Performance Garage presents Chocolate Ballerina Co.'s 'Premier Prima: A Fight to Success'

These dancers inhabit bodies of different shapes, sizes, skin tones, and genders. Every dancer wears their hair in their own style. I wish such authentic diversity was not notable in today’s dance world, but it is — especially in classical ballet.

Before the show, company director Chanel Holland thanked the dancers, the audience, and those who helped make the show possible. She encouraged everyone to enjoy the arts, especially local artists and performers, and to patronize businesses that support them. The inspiring story and activist consciousness of Chocolate Ballerina Co., launched in part with Kickstarter funds, were echoed in the evening’s three dances.

Presenting the Primas

The first piece, Holland and Gates's “Presenting the Primas,” introduced the company’s dancers and aesthetic. Performed to music by Meek Mill and Guilty Beatz, this work conveyed grace and strength through the range of movement, variety of dance styles, and the power of this blending, particularly when set to contemporary hip-hop.

For instance, female dancers performed ballet sous sus to a spoken-word poem about fighting for success in an unequal world; meanwhile, the company’s male dancer breakdanced on the floor. Energetic squatting and reaching movements evoked both African dance as well as the choreographic style of Alvin Ailey’s namesake company, which famously worked to diversify dance during the 20th century.

Next, a series of falling planks and hip swivels recalled dance moves from hip-hop videos. The dancers seamlessly moved between different dance languages, leaving me with the impression that Chocolate Ballerina Co. has successfully created its own style of moving and performing.

In this way, “Presenting the Primas” seemed to engage in the self-mythologizing which long has been a part of hip-hop tradition. Creating your own myth or origin story is much more than a boast: it is a powerful political act of self-determination and resistance.

The Makings of HER

The show continued with Holland's “The Makings of HER,” with music by Betty Wright and Kanye West. Initially, this seemed an odd musical pairing: Wright is a female soul singer best known for her work in the 1970s, while West needs no introduction. And the initial musical shift between Wright’s “Tonight is the Night” and West’s “Lift Yourself” seemed a little awkward. But “The Makings of HER” gained momentum as it incorporated the company’s seemingly signature blend of influences.

Four female dancers in red dresses danced onto the stage as if into a club. One lifted her leg onto a chair and then extended it into a split. A pair of dancers simultaneously performed solos, one ballet and the other a combination of hip-hop and breakdance. As the rest of the company joined them, the music shifted to the inspiring song “Follow Me” by Aly-Us. The joy on the dancers’ faces, and the Sunday-morning-like sight of their hands in the air suggested a message of praise and hope.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Premier Prima concluded with “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” a dance by guest choreographer Hackney, set to “White Privilege II” by Ryan Lewis and Macklemore. This piece featured the evening’s best use of costuming: while all the dancers wore black, each costume was unique, a decision highlighting the way individuals comprise community and create unity.

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” began with half the dancers holding their hands — bound with a piece of cloth — in front of them as if handcuffed. Later, gesture and movement simulated a shooting and death. Pain transformed into power; the work ended with dancers exiting the stage with fists raised.

But Gates’s dance was at its most powerful when it was less direct. In one sequence, dancers walked across the stage in different directions, some stepping forward, some going backward. The constant movement lacked clear direction or progress, like so much of 21st-century American social, economic, and political culture. Two dancers performed a series of lifts and turns in which one held the other upside down. Here “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” seemed to ask probing questions: how do we know what side is up or down in these troubling times?

Premier Prima: A Fight to Success ended here, but the evening was not over. Holland returned to the stage to invite the audience to participate in a networking reception in the lobby. Like Chocolate Ballerina Co., the reception aimed to celebrate and support local art organizations and businesses, especially those run by black Philadelphians.

The evening was not flawless — the show began more than 20 minutes late, the program was filled with typos, and each of the three dances ended abruptly — but Chocolate Ballerina Co.’s fight to success was a clear victory.