Theatre presents spectacular season of dance

Birmingham Rep will be welcoming audiences to its forthcoming season of spectacular dance - featuring performances of world class hip hop to contemporary dance.

Following the premiere at London’s Barbican Theatre in May 2024, the winners of the 2024 Sky Arts Award for Dance, Boy Blue are coming to The Rep for the first time with their highly acclaimed show Cycles (7 and 8 March).

Cycles, featuring nine dancers on stage in an exploration of Hip-Hop dance in all its forms. Connecting movement and rhythm to the bounce of the music and unending motion.

Since the company was founded in east London, 2001, by composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante MBE and choreographer Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy MBE, they have been a radical force, breaking boundaries and creating “choreographic gold” (The Guardian).

Now in its 23rd year, Cassa Pancho‘s Ballet Black makes its return to The Rep with Shadows an exciting new double bill (27 and 28 March)  including Pancho‘s darkly comic adaptation of Oyinkan Braithwaite‘s bestselling novel, My Sister, The Serial Killer.

The double bill is completed by Brooklyn-born, award-winning choreographer Chanel DaSilva, making her British choreographic debut. Renowned for using the arts to inspire meaningful change, DaSilva has been commissioned by prestigious companies such as The Washington Ballet, Parsons Dance Company, and Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and made history as the first Black woman to choreograph for The Joffrey Ballet.

Lastly, founded in 1981 by three Black British men from the Chapeltown area of Leeds, Phoenix Dance Theatre presents Inside Giovanni’s Room (28th May), a full-length dance production inspired by American writer James Baldwin’s ground-breaking 1956 novel Giovanni’s Room.

Baldwin was known for writing about the African American experience and was warned by his publishers that his exploration of sexuality identity and depiction of same-sex relationships could alienate his audience and potentially end his career. Today the novel is celebrated as one of the most important literary works of the 20th century.

To mark Baldwin’s 100th birthday, choreographer Marcus Jarrell Willis unpacks this thought-provoking novel in a narrative adaptation that examines how its themes are still poignant and relevant today.

This new production builds on Phoenix Dance Theatre’s legacy of pushing cultural boundaries and using dance as a platform to ask questions that get to the very heart of what it is to be human.

For tickets visit the website or call 0121 236 4455.  Special offer 3 for 2- add all three shows into your basket and at check-out enjoy 33 per cent off for selected productions.

Photo credit: Camila Greenwell