How Flawless became the name to live up to for stand-out dance act

But Marlon ‘Swoosh’ Wallen is quick to point out that the name is in fact their driving force.

“At the time I was thinking about it, the name was more what we were wanting to work towards. It is about striving for perfection but also about knowing that you are never going to get there. But you are always going to keep trying. I am just constantly humbled by the name and by having to challenge ourselves all the time.”

The street dance superstars are embarking on a UK tour to mark the conclusion of their recent world tour. Dates for the Chase The Dream: THE REBOOT include October 7 at the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne.

Influenced by the likes of Michael Jackson, James Brown and Gene Kelly, Flawless stormed onto the scene in 2004 as an embodiment of Marlon’s vision: to mirror his idols and inspire the masses with his passion for dance. The group were hurled into the spotlight as 2009 stars of Britain’s Got Talent.

As far has Marlon is concerned, the greater achievement isn’t so much reaching the top as staying there.

“A lot of people don’t realise that maintaining it is a lot harder, especially today when there are a generation of people that think you just need to go on a reality show to be famous forever more.”

Huge preparation goes into it all: “We put of a year of work into it before we even did a performance. I formed it in 2004 and we were training for a whole year. The focus was on getting to know each other and team building and looking at our look and our identity, and then 2005 was when we first did the dance competitions.

“I had a solo career before Flawless. I had experience in the industry working with a lot of big-name dancers.

“I was thinking that this wasn’t really for me anymore. I thought ‘this is amazing’ but I want to be able to achieve what I want to achieve, and I was walking away and it didn’t stand for anything. I wanted to have a team of people around me.

“I didn’t want to audition people. It was more about finding the right mentality than the right ability. You can teach people to the right level. I wanted the right kind of people, people who understood the vision, the idea of working together as a team, the people that can pick up the ideas and transplant them to the stage.”

The Chase The Dream: THE REBOOT show centres around an intergalactic dream ship and ten big dreamers longing for the chance to accomplish their dance fantasy.

It’s a show Marlon hopes will connect with the next generations: “Our fans have grown up and are starting to face real-life things in life. They don’t have the time to just run around. But the new generation is coming through. We want to speak to all of them. It is reflecting the real-life situations they face, but also trying to connect with the whole family.”