Culture Catch Up: Island Movements
Welcome back to Culture Catch Up; the series that takes you behind the scenes on Rekindle. On the 1st November, we were lucky enough to have a performance of Island Movements from Black British Ballet in High Wycombe Library. Think you know ballet? Think again!
Island Movements told the story of Windrush, exploring the impact of this generation’s experiences on their families, communities and society. Beginning with a young Caribbean woman who volunteers to support the war effort in WW2 Britain, this moving tale follows her and her family through their life in the UK to the current day.
Darren Panton, the first black British dancer to graduate from the Royal Ballet School and Patrick Williams, who danced at Alvin Ailey and the Paris Opera developed the show. Greta Mendez MBE and Shevelle Dynott are choreographed the show and it featured original music by the groundbreaking Kinetika Bloco. It mixed classical ballet technique with driving calypso, reggae and contemporary black British Music. The show was followed by a Q and A with the performers.
Performers during Island Movements
The show was incredibly well attended, reaching audiences outside of Buckinghamshire. 31% of the audience had never attended a ballet before, and we are thrilled they chose to experience this artform with us at High Wycombe! What was also heartening was that the largest age group was the under 18s, but that our audiences were made up of a wide range of ages. Island Movements was an intergenerational and inspiring piece that touched a lot of hearts. One audience member also mentioned how wonderful it was to share the experience with her daughter. I am personally so proud to have such an event hosted in a library, as I think libraries are great levellers for community. They are spaces where you are free to just exist and bring lots of disparate people together. This is why I think Rekindle is such a wonderful project; it’s bringing exciting new events to the heart of communities. Island Movements did exactly that, and there is lots of appetite for similar shows in the future. We’ll see what we can do!