Photo Flash: Ballet Black Takes the Stage at the Barbican

There's always a buzz when Ballet Black take to the main stage, their popular programmes contrasting dramatic and playful storytelling in a lively showcase of powerful choreography.

Broadway World has the exclusive look !

In the first half, Ballet Black reprise Martin Lawrance's 'wickedly intelligent' (Guardian) Pendulum, an intimate duet that the company premiered in 2009. This is followed by a light-hearted work CLICK! by Scottish Ballet's choreographer-in-residence, Sophie Laplane, a new piece for a mesmerising ensemble whose dancers are all of black and Asian descent.

Forming the second half of the bill, Ingoma (meaning song) is a specially commissioned piece by company dancer and choreographer Mthuthuzeli November, which imagines the struggles of black South African miners and their families in 1946 - the same year in which 60,000 of them took courageous strike action. Through a fusion of ballet, African dance and singing, the performance by Ballet Black's artists portrays a milestone moment in the country's history.

Creative team

Mthuthuzeli November, Martin Lawrance, Sophie Laplane Choreography

David Plater Lighting

Yann Seabra, Peter Todd Design

Peter Johnson, Steve Reich, The Mudlarks, To Rococo Rot, Ken Beebe Composers

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2019/event/ballet-black-triple-bill

Photo Credit: Roy Tan