It is amazing what Cuba has spawned. The chachacha, the mambo, the rumba - it sounds like the running order for Come Dancing. But at the Royal Festival Hall, the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba, on its first visit to Britain since 1987, showed that Cuban music and dance culture goes well beyond ballroom dancing standards.
Founded in 1962 with the backing of the Cuban Government, Conjunto Folklorico's aim is to preserve Cuban dance and music and their African roots in all their variety. In performance its eclectic repertoire takes the shape of a cultural and historical tour of the island - colourful, infectious and sometimes exhausting.
The set opened with some folk dances dating from the early 19th century. Half of the eight-piece band, dressed in white and wearing red neckerchiefs, hammered out rhythms on makeshift percussion instruments, while the rest sang and played for four dancing couples in brightly coloured costumes. You could hear the hint of Africa in the rhythms behind the melody, even if you couldn't see it in the folk dance steps. But the gentle and joyful movements didn't prepare you for what was coming next.
Six men stripped to the waist, wearing ragged grass skirts and brandishing machetes, strode on stage to thumping drums. Sparks flew as they clashed metal and with stylised dance movements cut crops in the fields to celebrate the African god Oggun, who represents iron, work and war. They looked fearsome.
They left the stage to be replaced by a similar number of women, all wearing flowing blue dresses, swaying gently and worshipping in their dance Yemaya - the goddess of the sea. They mimicked the waves by shaking their petticoats and their choral responses interplayed with the drumming patterns.
By the end of the first half you began to feel a bit like the Queen on one of her foreign visits, watching an extravaganza of slightly alien culture smiling and enjoying it, but a little bewildered.
If the first half displayed the African roots that have been grafted onto Cuba, the second showed more clearly how they entwined with the imperialist European culture. An infectious 40s mambo that had some twitching in their seats to join in was followed by a 50s chachacha that gave way to a contemporary fast-paced exuberant set piece being danced in the Cuban clubs right now. The performance closed with the comparsa - the national dance of Cuba - a carnival procession with flowers and candles that leapt from the stage and invaded the auditorium.
