Ballet Black Shadows UK Tour review

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Thu 27 Mar 2025 - Tue 18 Nov 2025

Ballet Black has been at the forefront of creating innovative, thrilling dance so I was more than intrigued that it was adapting a best-selling crime novel. This latest Shadows Double Bill tour features a contemporary dance adaptation of Oyinkan Braithwaite's thrilling novel My Sister, The Serial Killer.

Expect blood, I was told, and there was plenty, along with enigmatic spirits in the other haunting piece, A Shadow Work. Cassa Pancho's Ballet Black company tours once a year, which makes the shows among the hottest tickets in town. A lady next to me had travelled from Liverpool to Birmingham just to get a glimpse of the unique and vibrant choreography.

I caught Ballet Black early on of its UK tour at Birmingham Rep theatre , where it stayed for only two nights until March 28. It's back in the Midlands at Coventry's Belgrade in November but also tours to London, Edinburgh, Oxford and more as you can see below.

The opening ballet, A Shadow Work, is a dark, atmospheric piece. At its core is dancer Taraja Hudson, pictured below, who opens a kind of Pandora's Box and gets swept up away with its contents. What emerges are haunting figures that could be her worst fears or shadows of her ancestors. She finds herself in this emotive journey with help from a somewhat supernatural character, danced by Acaoã de Castro.



Brooklyn-born, award-winning choreographer Chanel DaSilva, who created the choreography in her British debut, leaves enough ambiguity to add an air of mystery and fascination. She has previously done work for The Washington Ballet and was the first Black woman to choreograph for Chicago's The Joffrey Ballet.

It gives the company's dancers a platform to show off their talents in fast-paced group numbers that merge mainly contemporary dance with classical ballet and African - Caribbean influences. It already feels exciting, fresh and often fearless.

Following the interval, dancers Isabela Coracy and Helga Paris Morales become the siblings in My Sister, The Serial Killer. It's a vivid new dance adaptation of the famous book but doesn't shy away from murder or gore.

It's sinister but peppered with dark wit, and the joyous dancing in the party scene makes you wish you could join in.



Ebony Thomas, playing Tade the Doctor, pictured above with Morales, also catches the eye, but this dance is all about the leading ladies, squabbling in wonderfully thought out scenes.

Keeping in line with the detail from the novel, choreographer Pancho has managed to get the characterisations spot on. This kind of distinctive, entertaining narrative dance reminded me so much of the early work by Matthew Bourne. Pancho made the difficult job of detailed storytelling look easy, and the topic is mesmerizing.

Murder has never seemed so elegant as unhinged sister Ayoola embraces a knife or dabbles with poison

Ballet Black knows how to entertain. It's creating the most exhilarating contemporary dance in the UK right now, which makes this latest tour an unmissable gem. Catch it while you can.

RATING 5 out of 5 stars


Running Time: Approximately 1 hour 40 minutes, including a 20 minute interval.

Ballet Black UK Tour Dates 2025
See information and tickets at Ballet Black's tour website here .

27 Mar - 28 Mar at 7.30pm
Birmingham Rep Theatre

25 Apr - 26 Apr at 7:30 pm
Oxford Playhouse

21 May at 7:30 pm
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

3 Jul at 5pm
The Grange Festival at Grange Park, Alresford, Hants

8 Oct at 7:30 pm
Watford Palace Theatre, Watford, London

4 Nov at 7:30 pm
The Belgrade, Coventry

18 Nov at 7:30 pm
The Marlowe, Canterbury

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