Cassa Pancho
Of Trinidadian and British parents, Cassa founded Ballet Black in 2001 after graduating from professional dance training and was one of the first dancers and choreographers in the Company. Her initial goal was to provide role models to young, aspiring Black and Asian dancers. A year later, she opened the BB Junior School in Shepherd’s Bush. Cassa is a graduate of the 2009 National Theatre cultural leadership programme, Step Change. Since starting the Company, she has commissioned work from a wide range of choreographers, including Liam Scarlett, Richard Alston, Sophie Laplane, Javier de Frutos, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Shobana Jeyasingh, Henri Oguike, Arthur Pita, Will Tuckett and Mthuthuzeli November. Ballet Black has won both the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Company in 2009 and Best Independent Company in 2012. Cassa was awarded an MBE in the 2013 New Years’ Honours List for Services to Classical Ballet and has served as a judge on the panels of both the Kenneth Macmillan Choreographic and BBC Young Dancer competitions. In 2015, Cassa was appointed a Patron of Central School of Ballet and in May 2016 became a vice president of The London Ballet Circle.
In 2017, she joined the Ballet Now consortium in association with Birmingham Royal Ballet. Also that year, Cassa, along with Senior Artist Cira Robinson, collaborated with renowned British ballet shoe manufacturer, Freed of London, to create two brand new pointe shoe colours to enable dancers of Black and Asian descent to buy skin-tone pointe shoes ready-made. In 2018, Cassa was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. In 2020, Cassa authored a guide for improving equity and access in ballet for dance schools and companies that has been widely shared in the arts world. She is a Board Member of Scottish Ballet, and serves on their Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee. Cassa also works as a consultant in EDI for several British dance organisations, including National Youth Ballet and the Elmhurst School of Ballet. To date, she has commissioned 48 choreographers, to create over 60 new ballets for the Company. She teaches regularly for the BB Junior School in Shepherd’s Bush, West London and has a degree from Durham University.
Known For
Choreography, Director, Editing, Executive ProducerBBonFilm CREDITS
7Cassa Pancho
Of Trinidadian and British parents, Cassa founded Ballet Black in 2001 after graduating from professional dance training and was one of the first dancers and choreographers in the Company. Her initial goal was to provide role models to young, aspiring Black and Asian dancers. A year later, she opened the BB Junior School in Shepherd’s Bush. Cassa is a graduate of the 2009 National Theatre cultural leadership programme, Step Change. Since starting the Company, she has commissioned work from a wide range of choreographers, including Liam Scarlett, Richard Alston, Sophie Laplane, Javier de Frutos, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Shobana Jeyasingh, Henri Oguike, Arthur Pita, Will Tuckett and Mthuthuzeli November. Ballet Black has won both the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Company in 2009 and Best Independent Company in 2012. Cassa was awarded an MBE in the 2013 New Years’ Honours List for Services to Classical Ballet and has served as a judge on the panels of both the Kenneth Macmillan Choreographic and BBC Young Dancer competitions. In 2015, Cassa was appointed a Patron of Central School of Ballet and in May 2016 became a vice president of The London Ballet Circle.
In 2017, she joined the Ballet Now consortium in association with Birmingham Royal Ballet. Also that year, Cassa, along with Senior Artist Cira Robinson, collaborated with renowned British ballet shoe manufacturer, Freed of London, to create two brand new pointe shoe colours to enable dancers of Black and Asian descent to buy skin-tone pointe shoes ready-made. In 2018, Cassa was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. In 2020, Cassa authored a guide for improving equity and access in ballet for dance schools and companies that has been widely shared in the arts world. She is a Board Member of Scottish Ballet, and serves on their Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee. Cassa also works as a consultant in EDI for several British dance organisations, including National Youth Ballet and the Elmhurst School of Ballet. To date, she has commissioned 48 choreographers, to create over 60 new ballets for the Company. She teaches regularly for the BB Junior School in Shepherd’s Bush, West London and has a degree from Durham University.