Why Cassa Pancho created a ballet company she hoped would become 'wonderfully unnecessary'

12:49How Ballet Black is changing the world of dance

For most of its history, the world of ballet has been very white. But over the last 22 years, there's been a U.K. company dedicated to redefining the modern ballet canon.

Commotion host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with Cassa Pancho, the founder of the groundbreaking company Ballet Black, about how she's changing up what — and who — we see onstage.

For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

Pancho says she was inspired to found Ballet Black because of experiences she had during her own training as a dancer.

"I grew up with everyone thinking I was Spanish or Italian because I'm at the very pale end of being dual-heritage," Pancho says. "So I would be around people who would say things about what they thought Black bodies could and could not do in ballet, because they did not know that there was somebody with Caribbean heritage right there in the room."

Pancho says 25 years ago, she heard "really ridiculous things," like how some people believed ballet was not of interest to anyone from the Black community, or that bodies of African descent weren't made to dance classical ballet, or that Black hair wouldn't fit into a ballet bun and would affect a dancer's ability to turn properly.

"Real, real nonsense," Pancho says, "and of course all of which is untrue."

In her final year of school, Pancho realized just how much a space dedicated to ballet dancers of colour was needed.

"I spent a whole year writing about the lack of Black women in British ballet [for my] dissertation, and I wanted to interview four or five women from the U.K. in professional ballet who could tell me what their experiences had been — and there were no women.

"I had to talk to American dancers. I had to talk to male dancers. I realized that, actually, nothing exists where a young Black dancer … would not be the only Black face in the room."

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At the age of 21, Pancho founded her company with the hope of giving Black and Asian directors, teachers and dancers a space free of those barriers found in more traditional dance companies.

"What does that do to the power dynamic in a studio, when you are not the only one?

"There's no one to talk about your hair type. If your hair is in braids, or an afro, or locks, it is great. We embrace all of that. The shoes, tights and costumes we use are in your skin color. Culturally, we're not making work that depicts people from different cultural backgrounds as being lesser than those from a white European background…. So what you're left with is equal footing to just be an artist."

On the Ballet Black website, the company writes that it would like to see its initial vision become "wonderfully unnecessary."

"I hoped that in terms of representation on stage, we would become obsolete," Pancho says, "because it would become so prevalent across the ballet companies in the U.K., that it wouldn't seem like an obvious need anymore."

Now, Pancho says that over the last 22 years, she's come to understand there's so much more to her company and its mission of diversifying the world of ballet than just changing who gets to shine onstage.

"I realized it's not just dancers. You need producers, directors, choreographers, rehearsal directors, funders and the people who run theatres to diversify as well to make a true change. I think that side of what we do is still very important, and also the repertoire that we make.

"We make ballets that speak to people today — not that there's not a place for all the classics like Swan Lake and Giselle, but sometimes it's great to go to the theatre and see something where you feel represented. So I think in that way, we would continue to create great work, but the racial reasons why I started the company would not be as necessary."

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Cassa Pancho produced by Jess Low.