Ballet Black was founded in 2001 to provide dancers of Black and Asian descent with opportunities in classical ballet. Since then, the London-based company has more than fulfilled that ambition, said Sarah Crompton in The Observer – not least by commissioning some 70 new works. That is an “astonishing” feat, by a company that punches far “above its weight”.
Now, to mark its 25th anniversary, it has revived its Olivier-winning 2019 hit “Ingoma”, by the South African choreographer Mthuthuzeli November, a company alumnus, and paired it with “…all towards hope”, by the American choreographer Hope Boykin. “Ingoma”, about a strike in South Africa in 2012 when 34 miners were killed by police, is an intense and sophisticated work that “effectively conveys the suffering that is a part of resilience”. Boykin’s piece, an ode to togetherness, is “glorious” at times, but “struggles to sustain momentum”.
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The miners arrive on a crepuscular stage in boots and headlamps, their ensemble dances – “rhythmic stomping to driving percussion punctuated by voice calls” – taken directly from African tribal dances; but we also feel the impact on their families. The piece starts with a passionate duet, in which the wife of a miner (Isabela Coracy) clings to her husband (Ebony Thomas) as if for the last time. “It’s an emotional, heartfelt work.”