The651.com

Somewhere in a shipping yard in the middle of the night, workers are playing with brooms. Well, maybe not.

It’s a ridiculous if not wildly entertaining concept, but that rhythmic Hercules of a show, Stomp, is in its 20th year for good reason. As has become our tradition, having seen the show twice before together, I brought my mom as my date to the show’s current run at the Ordway.

This isn’t your grandfather’s tap. You know, the Fred Astaire/Gene Kelly era in which gentlemen in suits soft-shoed their way up and down stairs and tap-danced while singing in the rain. No – this particular offshoot of tap is muscular, and it wears a wife beater (or tank top, to be more politically correct). In fact, this form of tap is closer to the origins of tap dance, rooted in African tribal dance that encompassed all forms of rhythm, from drums to hand claps to foot-stomping.

The thrill of seeing eight percussionists onstage is unparalleled. Watching a group of people creating intricate rhythms together with their feet, hands, and any number of objects not typically known for their rhythmic qualities is similar to the thrill of watching a band play with four drummers (a recent trend in music, in fact). Brooms, folding chairs, rubber tubes, basketballs, tin cans, trash cans and plastic bins all became instruments in the Stomp dancers’ symphony.

The most unusual instrument of the night: sinks. They came out strapped to the necks of four performers, and offered a surprisingly multi-dimensional soundscape.

The most visually compelling moment: when the troupe dimmed the lights and enlisted lighters.

You’d think that seeing people banging on things for an hour and a half would get boring after awhile, but this production managed to keep things dynamic, mixing unpretentious humor with vacillating energy levels and audience participation. The performers themselves were wonderfully dynamic, varying from a ringleader-type character who looked like a cyberpunk version of Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers; an extremely flexible, energetic black woman who incorporated elements of traditional African dance; a tall, beefy black dude with dreads, suspenders, and a goofy sense of humor; and a tall, thin bearded dude with long hair who looked more like a literary type than an effusive Stomp performer.

The irony of a bunch of “hoitie toities” (as my mom put it) paying money to be entertained by a show that has its roots in street performance was not lost on me. The show was clearly inspired by the relatively recent phenomenon of the more-than-likely homeless performers you see on the street corner or the subway, banging on plastic buckets. In an apparent nod to the street performer’s rich history, the Ordway had a feed of drum sounds piped outside the space as ticketholders left the premises.

STOMP runs now through April 3 at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, 651-224-4222, www.ordway.org, $36-61