MUCH as I hate to use clichés, the screams from the auditorium as Jonny lifted Baby in what must surely be one of the most famous dance moves of all time, indicted that the audience had indeed enjoyed “the time of their lives”.

The show, of course, is Dirty Dancing, playing now at the Bristol Hippodrome.

And the lift? Much copied throughout the years, after Patrick Swayze swept Jennifer Grey off her feet in the 1987 smash hit movie, it was executed here with perfection much to the delight of the whooping audience.

For the few who may not know Dirty Dancing, this is a coming of age story set in the summer of 1963. Teenager ‘Baby’ Houseman (Roseanna Frascona) visits a family holiday camp, and meets dance instructor Jonny (Lewis Kirk), who takes her under his wing. When his dance partner Penny (Clare Rogers) reveals she is pregnant, Baby steps in to dance with Jonny at the end of season show. And then comes ‘that’ iconic dance.

In our performance Jonny was played with just the right amount of cool by Lewis Kirk, under study for Gareth Bailey.

And not just cool, but plenty of sex appeal. For some of the performance he is topless and at one point is stripped down to his boxer shorts, to the obvious approval of many in the audience. In fact, when he went to put his trousers back on there was a plea from the audience to leave them off.

Roseanna Frascona, did the job with the right amount of feistiness of character and naievity as her character develops from a teenage girl on a family holiday into a confident young woman.

The dancing from the cast was energizing, and Clare Rogers was mesmerizing to watch. The songs had the whole auditorium toe tapping and moving in their seats.

There was a lot of audience participation throughout and a wonderful feeling that we were all in the same club.

Some of the audience were obviously there because they had not forgotten how the film made them feel when it first came out. But others, like my teenage daughter, had recently discovered Dirty Dancing. She was not disappointed, as this is a very faithful adaptation, with some parts even word for word.

Vocal though the audience was, they knew when to be quiet, and as the moment came for ‘the’ line of the film, a hush descended. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” was then met with the appreciation it deserved.

*Dirty Dancing will run at the Bristol Hippodrome until April 5, with performances on Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm, on Friday at 5pm and 8.30pm and Saturdays 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets are available from the box office on 08448 713012 or www.atgtickets.com