When a dear friend asked me to join her to see Ballet Black, it was an immediate yes. I’ve seen the troupe before but it’s been a global pandemic since then.
It feels like at some point in every post I write how tough running a business is – it really is – but the last couple of weeks have been particularly intense. Being someone to all things is tough and I’ve been needing an outlet.
So to have someone bless me with an evening of culture was healing. What a stunning performance. To see Black bodies so beautiful formed, contorted, expresive, talented. It moved both my friend and I to tears.
The show was split into two parts:
Part one looked at the Ballet Black journey: the naysayers, the constant questioning and justifying of the need for a Ballet group that contradicted the more ‘classic norms’ and wild, visual stamp that exclaimed THIS is why they’re here.
Part two seemed to channel into the South African roots of one of the leads Mthuthuzeli November (who I instantly fell for) as the dancers seemed to be transported from the modernity of the earlier segment to what felt like a return to their ancestry.
Part one seemed to speak of what I’ve begin to call the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ experience of Black people. The constant defending, the search for pockets of joy, the effect it has on mental health. By the time we reached the second half it felt like in order for there to be some sort of restorative healing we had to return to the heart of who we were or should I say are to our core.
It was messy. It was raw. It was painful. It was loud. It was emotional. It was necessary. The movements so energetic sweat dripped off all the dancers as they released in a way that I can only imagine means you have to let go. No form of self-awareness or timidity could exist in order to execute the piece in its truest form.
I’ve always loved Ballet Black but it was the first time I felt like I got it. It spoke so true to our most recent experience. It spoke so true to the assault on the Black experience and really as the troupe is not Black in its entirety, it spoke to the experience of being othered.
It was such an unexpected blessing to see this performance.
