Birmingham’s Hippodrome Theatre is turning up the heat for a week-long party – Cuban style.

And boy has the theatre decided it’s time to join the fiesta! I’m no sooner into the Hippodrome’s foyer than I’m offered my first mojito – made with the taste of Cuba, Havana Club. Hearing music, I head further in and discover a salsa class taking place. Led by Music Fund for Cuba, a charity which supports culture in Cuba, I’m soon watching hip swivelling, foot tapping and hand clapping from people of different shapes, sizes and ages – all willing to give it a go.

Central to the party is the show Vamos Cuba! which runs at the theatre until Saturday. Created by the same team who brought Havana Rakatan to the Hippodrome in 2008, Vamos Cuba! is a riotous dance piece packed with rhythm and fun.

The plot is thin on the ground – a group of passengers awaiting a flight from Havana to Miami learn their plane is delayed. While most of us would pull out a novel, start texting our friends or simply sit and feel miserable, this group of passengers and staff decide there’s only one solution – to dance, dance, dance.

There are some sub-plots – the pilot and air hostess struggling with a fractured romance, the actress insistent on being the centre of attention, the photographer keen to recall the glamour days of pre-revolution Cuba and the passenger and janitor who strike up an unlikely love affair.

But really Vamos Cuba! is about the music and the dance. At times it’s chaotic with cha-cha-cha mixing with reggaeton and rumba switching to salsa and there are moments when the plot seems to have gone totally absent without leave. But all of this is subsumed by the energy, enthusiasm and sheer exuberance of the cast and musicians.

Air hostesses dressed in pink whizz round their suitcases, feather-topped Tropicana dancers revive Havana’s nightclub heyday and cabaret singers take to the floor as one scene trips into another.

Dance purists may hold their heads in despair (I could hear Strictly’s Len Goodman complaining about the lifts!) but Vamos Cuba! isn’t pretending to be classic dance. Travellers to Cuba will know that you can turn any corner and come upon an impromptu street dance or jamming session and it’s that impetus which propels the show.

The Hippodrome has played host to other Cuban performers in the past – ballet superstar Carlos Acosta and Danza Contemporanea de Cuba have hit the stage in recent years as part of an ongoing programme to promote international dance. All have their own style but what they share is a real spirit for life and performance.

After more than two hours of non-stop dance it’s time for the show to finish but the party’s not over yet – where are those mojitos again?

Diane ParkesDiane Parkes @DianeParkes

Diane Parkes is a Freelance Journalist and Arts Specialist.