The arrival on the big screen of the Baz Luhrmann film, Moulin Rouge, provided inspiration for the third XS routine. This time, the music and choreography were done ‘in-house’ and the team, for the first time, appreciated the enormity of the task of putting together a music and choreography for 8 couples and 6 minutes that moves smoothly between the cha cha, rumba, samba, paso doble and jive.
Songs from the movie which made it into the final programme included Lady Marmalade, Rhythm of the Night, El Tango De Roxanne and the iconic Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend. The team, naturally, competed in red for this theme, with the women wearing scarlet dresses and black gloves.
Moulin Rouge was particularly memorable for XS Latin for two reasons. In May 2002, the team were invited to compete in a head-to-head against the South of England Latin team as part of the BBC TV programme Cheer For Charlie, in which television gardening presenter, Charlie Dimmock, took on a variety of challenges including circus trapeze and latin formation dancing. Secondly, Moulin Rouge was the first routine with which XS was invited to represent England at the IDSF World Latin Formation Championships. This competition took place in Vilnius in December 2002 and it proved that the lure of Luhrmann’s film had been too strong as two other teams arrived at the competition with Moulin Rouge as their theme!
Moulin Rouge was performed at:
- The British Open Latin Formation Championship 2002, Blackpool
- The British National Latin Formation Championship 2002, Blackpool
- The IDSF World Latin Formation Championships 2002, Vilnius, Lithuania
- The British Open Latin Formation Championship 2003, Blackpool