Junior School Teachers
Of Trinidadian and British parents, Cassa founded Ballet Black in 2001 after graduating from professional dance training and was one of the first dancers and choreographers in the Company. Her initial goal was to provide role models to young, aspiring Black and Asian dancers. A year later, she opened the BB Junior School in Shepherd’s Bush. Cassa is a graduate of the 2009 National Theatre cultural leadership programme, Step Change. Since starting the Company, she has commissioned work from a wide range of choreographers, including Liam Scarlett, Richard Alston, Sophie Laplane, Javier de Frutos, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Shobana Jeyasingh, Henri Oguike, Arthur Pita, Will Tuckett and Mthuthuzeli November. Ballet Black has won both the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Company in 2009, Best Independent Company in 2012 and Best Mid-Scale Company in 2022. Cassa was awarded an MBE in the (2013) and later an OBE (2026) New Years’ Honours Lists for Services to Classical Ballet. She has served as a judge on the panels of both the Kenneth Macmillan Choreographic and BBC Young Dancer competitions and the Arts Foundation Futures Dance Jury in 2022. She is a Patron of Central School of Ballet, Trustee of Scottish Ballet and was a vice president of The London Ballet Circle (2016-2024). In 2017, Cassa and former BB dancer, Cira Robinson, collaborated with renowned British ballet shoe manufacturer, Freed of London, to create two brand new pointe shoe colours to enable dancers of Black and Asian descent to buy skin-tone pointe shoes ready-made. In 2018, Cassa was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. In 2020, she authored a guide for improving equity and access in ballet for dance schools and companies that has been widely shared in the arts world. She is a Board Member of Scottish Ballet, and serves on their Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee. Cassa also works as a consultant in EDI for several British dance organisations, including National Youth Ballet and the Elmhurst School of Ballet. In 2022, Cassa collaborated with the Ballet Black Company artists to create Say It Loud, a ballet to commemorate the Company’s 20th anniversary. This production won Best Dance Production at the 2022 Black British Theatre Awards and Say It Loud was short-listed for Best Dance Production at the 2023 South Bank Sky Arts Awards. To date, she has commissioned over 40 choreographers, to create over 60 new ballets for the Company. Cassa was named in the Arts section of the annual list of 100 influential Black Britons in the ‘Black excellence: The Powerlist 2023/24/25’. The list celebrates the achievements of the most influential people of African, African Caribbean and African American heritage in the UK. She has served on the Sky Arts Award Jury and the Art Foundation Futures Award. Cassa teaches regularly for the BB Junior School in Shepherd’s Bush, West London and has a degree from Durham University.
Isabela was born in Brazil and began her vocational training at the Centro De Dança Rio. She has taken part in many festivals and competitions, including the Joinville Festival and Youth America Grand Prix. As a professional, Isabela has danced with Project Deborah Colker, São Paulo Companhia de Dança, Ballet Jovem do Rio de Janeiro, Companhia Brasileira de Ballet and has toured Russia extensively. She has danced in many classics: Don Quixote, Raymonda, Swan Lake, and Serenade, as well as modern works and the Carnival parades in Brazil as a dancer. In 2009, Isabela was featured in the documentary, Only When I Dance, directed by Beaide Finzi. Isabela joined Ballet Black as a Junior Artist in 2013 dancing in works by Christopher Marney, Javier de Frutos and Martin Lawrance. In 2014, Isabela created the role of Puck in A Dream Within a Midsummer Night’s Dream by Arthur Pita and danced in Martin Lawrance’s ballet, Limbo. In 2015, she was promoted to Senior Artist and created the role of The Maiden in Mark Bruce’s production of Second Coming. In 2016 Isabela was featured in ballets by Christopher Marney and danced the role of Burlesque Dancer and Lulu White in Storyville by Christopher Hampson. In 2017, Isabela was a featured dancer in Martin Lawrance’s Captured and created the role of Mother in Red Riding Hood by Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa. In 2018, she created roles in Cathy Marston’s The Suit and reprised her role as Puck in BB’s 2018 re-staging of Dream. Between 2019 and 2021, Isabela danced in new works both live and on film by Sophie Laplane, Mthuthuzeli November, Hope Boykin, Will Tuckett and Martin Lawrance. In 2022, she created roles in Black Sun by Gregory Maqoma, and collaborated with Cassa Pancho and the Company to create Say It Loud, a celebration of BB’s 20th anniversary. Isabela is an Ambassador for Gaynor Minden, teaches for the BB Junior Associates, online ballet classes and workshops as a guest teacher. In 2021 Isabela became a Ballet Be Fit instructor and launched FredaBela a new collection of Ballet Skirts as a creative designer in collaboration with FredaSilk. In 2022, Isabela received an award from the Black Cultural Archive as one of the 40×40 Black Future Young Leaders for 2023. In 2023 she won the Best Performer Award at the Black British Theatre Awards and in 2024 was the first Black ballerina ever to win the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. Both awards were for her portrayal of Nina Simone in the BB production, Nina: By Whatever Means created by Mthuthuzeli November.
Celena went to her local dance school from a young age where she took classes in Ballet, Modern Theatre Dance, Tap, Singing and Drama. At the age of 13 she started assisting her ballet teacher in classes, this ignited a passion for dance, so to further her dance education at the age of 16 she went to The BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology and thenwent to Central School of Ballet. During her studies she performed with Surrey Youth Ballet and National Youth Ballet of Great Britain. She was also a Ballet Black Associate and trained at the London Russian Ballet School under teachers from the Bolshoi Ballet. After having her daughter Celena retrained as an Early Years Practitioner and started working in schools and nurseries, where she would always share her love for dance and the performing arts with the children she worked with. After many years away from dancing Celena decided to go back to finish her Ballet and Modern Theatre Dance exams that she never completed as a child. After achieving Distinction in both her Grade 8 and Intermediate Ballet Exams as an Adult, this reignited her passion for dance and she decided to retrain as a Dance Teacher. She completed a Level 4 Diploma in Dance Education (ISTD Modern Theatre Dance) and is now in her final year studying the Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies with The Royal Academy of Dance. Celena has been working at the RAD Headquarters as an assistant within the Dance School and Examinations Department, where she has gained more knowledge and experience to share with her students. She is also a British Gymnastics Instructor and Freelances as a Dance teacher and Gymnastics Coach within different private Dance/Gymnastic Clubs and local Primary Schools.