Ballet Black: Triple Bill

Wed 6th - Sat 9th Nov 2019

About

Celebrating their 18th year, there’s always excitement when Ballet Black take to the stage. Their popular programme contrasts dramatic and inventive storytelling in a lively showcase of modern ballets. Led by Artistic Director Cassa Pancho, recent recipient of the Freedom of the City of London for her contribution to diversity in ballet, the company celebrates dancers of black and Asian descent.

INGOMA (meaning song), created by company dancer and choreographer Mthuthuzeli November is a fusion of ballet, African dance and singing. This premiere and Barbican co-commission portrays a milestone moment in South African history and imagines the struggles of black miners and their families in 1946, when 60,000 of them took courageous strike action.

Ballet Black reprise Martin Lawrance’s “wickedly intelligent” (The Guardian) PENDULUM – an intimate duet which premiered in 2009 and the choreographer’s first work made for the company. CLICK! an original, light-hearted work by Scottish Ballet’s choreographer-in-residence, Sophie Laplane, also a premiere, completes the Triple Bill.

Booking Enquiries
Our online booking system does not allow customers to leave isolated seats. We do this in order to prevent gaps in the auditorium.

Please note that Row A in the Stalls is the front row. This means you’re really close to the action, but your view may be obscured at certain moments, and these seats are priced accordingly. For some shows the boxes might have a slightly restricted view. Seats marked with an ‘i’ indicate a restricted view.

If you have any booking enquiries then please do not hesitate to speak to our Box Office team on 020 8534 0310.

Our ticket prices increase as the theatre fills. We always recommend booking early to secure the best seats at the best price.

Please note if the show is sold out you may be able to get returns if you arrive at the Box Office at least an hour before the performance time. Resales are for cash only and for the face value of the ticket.

More Information

Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes (including interval)
Age Guidance: 7+
Concessions available for under 26s. Click here for details about companion/carer tickets.

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Cast and Creative

Ingoma – choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November
CLICK! – choreographed by Sophie Laplane
Pendulum – choreographed by Martin Lawrance

Ingoma – choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November

Mthuthu was born in Cape Town, South Africa and started dancing at the age of 15 with the outreach programme, Dance For All. In 2011 he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Cape Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA). After receiving the Best Student of the Year for 2013 and 2014, he graduated with a Distinction in 2014. Mthuthu won a gold medal in the Contemporary category in the South Africa International Ballet Competition in 2012 as a Junior, and again in 2014 as a Senior. He has worked with Cape Dance Company under the direction of Debbie Turner, and with choreographers including Bradley Shelver, Christopher Huggins, Joshua Beamish and Belinda Nusser. More recently he danced in the musical West Side Story. In 2015 he travelled to the UK to perform with Central School of Ballet’s third year touring company, Ballet Central, performing all over the country. Mthuthu is also a choreographer and recently won an award for his piece, Calligraphy. He joined BB as First Year Apprentice in September 2015 and was promoted to Junior Artist in 2016 where he created roles in Arthur Pita’s Cristaux and Christopher Hampson’s Storyville. He made his first ballet for BB, Interrupted in July 2016 and created his own choreographic platform, M22 Movement Lab, collaborating with musicians, composers and designers to create new choreography for stage and film. In 2017 he was a lead dancer in the revival of Martin Lawrance’s Captured, and created the role of The Wolf in Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa’s Red Riding Hood. In 2017, Mthuthu was commissioned by the Cape Dance Company to create a new work for 35 dancers, funded by the National Arts Council of South Africa, which premiered at Artscape Theatre in Cape Town. In 2018, Mthuthu created a solo for Precious Adams of English National Ballet, for the Emerging Dancer competition.

CLICK! – choreographed by Sophie Laplane

Franco-British-choreographer Sophie debuted her choreographic skills under the leadership of Scottish Ballet CEO/Director Christopher Hampson. Her first short work Oxymore was showcased at the Edinburgh Festival 2013. It was an immediate success and then featured as part of TedX Glasgow in 2015. Sophie has since presented a number of works for Scottish Ballet including, Maze (2015), which was later adapted for film and shot by director Eve McConnachie, winning the Best Screen Dance Short (Under 10 minutes) at the 2015 San Francisco Dance Film Festival, and Sibilo (2017). Sophie has also created a number of independent pieces, including works for The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Project Y Scotland Persist!, and Watusi for the National Youth Ballet UK in 2018. Her final piece for 2018 was Vis-à-Vis - a duet created for the New York Choreographic Institute after being selected for the Fall Session. Sophie has also developed her interest in 360°filmed dance with The Perfect Place - a collaboration with the BBC. She has taken part in the 2018 Women in Dance Leadership Conference in New York where she presented her duet. The Duel. Sophie is currently undertaking an MA in Choreography at Central School of Ballet, London. Prior to her career as a choreographer, Sophie trained as a dancer at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. After a year at Ballet de Lorraine she joined Scottish Ballet in 2004 where she became First Artist. She has danced for internationally renowned choreographers such as Angelin Prejlocaj, Matthew Bourne, Christopher Hampson, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Martin Lawrance, Christopher Bruce, Javier de Frutos, Helen Pickett, Crystal Pite and Ivgi and Greben. Her new choreography Dextera, will be performed at Scottish Ballet’s Spring! programme in 2019 alongside Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations, celebrating Scottish Ballet’s 50th anniversary. sophielaplane.com

Pendulum – choreographed by Martin Lawrance

Martin was born in Leicester and began dancing with Leicester Youth Dance Theatre under the direction of Sue Rosenbloom. He trained at Coventry Centre for the Performing Arts and then at London Contemporary Dance School. He first worked with Richard Alston whilst performing with the postgraduate performance group 4D. He danced with Richard Alston Dance Company from 1995–2007 having over 25 works created on him and became Rehearsal Director in 2007. Martin has restaged more than 20 works by Richard Alston in the UK, Europe and the US including Light Flooding into Darkened Rooms, Such Longing for New York Theater Ballet, Brisk Singing for University of Michigan, Red Run, Fever, Gypsy Mixture for Hellenic Dance Company in Athens and Sheer Bravado for The Juilliard School, New York. Creations for RADC include About Face, Brink, Stealing Poison, Body & Soul, To Dance and Skylark, Lie of the Land, Other Than I, Madcap, Burning, Stronghold, Tangent, Cut and Run and Detour. Martin has choreographed three works for Ballet Black: Pendulum, Captured and Limbo. For Scottish Ballet his work includes Run For It (for Dance GB) and Dark Full Ride (for Edinburgh International Festival 2013). Martin also works with Ballet Manila, choreographing Misfit Or Maverick, Rebel, Amid Shadows, Aria and The Winding Road.

Ballet Black: Triple Bill

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