Ballet Black

Ballet Black is a neo-classical ballet company with nine critically acclaimed sell-out seasons to its credit. Inspirational and innovative, it strives to honour the traditions of classical ballet while breaking new ground with cutting edge choreography. Recently nominated for two Critics' Circle National Dance Awards (for Outstanding Company and Best Classical Female for dancer Sarah Kundi) Ballet Black is an essential part of the classical ballet landscape, the perfect showcase for dancers of black and Asian descent, as well as a wonderful platform for choreographers, established and new. Not surprisingly, Ballet Black attracts dancers, choreographers and designers from around the world. In recent years, the company has worked with Richard Alston, Liam Scarlett and Will Tuckett; for their forthcoming 2010 season, hip hop choreographer Robert Hylton makes a brand new pas de deux, the award winning classical choreographer Christopher Hampson creates a piece for the full company to the music of Hindemith and modern dance maker, Henri Oguike creates his first classical ballet. "Ballet Black is a company absolutely everyone must see." Mike Dixon, Dance Europe, 2009

Pendulum

Choreographed by Martin Lawrance

Composer | Steve Reich (b.1936)
Pendulum Music (8 microphones) (1968)
used by permission of Universal Edition (London) Ltd.
Costume Design | Peter Todd
Photography | Bill Cooper

Dancers | Cira Robinson & Jazmon Voss

Pendulum is a duet that swings between images of combat and moments of
close partnership between its two dancers who have the freedom to
manoeuvre and interpret the material in their own particular way.

Choreographer & dancer bios:

Martin Lawrance
Martin was born in Leicester and began dancing with Leicestershire Youth Dance under the direction of Sue Rosenbloom. He trained at London Contemporary Dance School from 1991-1995, where he first worked with Richard Alston. Martin has restaged ten of Richard Alston’s choreographies, in Britain and overseas. In 2000, Martin was invited by the Meltdown Festival on the South Bank to make Thimble Rigging, to an original score by Scott Walker. He has created three works for LCDS and two works for the State School of Dance in Athens, where he created Grey Allegro and Silken Steel. In 2003, Martin presented a full evening of his own work at The Place and in 2004 Charge was commissioned for the Place Prize. Grey Allegro and Charge were subsequently taken into the Richard Alston Dance Company repertoire. More recently, for RADC, he created About Face, Brink, Body & Soul and To Dance and Skylark. Martin was a principal dancer with RADC from 1995-2007 when he retired from dancing and is now RADC’s Rehearsal Director.

Cira Robinson
Cira was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she began dancing at the age of eight, spending many summers training with the Cincinnati Ballet. After graduating from the Performing Arts School in 2004, she moved to New York to dance full-time with Dance Theater of Harlem. During her three years there, she performed at the White House for the President of the United States, as well as the Protégé Festival. In 2008, Cira travelled to the U.K for the first time to join Ballet Black. In the summer that year, she danced with Ballet Identity in Los Angeles, before returning to Ballet Black in November. This is Cira’s second season with the company, and she hopes to learn and grow with Ballet Black for many years to come.

Jazmon Voss
Jazz was born in Utica, New York and started his ballet training at the age of four at the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute. At fifteen, he began attending Summer Intensive courses at the Rock School of Philadelphia and the Nutmeg Conservatory in Connecticut. The following year, he was accepted into the Dancing Through Barriers® Ensemble, a part of Dance Theater of Harlem, under the direction of Arthur Mitchell. Jazz joined Ballet Black in 2008.