Ballet Black at 25
- Robert Beale
- Apr 15
- 3 min read
Mthuthuzeli November and Hope Boykin
Ballet Black
Lowry, Salford
April 14, 2026; 1 hr 40 mins
(also at Leeds Playhouse, May 8, and other venues)
It seems a pity that Ballet Black’s time on the Lowry stage, which was for three nights in 2023 and two nights in 2024, should be a one-night visit only this time. That’s not necessarily anything to do with popularity, and certainly nothing to do with the quality of what the company offers; but Northerners will have to go to Leeds Playhouse next month if they missed the show in Salford.
They should definitely go, for this small company (11 on stage last night), which performs with minimal sets and to recorded sound, punches way above its weight when it comes to technical and artistic quality, and its track record in commissioning new work is extraordinary.
That element is celebrated in this double bill: a new work by Hope Boykin (former Alvin Ailey Company dancer and celebrated creator Stateside), in her UK choreographic debut, called …all towards hope, and a revival of one of Ballet Black’s most feted recent commissions, Ingoma, by Mthuthuzeli November, a former company dancer, from 2019, which won an Olivier award.
It can be a default pattern for double bills to put a more serious or tragic work on first and follow it with something positive and upbeat. This programme did it the other way round: in truth both pieces are serious in intent, but the sheer impact of the Mthuthuzeli November piece means that anything that follows it would seem anti-climactic.
…all towards hope is serious enough. It’s danced to spoken text by Boykin herself, about change, striving for a better day, “moving together”, “pushing back” – code in America for achieving real equality and justice in a semi-racialist society, I think – and a simple but beautiful piano and rhythm score created by Bill Laurance (a Boykin collaborator in other work). The layer upon layer of aspirational verbiage can be over-heavy (and is repetitive), but the music carries the movement as a solo dancer (Isabela Coracy) moves in and through the group as a visual symbol of the messages we’re hearing, sometimes looking at the audience to underline the questions we are being asked.
The style is fluid and graceful, a community in cohesion but with roles for everyone to stand out. There’s a wonderful synthesis of styles in the steps and by the end, a swaying expression of joy – and, of course, hope. It’s a signature work in every way.
Ingoma tells the story of the 2012 South African miners’ strike, which ended with 34 miners being killed when police opened fire on them – another Sharpeville, to those aware of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle. It shows the men, and the women supporting them in their hopes and suffering: there are chants and shouts as well as the pounding and keening score, created by Peter Johnson and Mthuthuzeli November: the miners stomp in gumboots, as their defiance brings them to a tragic climax, and the women suffer with them.
The final minutes are a kind of Requiem, as one woman tries to console another in her mourning and the community holds together despite everything. It’s incredibly moving.
More info and Leeds tickets here
