Review: Nikita Kuzmin - Supernova
[New Wimbledon Theatre || Tour runs from June 9th to July 25th 2026 || 2h]
There’s something so liberating about dancing. Indeed, in many ways, it is the great leveller. It forms part of rituals and ceremonies right across the globe, it requires neither language nor any common culture to understand, and it bridges divides between total strangers. When wars end, people take to the streets and dance. When we celebrate a couple’s love for one another, we dance. When we’re alone and nobody’s watching and an absolute banger comes on shuffle, we dance. To paraphrase Emma Goldman, there can be no revolution without it. We can all flail our limbs, sweat half to death and feel a rhythm pulsing through every sinew of our bodies. It’s just that some of us - Nikita Kuzmin, for example - are a little bit better at it (and look a hell of a lot sexier doing it) than others.
It is this love of dance, not just as an artform but as a primal, pure expression of one’s beliefs, emotions and values, that is so central to Supernova, Nikita’s second show in as many years. Unlike last year’s Midnight Dancer, which told a love story through dance, Supernova is a much more personal affair for Nikita. It’s about him: it’s about his journey through life, the different styles and influences that have inspired him over the years, and the life he now lives as a professional on Strictly Come Dancing, a show on which he has proven to be a real asset and one its most popular stars, and not just with women and queer men. Yet Strictly…, a show about amateurs learning to dance, can only do so much for someone with decades of experience.
Surrounded by and working with a group of other pros, Supernova offers Nikita a chance to demonstrate what he can really do on a dancefloor. Choreographed in collaboration with Jason Gilkinson, the show features a series of routines that straddle dance genres and pay homage to a range of different eras, from classic Hollywood to 70s disco and modern house, each of which is punctuated with Nikita talking to the audience, and sometimes to his guest star (in Wimbledon, fellow and now-ex Strictly… pro Karen Hauer) about his life and what dance means to him. Yet though there are emotional moments - a dance tribute to Nikita’s late grandfather is particularly touching - the show is spirited and fun, and Nikita never takes himself too seriously or overplays the importance of dance, which for him is ultimately about people having fun, embracing each other, and surrendering to the beat.
Shows like this are by their very nature hen-do coded (complimentary), and it takes someone with natural charisma to captain them. Thankfully, Nikita has this in spades. He’s funny, albeit in a knowingly cheesy way, and has real rapport with his audience. He knows and embraces the fact that he’s hot but is never egotistical with it, and he has an ability to make dance accessible. Resultingly, this show sometimes has a tendency to feel chaotic and unstructured in between the expertly choreographed and performed dance routines, and though this is all part of Nikita’s schtick things do sometimes seem to spiral out of his control and he hasn’t quite mastered how to pull things back together.
Nonetheless, as a dance show this is a spectacle of raw talent. The routines are delightful and the dancers who support Nikita are excellent, with each of them afforded an opportunity to shine individually as well as part of the ensemble. The absence of a narrative tying things together does mean that we’re often just moving from one routine to the next with little linking them beyond Nikita’s personal love and appreciation for the various styles but the routines dazzle with their technical brilliance. Supernova is thus consistently entertaining, not to mention heartfelt and affectionate, and Nikita is the kind of showman it’s just so easy to love.
Tickets for Nikita Kuzmin: Supernova are available here (though it’s touring and finishes in under a week).