U.K. ballet company brings Nina Simone tribute to Toronto

A ballet performance based on jazz legend Nina Simone is coming to Toronto this fall.

NINA: By Whatever Means is part of this year’s Fall for Dance North festival, with performances at Meridian Hall on Oct. 6 and 7.

Presented by the U.K. ballet company Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black, the performance is devised by award-winning choreographer Mthuthuzeli November.

NINA: By Whatever Means is a tribute to the life, music and activism Simone, with music including “Mood Indigo” and “Sinnerman.” The work is a co-commission by London’s Barbican theatre. It premiered in March of 2023.

Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black is a London-based professional ballet company that celebrates dances of Black and Asian descent. Since forming in 2001, its ultimate goal has been to see a fundamental change in the number of Black and culturally diverse dancers in mainstream ballet companies.

This will be Ballet Black’s first-ever appearance in Toronto, as part of their first Canadian tour.

This year marked the 90th anniversary of Nina Simone’s birth.