Burn the Floor

Burn the Floor is a live dance show which has performed around the world, including on Broadway in New York City and the West End in London. Since 1997, Burn the Floor has performed in over 130 countries worldwide. The show has also featured several alumni of various international versions of Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance.

In 1997, Elton John's 50th birthday party included a 10-minute performance from a group of ballroom dancers. The birthday party is credited with starting the idea for Burn the Floor. Following John's party, Australian producer Harley Medcalf spent two years developing the idea. Medcalf brought a showcase of ballroom dance to an Elton John Aids fundraiser two years later. Among the talent Medcalf recruited for his stage show included a choreographer, Anthony Van Laast, and Australian ballroom dancers Jason Gilkison and Peta Roby. By 2000, the show played a two night stint at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The New York Times said of the production, "Look past the show's brassy facade, with its rock-show production values and attitude (mock ecstasy is the usual facial expression), and there is some complex footwork in what is essentially a suite of deliberately souped-up social dances."

In 2001, Jason Gilkison took over the role of choreographer. By 2005, an Australian workshop of the show was named "Jason Gilkison's Ballroom." Through the course of several tours, the production tinkered with what worked. Growing into a large production requiring seven vehicles to move from city to city, the tour's creative team began to realize that they preferred the show more stripped down and focused on the dancers. According to Gilkison, “The goal was to streamline it, make it more theatrical, reinvent it with the help of the dancers, who had their own ideas of how to make it more contemporary."