It’s not always obvious what’s going on in Ballet Black’s drama-filled double-bill, but in the face of such exquisite performances, it scarcely matters. As a unit, the company looks sharper than ever, and the technical acumen on display is riveting. Mthuthuzeli November’s re-worked creation, ‘The Waiting Game’, is perhaps the most pondersome. It closes the night with a flash of sparkle (unexpected, given the focus on anxiety) but the fact November was inspired by absurdist writer Samuel Beckett comes as no surprise.

Dressed in a baggy overcoat, dancer Ebony Thomas attempts to find meaning in life beyond work, home, repeat. He wheels an illuminated, opaque doorway around the stage, allowing other dancers to pass through his domain, but remaining lost and alone. Gifted a pearl of wisdom by a fellow dancer (‘just take everything two minutes at a time’), he dons a sequined jacket with the rest of them and they close the show with a jazz hands-esque routine. In short, doing what performers have always done: put on a show, regardless of how they feel inside.

Sophie Laplane’s ‘If At First’ also recognises the quiet unspoken heroism in everyday life. Flipping back and forth between two very different moods, we find the dancers chasing each other to a loud, frantic score, then caught up in delicate moments of reflection and contemplation. The chase itself revolves around a crown, with the current bearer in constant danger of being usurped. But the reflection bears fruit, and by the end, one coveted crown has become nine, and each dancer is a rightful owner. 

Ballet Black reviewed at Festival Theatre, Edinburgh.