Ballet Black, Shadows

Last Updated on November 27, 2025

Shadows and Serial Killers in a New Double Bill

4.0 out of 5.0 stars

Ballet Black’s Shadows is a gripping double bill that shows a company in fine form and again highlights its commitment to commissioning new, tailor-made work.   Its two component pieces, A Shadow Work and My Sister, The Serial Killer, are brand new this year and have been touring the country since March, now reaching Sadler’s Wells.

Founded in 2001 by the indomitable Cassa Pancho to provide much needed opportunities to dancers “of Black and Asian ancestry”, as the UK ballet scene has evolved almost beyond recognition (black dancers are now prominent in all the major ballet companies), so Ballet Black has gone beyond its original remit to become a vibrant, highly original ten-strong international company that needs no narrow raison d’être.  

Characteristically, Shadows contains an important debut: A Shadow Work is the first international commission from the up-and-coming American choreographer Chanel DaSilva.   She drew on the Jungian concept of “shadows”, the parts of ourselves we don’t like or feel we can’t deal with and lock away; yet, they pursue and haunt us until we are ready to deal with them and integrate them into our existence.

That’s the process DaSilva herself went through in therapy, and which she’s turned into an intense 40-minute piece, centred on one white-clad woman, danced by Taraja Hudson, and ten black-clad shadows, led by the exciting Brazilian Acaoã de Castro.

A Shadow Work is set to an especially commissioned score by DaSilva’s regular collaborator, composer Cristina Spinei, a nervy, assertive piece of music that blends the sounds of the acoustic piano and the synthesiser to symbolise the conscious and subconscious worlds.  David Plater’s lighting design follows suit, creating clean, well-lit spaces for the central woman and darker, shifting shafts of light for the shadows.

The only prop on an empty stage is a box, the repository of all her shadows, which she must open even though opening it will unleash apparent chaos and pain.    In startlingly original choreography that blends classical and contemporary with a very American energy, the ballet follows the woman’s struggle with the shadows.   

At one point, she runs in place in a pool of light, trying in vain to escape the shadows; they, in turn, form different configurations: now a dark human tower under a filleted shaft of light; now four women; or a vigorous duet for the woman and the lead shadow.

It’s a strong, engaging work, and I hope it stays in repertoire as I wouldn’t mind seeing it a few more times.

After the interval, the mood changes radically with a daring piece of comic/macabre dance theatre. My Sister, The Serial Killer was adapted by Ballet Black director Cassa Pancho from the eponymous first novel by the Nigerian writer Oyinkan Braithwaite, which was long-listed for the Booker Prize.

Pancho thinned down the original cast of characters, reducing it to the essentials: a vapid, social media addicted younger sister, Ayoola, who has the unfortunate habit of killing her boyfriends, her older sister, Korede, a nurse who’s called upon to clean up after her sister, Tade, the doctor whom Korede fancies, but who is perilously attracted to Ayoola.

Subsidiary characters are potential victims, party goers and a host of ghosts that haunt poor Korede.

The result is a crisply clear narrative that grips from the word “go”, carried by totally convincing performances by the three leads: Isabela Coracy as Korede, Helga Paris-Morales as Ayooda and Ebony Thomas as Tade.

As the lights go up, they gradually reveal a dead body on the floor.  Korede, summoned by her rather unconcerned Ayooda, shows she’s well practised at dealing with her sister’s foible: she comes armed with rubber gloves and bleach. Together, they roll the body up in a sheet and throw it in the river, shown as a group of dancers in light blue costumes and sinuous, wavy movement.  

Tom Harrold’s original score is augmented by songs by Fela Kúti and Toots &  The Maytals, the soundtrack for a jolly, colourful party which takes place stage left, while stage right, Ayooda is busy poisoning yet another suitor.

Over 45 minutes, the plot builds to an unpredictable ending that is as funny as it is grim.

Jacob Wye and the dancers are credited as assisting with the choreography, but plaudits to Cassa Pancho for creating an exemplary narrative work, which doesn’t require you to read the synopsis beforehand. And not a so-called dramaturg in sight…

Ballet Black Shadows is at Sadler’s Wells from 26 November to 29 November 2025

Sadler’s Wells (Angel)
Rosebery Avenue
London, EC1R 4TN

Looking for something more festive? Check out our review of The Nutcracker at RBO