Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black presents Shadows with choreography and direction by Chanel DaSilva. Everything about this first piece in the first half 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 dancing is beautiful…a merge of classic with contemporary. A must see.
The second piece, My Sister, the Serial Killer based on a best-selling novel by Oyinkan Braithwaite features direction , choreography and adaption for stage by Cassa Pancho. It centres an older sister who wants to protect her sister under any circumstances it would seem. Her younger sister is a murderer and we see her succeed at least twice… the visual language is bright and garish.
I asked two fellow audience members what they thought about the two pieces and I was categorically told that they understood the second half because the story was clear…so perhaps you should listen to them. Whatever you do, go and see it! And let me know which story moves you most.
NEED TO KNOW: Ballet Black Shadows is at Sadler’s Wells East until 29 Nov 2025
