And so Pancho lands another successful evening’s programme. There is enough here for traditionalists and contemporary fans alike to be satisfied, as well as material strong enough to showcase these elegant yet athletic dancers to the best of their great abilities.
Press Archive
By Ballet Black
‘I really do think that what Cassa Pancho the artistic director is doing is absolutely vital,’ he says. ‘Because what she constantly says is she’s waiting for the normalness of it all. It might be that we’re beginning to have ethnic diversity on stage, but until that’s mirrored in the audience I don’t think her job is done.’
By Ballet Black
I don’t know much about ballet, but I know what I like. And I like Ballet Black.
By Ballet Black
showcasing grace and ingenuity to eager spectators
By Ballet Black
Cira Robinson and Mthuthuzeli November enact courtship to music by Steve Reich in Pita’s ambitious new work Cristaux
By Ballet Black
Mixed triple bill from a lively, likeable company, with Christopher Hampson’s Storyville making a strong return
By Ballet Black
It’s impossible not to like Ballet Black, a small company with big ideas
By Ballet Black
precise, perfectly executed and full of star quality
By Ballet Black
a company that provides positive role models to young, aspiring black and Asian dancers.
By Ballet Black
Ballet Black triple bill – an erotic Jack and Jill meet voodoo pirates. Works by Kit Holder, Will Tuckett and Mark Bruce showcase the company’s considerable range
By Ballet Black
It has become the norm for each Ballet Black season to showcase a new one-act ballet that utilises all its dancers (once just six, now grown to eight), which is building a distinctive repertory of substantial works by some of the best choreographers around.
By Ballet Black
Now in its 14th year, Ballet Black made its name as Britain’s first ballet company for black and Asian dancers, but has built its reputation as a small ensemble with a commitment to new choreography that punches above its weight.
By Ballet Black
It’s typical of Ballet Black that this clever, enterprising company should be the first to commission a work from Mark Bruce, in the wake of his award-winning production of Dracula. Typical, too, that the result, Second Coming, shows us such new things about choreographer and dancers alike.
By Ballet Black
While ballet has a long way to go in addressing these issues, there are plenty of dancers in the contemporary realm who are actively working to change the white-washed, body oppressive world of ballet. Behold, 17 ballet icons who are changing the face of dance
By Ballet Black
Star of the evening is unquestionably Arthur Pita’s A Dream within a Midsummer Night’s Dream which manages to be magical, funny, beautiful and anarchic while distilling the essence of Shakespeare’s most popular comedy into a heady post-classical concoction.
By Ballet Black
Kudos to choreographer Arthur Pita for giving us possibly the first lesbian kiss in ballet. His new piece for Ballet Black, A Dream Within a Midsummer Night’s Dream, also offers up mambo in pointe shoes, Bottom and Titania getting it on to the sounds of Barbra Streisand and a female Puck in a boy scout uniform and stick-on beard.
By Ballet Black
Arthur Pita’s A Dream Within A Midsummer Night’s Dream shows Ballet Black’s dancers at their most classical – then gleefully twists that upside down in a burst of Shakespeare-inspired mayhem. The company have never looked better.
By Ballet Black
Ballet Black review – oldschool charm, newage wit
BB’s new mixed programme at the Royal Opera House shows off the company’s considerable strength and range