This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(June 2024) |
Formation | 2001 |
---|---|
Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Founder | Cassa Pancho |
Cassa Pancho's Ballet Black is a British ballet company. It was founded by Cassa Pancho MBE in 2001 as a response to the lack of professional Black and Asian ballet dancers in the UK. [1] The Company was established to provide dancers and students of black and Asian descent with inspiring opportunities in classical ballet [2] . In addition to the professional performing company, Ballet Black also has three BB Junior Ballet School locations, based in London, for ages 3 to 18. The classes are held in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Marylebone and Stratford and the teachers include artistic director Cassa Pancho and Senior Artist Isabela Coracy. The junior school is a key part of the work of Ballet Black, and is essential to creating, building and sustaining the future of diversity in ballet. The company has made a list of actions resources available on their website so that other companies and dance schools can made active steps to become inclusive and anti-racist. [3]
In addition to company Founder, Artistic Director Cassa Pancho the ballet black founding members included Denzil Bailey (ballet master, dancer and choreographer), Celia Grannum Perarnaud (dancer), Sia Kpakiwa (Kiwa) (dancer), Florence Raja (née Kollie), Jake Nwogu (dancer), Gerrard Martin (dancer) and Frederic Claudel (dancer). [4]
Ballet Black achieved charity status in 2004. [5] Its patrons are Thandiwe Newton OBE and Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE, and Althea Efunshile is the chair of the trustees. [6] Arts Council England made Ballet Black a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) for 2018-2022 and awarded them £880,000. [7]
Ballet Black have been nominated for and have won numerous dance awards [8] including The Critics' Circle National Dance Awards, Sky Arts, and Oliviers. In the 2012 National Dance Awards (announced Jan 2013) they won the Grishko Award for the Best Independent Company, [9] and in the 2018 awards their dancer José Alves won Outstanding Male Dancer in Classical Performance, while Cathy Marston won Best Classical Choreography, both for work on The Suit. [10] Other nominations included the company's Arthur Pita's nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2014 for his choreography of A Dream Within A Midsummer Night's Dream, [11] and the same piece receiving a nomination for the 2015 Sky Arts award for dance. [12]
Ballet Black have featured in documentaries including The South Bank Show in 2016 and BBC Four's Danceworks. [13] [14]
A collaboration with dance shoe company Freed of London was announced in 2018. Freed added two new colours, "Ballet Bronze" and "Ballet Brown" to their range of pointe shoes. [15]
Senior Artists Cira Robinson and Mthuthuzeli November danced as part of Stormzy's headlining act on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival 2019. [16] [17]
Nell Leyshon is a British novelist and award-winning dramatist. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Alpine Fellowship and as the Deputy Chair of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Prior, she served on the Management Committee for the Society of Authors. Leyshon is known best for her novel,The Colour of Milk, which was translated into multiple languages and gained international recognition, winning the Prix Interallié in France where it was also shortlisted for the Prix Femina, and voted the book of the year in Spain.
Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock is an English actress, singer, and author. She has performed in theatre - plays and musicals in London, and her Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane (1966) earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in Play.
Jocelyn Pook is a composer who is known for her scores for many films, including Eyes Wide Shut, The Merchant of Venice and The Wife.
New Adventures is a British dance-theatre company. Founded by choreographer Matthew Bourne in 2001, the company developed from an earlier company Adventures in Motion Pictures, now dissolved.
Tamara Rojo CBE is a Spanish ballet dancer. She was the English National Ballet's artistic director and a lead principal dancer with the company between 2012 and 2022. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. She became the artistic director of San Francisco Ballet in late 2022.
Wayne Philip Colin Sleep is a British dancer, director, choreographer, and actor who appeared on the BBC series The Real Marigold on Tour and ITV's The Real Full Monty.
Sharon Delores Clarke is an English actress and singer. She is a three-time Olivier Award winner, and is best known to television audiences for her role as Lola Griffin in the medical drama Holby City, and as Grace O'Brien in Doctor Who. Clarke has also played lead roles in many West End musicals, and originated the roles of the Killer Queen in We Will Rock You and Oda Mae Brown in Ghost the Musical.
Lesley Ann Manville is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014). She has been nominated for two British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Another Year (2010) and Phantom Thread (2017), with her performance in the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Akram Hossain Khan, MBE is an English dancer and choreographer of Bangladeshi descent. His background is rooted in his classical kathak training and contemporary dance.
Sir Wayne McGregor, CBE is a British choreographer and director who has won multiple awards. He is the Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor and Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. McGregor was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 2011 for Services to Dance.
Josefina Gabrielle Holmes, professionally known as Josefina Gabrielle, is a British actress and former ballet dancer, best known for her performances in West End musicals and plays.
Stephen Leonard Mear is an English dancer, choreographer and director best known for his award-winning work in musical theatre.
Javier De Frutos is a Spanish-Venezuelan director, choreographer and designer was named by the Evening Standard as one of 2016 most influential people in London.
Anna Fleischle is a theatre designer who has worked in theatre, dance and opera.
Royal Blood is an English rock duo formed in Littlehampton in 2011. The current lineup consists of Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher (drums). Their signature sound is built around Kerr's bass playing style, which sees him using various effects pedals and amps to make his bass guitar sound like an electric guitar and bass guitar at the same time. The duo were signed by Warner Chappell Music in 2013 and have since released four studio albums: Royal Blood (2014), How Did We Get So Dark? (2017), Typhoons (2021), and Back to the Water Below (2023).
Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr., known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats. Stormzy's song "Shut Up", which was initially released as a freestyle on YouTube, became popular and peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart after he launched a campaign to reach Christmas number one.
Will Tuckett is an English director and choreographer, who has created works for many international companies including the Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, and English National Ballet.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the performing arts, mirroring its impacts across all arts sectors. Due to physical distancing requirements and closure of the physical venues, curtailing not only public performances but also rehearsals, many performing arts institutions attempted to adapt by offering new digital services. In particular this resulted in the free online streaming of previously recorded performances of many companies – especially orchestral performances and plays – lists of which were collated by journalists as well as bespoke crowdsourcing projects.
Dust is a one-act contemporary ballet about World War I, choreographed by Akram Khan, music by Jocelyn Pook and created for the English National Ballet. It marked the first time Khan worked with a ballet company, and premiered on 2 April 2014 at the Barbican Centre, London.
Jean-Marc Puissant is a stage and costume designer. curator and consultant for live arts and exhibitions. Based in London, Puissant collaborates with international brands, directors, choreographers and curators in the UK, USA, Europe, Australia and Japan.
Ballet Black - Discipline: Dance - Total investment 2018-2022: £880,000.00 - Type of organisation: National Portfolio Organisation