A tent near the Brent Cross Shopping Centre car park might not sound like the most glamorous London location for Diversity’s national tour. But when dance and circus collides like this, anywhere feels magical.
This high-energy hybrid is not called Ignite for nothing. From the moment Ashley Banjo’s troupe charge onstage the sparks fly.
The immaculately choreographed opening sets the bar high as the acclaimed street dancers throw shapes on the ground while aerialists swoop above them. Wherever you look, something is happening. And Banjo, the dynamic leader sporting a Greatest Showman-style ringmaster jacket, is invariably involved.
Banjo’s skillset now includes magic, so as well as leading the dance routines he also escapes from locked water tanks and straightjackets. These traditional stunts are well-performed but upstaged by quartet The Gerlings on The Wheel Of Death. Imagine four human-sized hamster wheels rotating 10 metres in the air. Now imagine acrobats performing not just in but on the wheels. You could have heard the awestruck gasps in Croydon.
Alongside this, other guests, from contortionists to jugglers, feel safe but it is all good, clean family fun. There is a narrative that every modern circus has to have, this time about a homeless boy finding acceptance (and his own jacket), but that hardly matters. It is the zippy athleticism of Diversity plus the classic variety elements that make this entertaining. For two hours you could be in Vegas, not next to the North Circular Road.
