Ballet Soul’s mission is to change the perceptions of ballet, whilst delivering work that prioritises high standards and excellence. Ballet Soul showcases innovative work created with ballet dancers from black and ethnically diverse backgrounds. Through outreach and educational work we aim to leave a legacy that nurtures the next generation of dancers and audiences.
Ballet Soul’s work is concerned with athleticism and the potential of the human body – exploring the human soul and the body’s capacity for deep physicality. How the body conveys emotion, the extremeness of bodyline articulation and dynamic shifts in energy and flow are all focal points of their work. Ballet Soul’s influence in style comes from placing Africanist movement values on the classical ballet and traditional dance vocabularies. Contemporary styles are also merged with traditional African storytelling.
Though this work is often formal in its investigation of pure movement, music plays a very big part in the choreography and the use of bodies in the space. Ballet Soul aim to create work that is accessible to a wider audience and are devoted to dance education, particularly with increasing the representation of diverse dancers.
It is this mixing of the rhythms and the soul of the individual dancer that gives Ballet Soul’s choreography its unique voice – one that celebrates the diversity and vibrancy of British and African culture.
