Ballet Black: Say It Loud

(This is a past event and is no longer running)

Celebrating 20 years of Ballet Black, a film of ballet Say It Loud, followed by a Q&A session about this history of the company, the obstacles we’ve faced along the way, where we find ourselves today and what does the future hold.

Cassa Pancho, founder and Artistic Direct of Ballet Black describes the piece: “In 2001, I choreographed one of the first pieces in the Ballet Black repertoire.  I thought one of my main roles as founder of BB would be to make dozens of ballets for my company. I quickly realised that maintaining a ballet company, even a small one, meant I didn’t have much time to think about making work: the fundraising, management, programming, marketing and teaching took every ounce of my energy. I moved very happily into programming other choreographers to make work for BB, assisting, editing and rehearsing for them and now we have over fifty ballets created by thirty-seven different choreographers. So, twenty years on I have come out of choreographic retirement because I needed to be the one to mark this mile stone in our history. This piece is the story of Ballet Black:  a look at the past and present, divided into seven chapters. The choreography was devised by the dancers and me, and you truly won’t find a more versatile, creative, and generous group of artists anywhere. What I discovered about myself during this process is that it turns out I have all the traits of the most challenging choreographers: changing the music, doubting myself and being the last one to turn in my programme note.”