Hip-hop - the ghetto dance of the 1960s - has gone spectacularly global, and Rennie Harris' tribute to those who pioneered it is long overdue. However, anyone who comes to the show's mix of live performance and film expecting a guided tour of the form's history will go away disappointed. The wedges of documentary that are screened between the live acts are so badly amplified as to make the words inaudible, and the printed programme order seems completely out of synch with what actually happens on stage.
But anyone after a pure blast of hip-hop virtuosity won't be disappointed, especially given the superb performance by Rock Steady Crew (the b-boy - break dance - crew founded in the early 1980s). These four dancers and their guests flip through classic aerodynamic b-boy stunts with outrageous insouciance - their ability to perform whirligig spins on their heads and to freeze in sudden whiplash balances is simply jaw-dropping. But no less impressive is the twizzling footwork with which the dancers buzz around the stage like a baggy-jeaned, muscular swarm of insects.
Locking, the funk style developed on the west coast, is much more disco than street, its sequences of split-second poses designed to show off snappy clothes more than macho moves. The Mop Top Crew give the dance their sassy best but this segment only gains substance with the arrival of a beaming Greg Campbellock Jr Pope - one of the advertised greats in the show - who invests the style he pioneered with an elegant panache.
There are more star appearances in the Electric Boogaloos' slot, with Popin Peter and Boogaloo Sam giving a master class in boneless fluency and robotic twitch. Theirs is a fine act, but one where the muffled sound of the introductory footage is most frustrating: I really wanted to know about the neurotic, nifty looking poppers who were dancing on screen behind them.
The bad sound quality and shambolic production make this an occasionally infuriating evening (the Beatbox and DJ sessions were technically impressive but shouldn't have been programmed next to each other). Yet this is ultimately a show about raw passion and energy - and on Friday night there was plenty of both on stage, as well as among the packed crowd.
· Until March 30. Box office: 08703 800 400.
