Documentary

This is an excerpt from the BBC's live coverage of Stormzy's Glastonbury performance featuring BB dancers, Cira Robinson and Mthuthuzeli November."The first section of the show is hard-hitting, that's just a given. We have to see Stormzy in that light. But we also know that Stormzy is the most incredible, humble, beautiful person, and that also had to come across. Dancers from Ballet Black, and the ten-year-old hip-hop dance star Princess K helped them bring out the emotion of Stormzy's songs. "Stormzy himself was very adamant that sharing the stage was a big thing. We brainstormed and spoke about working with Ballet Black, Princess K and we ultimately worked together to create these beautiful moments that touch your heart and give the audience something else to grasp on," he says. Lighting designer Tim Routledge and his team had just an hour to build the gigantic set and lighting rig for Stormzy's set after George Ezra came off stage. "What we wanted to do was make something that wrapped around him and immersed Stormzy in this world that we created on stage. We had to light everything, from intense grime to a beautiful ballet scene." - Amante Falkenstein and Hannah Moore

The sense of all stops being pulled out is hard to miss. If the first three songs pass with Stormzy on stage, with only his union jack vest, his DJ and an intense light show for company (the latter comes complete with a ticker tape that, instead of news events, shows the names of south London boroughs) that quickly changes. There’s a ballet interlude – designed to underline the fact that black ballet dancers now have shoes designed to match their skin tone – there’s a vast gospel choir, there are dancers, complete with a little kid busting moves, there are children on bikes popping wheelies as Stormzy performs Vossi Bop. The Guardian

In an industry dominated by white people, Marie-Astrid often felt discriminated against... But then she found the Black Ballet, a professional ballet company for dancers of Black and Asian descent. It gave her a stage to dance on; and now, she even gets to wear pointe shoes that match her skin tone. Originally film by Zoomin.tv

FIRST UK COMPANY TO CREATE POINTE SHOES FOR BLACK, ASIAN AND MIXED RACE DANCERS

‘Historic moment in British ballet history’
In October 2018, after 18 months of development, Freed of London have teamed up with Ballet Black founder and artistic director Cassa Pancho MBE and Senior Artist Cira Robinson to create the first skin tone pointe shoes, handmade in the U.K. for black, Asian and mixed race dancers.
After over a year in development, Freed of London has introduced new colours ‘Ballet Bronze’ and ‘Ballet Brown’ to their core collection. The Freed of London ethos has always been to develop shoes to meet the needs of each generation of dancer and these new colours continue to reflect this.

“This wouldn’t of been achievable without the help of everyone involved, especially “Ballet Black” whom we collaborated with to create these beautiful new colours.” – Freed of London

“I am beyond delighted that Freed have launched these two new colours. Although it may seem like a very small change to the outside world, I believe this is an historic moment in British ballet history and another step forward for culturally diverse dancers across the globe who wear the iconic Freed brand of shoe.

I would like to thank Freed for using their platform to help instigate change, and Cira Robinson, Senior Artist at Ballet Black, for her unending dedication to making this possible.”- Cassa Pancho MBE, Founder & Artistic Director