Ballet Black Heroes Festival Theatre Edinburgh 18th June 2024 Review
Ballet Black: Heroes at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh tonight was a welcome return to one of the most innovative of contemporary dance companies. With a double bill that featured work from Sophie Laplane, Choreographer in Residence at Scottish Ballet, with “If at First”, and choreographer Mthuthuzeli November and “The Waiting Game”, these two very different approaches to visualising a narrative in dance and movement both still allowed the dancers of the company to always be impressive on stage with their individual and group performances.
This current company of dancers could in many respects be considered a new Ballet Black as there have been significant changes recently. Amongst these changes, five new dancers have joined the company to replace artists who have moved on to other roles in the dance industry. In a small performance company like this on, 5 out of 9 is a big change. Obviously though, from tonight’s two performances, dancers new and old have seamlessly blended together to deliver that originality and vibrancy for which Ballet Black has become known to so many people.
The first work this evening, “If At First” (Sophie Laplane 2024) asks many questions about what is the definition of heroes, and ultimately what is defined as heroic in an individual. Drawing inspiration from diverse sources, including Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting of a crown, to Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony – Eroica (or heroic), this work unfolds in a series of vignettes, each of which touches on a different aspect of what a heroic act could be. For some, this is the obvious and traditional definition of the word, but often the heroism of the individual is their ability to give support to those around them when needed, or even a random act of kindness.
The music of Beethoven forms a connective thread to some of these vignettes, but other works, some specially composed and recorded for this ballet (The Argument and Mother & Son), combine with Lighting design (David Plater) and costume design (Jessica Cabassa) to set the backdrops for the dancers of Ballet Black to weave their own interpretive magic on-stage.
Mthuthuzeli November is often asking questions, often looking for answers in his work, and the second performance of this evening, “The Waiting Game” (2020) asks perhaps the biggest question of them all – “what is life all about?”.
Taking the unusual approach to create the main soundscape from the voices and words of the dancers of Ballet Black themselves (and a little touch of Louis Prima’s “I Ain’t Got Nobody”, this work examines the self-doubt that so many of us have about our own abilities and how those around us really perceive us. Some of this work views the world from the perspective of a performer and their audience – Do I really want to go on stage tonight, do I really want to do the same thing over and over again? Do the people out there actually like me, care about me as a human being, or am I just an entertainer for their amusement? Both these questions of course raise far wider questions about an individual in the wider social framework of society itself.
With innovative choreography and a door that is forever opening and closing to allow people in or out of it, this is a highly expressive work which for its finale gave everyone a little bit of old fashioned, song and dance and a lot of costume glitter.
Tonight was also an important night for the Festival Theatre which was celebrating 30 years of delivering a diverse programme of entertainment to literally millions of people since opening its doors in 1994. The building itself is, however, far older than that as an entertainment venue. This location has proud history of being the longest occupied space as a theatre in Edinburgh (since 1830). Here’s to the next 30 years of the Festival Theatre.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This current company of dancers could in many respects be considered a new Ballet Black as there have been significant changes recently. Amongst these changes, five new dancers have joined the company to replace artists who have moved on to other roles in the dance industry. In a small performance company like this on, 5 out of 9 is a big change. Obviously though, from tonight’s two performances, dancers new and old have seamlessly blended together to deliver that originality and vibrancy for which Ballet Black has become known to so many people.
The first work this evening, “If At First” (Sophie Laplane 2024) asks many questions about what is the definition of heroes, and ultimately what is defined as heroic in an individual. Drawing inspiration from diverse sources, including Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting of a crown, to Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony – Eroica (or heroic), this work unfolds in a series of vignettes, each of which touches on a different aspect of what a heroic act could be. For some, this is the obvious and traditional definition of the word, but often the heroism of the individual is their ability to give support to those around them when needed, or even a random act of kindness.
The music of Beethoven forms a connective thread to some of these vignettes, but other works, some specially composed and recorded for this ballet (The Argument and Mother & Son), combine with Lighting design (David Plater) and costume design (Jessica Cabassa) to set the backdrops for the dancers of Ballet Black to weave their own interpretive magic on-stage.
Mthuthuzeli November is often asking questions, often looking for answers in his work, and the second performance of this evening, “The Waiting Game” (2020) asks perhaps the biggest question of them all – “what is life all about?”.
Taking the unusual approach to create the main soundscape from the voices and words of the dancers of Ballet Black themselves (and a little touch of Louis Prima’s “I Ain’t Got Nobody”, this work examines the self-doubt that so many of us have about our own abilities and how those around us really perceive us. Some of this work views the world from the perspective of a performer and their audience – Do I really want to go on stage tonight, do I really want to do the same thing over and over again? Do the people out there actually like me, care about me as a human being, or am I just an entertainer for their amusement? Both these questions of course raise far wider questions about an individual in the wider social framework of society itself.
With innovative choreography and a door that is forever opening and closing to allow people in or out of it, this is a highly expressive work which for its finale gave everyone a little bit of old fashioned, song and dance and a lot of costume glitter.
Tonight was also an important night for the Festival Theatre which was celebrating 30 years of delivering a diverse programme of entertainment to literally millions of people since opening its doors in 1994. The building itself is, however, far older than that as an entertainment venue. This location has proud history of being the longest occupied space as a theatre in Edinburgh (since 1830). Here’s to the next 30 years of the Festival Theatre.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com