Bollywood is coming to the Palace. Tonight, for one performance only, the world of the Bollywood dance routine — the swirling saris, the gyrating girls, the handsome couples who never quite kiss — will be invading the staid surroundings of Buckingham Palace.

Featuring more bare midriffs than have been seen at the Palace for many a year, not to mention saris being pulled off and multitudinous costume changes, Bollywood Steps is described by its creators as “really sexy and hot”.

Given that it is taking place in the Ballroom, a room where Mendelssohn once performed organ recitals for Queen Victoria and now used for investitures and banquets, it is reasonable to assume that it is the first time that an event there has ever received such a breathless advance billing.

It is also full of bling, which perhaps is not that surprising, except that according to one of the founders of the dance company, Nutkhut, the bling comes from the Palace. “We came here and were very excited about it,” said Ajay Chhabra, looking around the Ballroom, with its chandeliers and gilt. “The columns, the fabrics — the bling of it stood out.”

The show is the highlight of a reception hosted by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh in advance of the state visit by the President of India, Pratibha Patil, at the end of the month.

Fifteen minutes long, with five female dancers and three male, the performance is a truncated version of the 40-minute outdoor show which Nutkhut (“mischievous” in Sanskrit) has been performing around Britain for the past four years and was once described as “a spectacular celebration of all that is kitsch in Indian cinema”.

It may be shorter than the original, but it will be no less action-packed, featuring no fewer than seven costume changes in a quarter of an hour, a feat which not only puts Madonna in the shade but probably would not have been possible had it not been for the invention of Velcro.

Simmy Gupta, the choreographer and co-founder of Nutkhut, said: “Bollywood Steps is me growing up in England being a British Asian. It is influenced by Bollywood films and Hollywood films. It goes from my classically trained background to contemporary hip-hop. It is up to date, really sexy and hot.”

Male members of the audiences may, however, be disappointed to learn that one highlight of the large-scale version is missing: the wet sari sequence.

As well as Bollywood ancient and modern — from old black and white movies where the heroines are shy and demure to the more modern Bollywood fare, where almost anything goes — the show’s influences range from Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy to James Bond. In the words of Ms Gupta, who trained in the classical Indian dance Kathak but also recalls growing iup in Wolverhampton watching old Bollywood films with her father, it says: “We are British, we are Asian, we are contemporary. But we also know our roots.”

It has also been finely tuned to suit its surroundings. Ms Gupta said she chose a shade of red for the saris — bought from Green Street in Upton Park, east London — because it went well with the Ballroom. “The red really goes with the coat of arms,” she said.

Mr Chhabra, her husband, said: “We are unashamedly populist in what we present. My background is comedy, and there is always a cheekiness in the piece.”

One of the dancers, Alison Ho Chee, who in keeping with the multiracial nature of the company is half Greek, a quarter Trinidadian and a quarter Chinese, said: “It is all about story-telling. There’s romance, boy meets girl - it would appeal to anyone.”

How about the Duke of Edinburgh? “Us running around the stage? It will be right up his alley.”

The dancers will perform beneath a 30 foot velvet canopy made for the Delhi Durbar held in 1911 to celebrate the coronation of George V. “There are all sorts of interesting historical connections being made,” said Mr Chhabra.

Among the 300 guests expected at the reception are the England cricketer Monty Panasar, who according to the Palace changed his holiday arrangements to make sure he could attend, the broadcaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the actors Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar, and Tom Singh, founder of the New Look fashion chain.

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