, and it was - to say the least - a bit weird. However, moving swiftly along, the Patricia Rickets-choregraphed Xpressive Kidz, a group of toddlers from Xpressive Moves, the youth arm of Dance Xpressionz, performed a quick piece, and instantly bowled over the packed Green Gables.

It was then time for another set of Xpressive Moves students, this time adults, as they moved to a pulsating Latin beat. The six girls and three men onstage seemed to have completely lost the audience, and only four of them seemed happy to be on stage anyway. Towards the end of the piece, the crowd seemed to stir a little, but this was only when Dance Xpressionz member Sherene Davis - who choreographed the performance - lit up the stage with her moves for all of 30 seconds.

MC for the night, comedian Pretty Boy Floyd, woke up the zombie-looking crowd with a few jokes and then brought on the next act, which would be another Latin piece, but this time it was courtesy of the Caliente Corporation - a male and female dancing duo. Their set was more than enjoyable. In fact, theirs was the first performance of the night that let us know that the audience weren't cardboard dummies, as they responded, and loudly at that, to the duo's lustful Latin acrobatics.

After an intermission, more students of Xpressive Moves took to the stage, in another attempt to entertain the again zombied-out-crowd. This time, with a Shelly Ann Callum organised number, which took the audience more than 300 years back in time. Their Traditional Piece featured bits and pieces of the African folklore, infused with the style of Callum's unique style that makes her a stand-out member of the Dance Xpressionz quartet.

Then, there was a purple glow from stage left and stage right. That only meant that the very animated Sick-In-Heads dancers were next to grace the stage. They certified that everyone in the audience had not flatlined, and their set proved to be worth watching.

The dancers of the hour took the stage next, and in their performance, dubbed In Da Streets, Dance Xpressionz showed that they clearly knew what they were doing when they opened Xpressive Moves. There were spouts of applause from the hard-to-please audience, and the cheers at the end of their well-choreographed set let the quartet know that they their stint on stage was worth their time.

Not to be left out of the mix of genres, was reggae. And Dance Xpressionz member Stacey Ann Facey made sure that it was well represented with the item Reggae Choreography which was well received.

After a somewhat interesting stint on-stage by First Class Dancers, which saw them getting the nod of approval from the audience, Digicel Rising Stars One-Third entered the stage and performed Kevin Lyttle's Tempted To Touch, to the excitement of . no one. On the upside though, they were very dapper looking, but this didn't save them from the blank stares they got from the audience.

They redeemed themselves, however, when they sang their original tune, Take My Breath Away, which got the ladies very excited, and that woke up the crowd that they earlier lulled to sleep. In fact, it even got members of the audience on their feet, the most action any stage act had seen that night. However, when they asked the audience if they could "go home now", the audience replied "yes", and they begged their indulgence for one more item.

Following them, D'Angel, Shane-O, Chi Ching Ching each took the venue to new levels of excitement. Clearly, the best crowd pleasers were saved for last.

Dancers Boom 2008, took us on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows but was nonetheless, enjoyable.

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