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Ballet Black
by Cassa Pancho | |||||||
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Q. What do you get when you cross ballet, a blind man, jock straps, the Charity Commission and free movement scarves? A. The biggest riot I have ever had, at the most recent Ballet Black show. I haven't even seen the Jerry Springer Opera (you don't have to have seen it to love that line - you just need to hang out with Michael Rolnick long enough to learn the aria off by heart) and since our February show involved some of the filthiest, funniest dancers in the world - or at least in New York - I don't think I'll have to. Whizzing through the highlights…
We were back at the Cochrane Theatre, settling in well to the get-in day - lights were being lit, steps were being stepped, pianos were being tuned, all in silhouette as the lights were going up and down and up and down…when the sound engineer asked me to show the piano tuner man the exit. I stood and gave him a wave but he turned his back to me. Hmm. So, I wave again with a "hello? This is the way out!" Nothing. Finally, getting more than a little bit fed up (mate, if you can't be bothered to even look at me then find your own way out) I gave him a big "Yo! Over here!" (with double-arm overhead wave). He finally turned and good-God-let-the-floor-open-and-swallow-me-now…there in beautiful silhouette lighting was the piano tuner man and his white cane. And of course, not only was he blind, but I had to take him up two flights of stairs to go to the bathroom, back down again, out the theatre and back to Holborn tube station. I was so mortified that I had to thank God he was blind. Returning to the auditorium, I asked the twenty or so people there, "So, did anyone else notice that the piano tuner man was B-L-I-N-D?" My question was met with the general consensus of "Yes", "Yeah", "Uh-huh" and even one "Yeah - oh my God, isn't it amazing?"
"Well **** you all!" I said. And they all fell about laughing.
 Cassa Pancho & Denzil Bailey in A New Beginning by Denzil Bailey © Richard Bolton
Boy#1:"Oooh daymn - my jock strap is nastyyyyy!" And so on. Us Brits were laughing so hard we had tears streaming down our faces, our stomachs hurt, and damned if we didn't almost mess up our own underwear. Almost. And don't think they didn't notice: Boy#1: "Hey girls! Don't you be laughing at us! Y'all are just as nastyyyyy!"
How can anyone hate Americans?
 Jake Nwogu & Neil Totton in The Boogaloo Rooms by Cassa Pancho © Richard Bolton
So next on the agenda is more fundraising and promoting, adding more classes to the school and doing class with the DTH when they arrive. I just reviewed a book called Alvin Ailey Dance Moves! by Lise Friedman for the Dance Gazette and wrote a chapter of a new book that's coming out. The whole thing is about feet (foot fetishism, foot binding in China etc) and my bit is about the history of the pointe shoe and how it relates to black women - all condensed into just over two thousand words. Not easy, but it's done! More details when it's out…We've done some educational workshops, using Patrick Lewis's Pas de Trois that has gone down very well - the Cranleigh Prep school bulletin: Ballet Enjoyed By All, I think, speaks for itself. Cranleigh Prep today…and quite possibly still doing that in five years time. So cynical. But seriously, to quote the line I keep spinning to Denzil…this time next year, we'll be millionaires…
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Cassa Pancho by William Potter ©