Sadler’s Wells, London
November 26, 2025
Now in its 24th year, Ballet Black returned to Sadler’s Wells with a double bill of dark ballets, the best of which is founder and artistic director Cassa Pancho’s My Sister, The Serial Killer, inspired by a novel by Nigerian author Oiyinkan Braithwaite.
Korede’s sister, Ayoola has a bit of an issue with boyfriends. She’s killed three. Korede should go to the police, of course, but family comes first. Until Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Long in love with him, she doesn’t want him to also end up with a knife in his back. So, who to save who to sacrifice?
Photo ASH
I haven’t read the book, and no doubt the dance version fleshes out (if you’ll pardon the expression) the sparse details in the original book whilst simultaneously smoothing out the complications, all making for an entertaining distillation of the general idea.
The smorgasbord of sixties-ish music suggested by composer Tom Harrold permits some inspired choreography. For such a gory subject, Pancho’s touch is light. Perhaps because we don’t see any consequences to the actions (forget evidence-based detection and the difficulty of actually despatching and disposing of human bodies), Ayoola’s is not quite the perfect crime but it is almost amusing.
It would require a spoiler alert to explain why the ending is also rather satisfactory. My Sister, The Serial Killer would make an excellent companion piece for Fall River Legend, a work all-too rarely seen on these shores these days.
The evening opens with Chanel DaSilva’s A Shadow Work, described as a delve “into the profound practice of shadow work,” and apparently based on Jung’s description of the ‘repressed self.’ Whilst I would disagree with Balanchine that there are no mothers in law in ballet (Cinderella disproves that quite easily), trying to convey psychological concepts in dance form is almost always doomed to failure.
The ballet is essentially a sort of version of the Pandora’s Box myth and, as such, is pretty limited in what it can depict. The thumping electronic score courtesy of composer Christina Spinei, which curiously sounds quite dated, makes it seem somewhat longer than it actually is. It was a relief to the ears when a pas de deux was executed to a mostly piano accompaniment.
Photo ASH
It was neatly danced, although the choreography is not the most exciting, and comes what feels like an odd obsession with supported cartwheels. There is some pretty deft box tossing, though.
It could have been a murky view with the stage dressed as a black box and all but the female lead dressed head to toe in black, but David Plater’s lighting does at least provide enough illumination for the dancers to be seen.
Ballet Black have had a difficult year so far having been evicted from their Central London base with the concomitant nightmare of re-locating to Hammersmith. It doesn’t show in performance, however. Despite reservations about the opening ballet, Shadows is well worth a look.