Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black presents Shadows with choreography and direction by Chanel DaSilva. It’s an open space, a black space except for a slither of white light, a spotlight of white….and in that open stark space a figure appears in white. Simple, beautiful and mystical.
This is Taraja Hudson, dancing the lead and we are immediately captivated. Her shadow enters, danced by Acaoã de Castro in black and he carries her box. Everything about this first piece ignited emotions and recognition of inner struggle. The lighting of the single figure in simple white as she stepped towards us at her highest tips and then steps wide and pulses low was a gasping opening. She carries a box … what does her box represent?
Her life in a box, all her belongings in that box or all the contents of her life so far lived in there and how it affects how she moves through this world. And, then her shadows in black appear. They surround her and push her in several directions. They represent her inner self, her conscience, her hindrances or her motivation. I loved the spotlight on the lead dancer, the lighting, the sounds and the silence, the atmospheric music and the clever appearances out of the darkness of her shadows. The stark stage, just black and white. Beautiful, eerie and atmospheric.
The second half enthusiastically shares an adaptation of My Sister, the Serial Killer with choreography and direction by Cassa Pancho. Lead dancers, Isabella Coracy is Korede, a hard working protective sibling to Helga Paris Morales her murderous sister, Ayoola. Korede “cleans up” her sisters murders in a bid to protect her at all costs until she pursues her work colleague the doctor, Tade played by Ebony Thomas. Then it becomes a dilemma…whom should she protect? The lights are bright, and the colours are vibrant but the deeds are dark.
The music lifts and clashes against the subject of murder with sounds from Toots and the Maytals and Fela Kúti, which are a gift to the piece. But for me, the storytelling is too literal. I’m desperate to find the emotion and feel the characters through movement. The dance, when it happens is strong but there are moments on stage when the cast are getting furniture on or off set or standing on stage setting up a scene instead of dancing the story… However, the dancing is beautiful…a merge of classic with contemporary. A must see. Whatever you do, go and see it!
