This Yoruba Meets Hip-Hop Ballet Set to Ibeyi is Everything
Watch footage from famed Italian choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti's new ballet set to the music of Ibeyi.
As if the music of Ibeyi could get any prettier, someone went and made an entire ballet inspired by the Yoruba sounds of the Diaz sisters. That someone is the famed Italian choreographer, Mauro Bigonzetti.
Bigonzetti returned to New York’s legendary Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater this June to create Deep, a piece that sets African and hip-hop dance to eight songs––“Eleggua (Intro),” “Oya,” “River,” “Think of You,” “Mama Says,” “Behind the Curtain,” “Ibeyi (Outro),” “Exhibit Diaz”––from Ibeyi’s self-titled debut album.
“Deep comes from the body. The looking can be deep, the touch can be deep, the sense of the life can be deep, the roots can be deep,” Bigonzetti explained in a behind-the-scenes video.
Going off this recently-surfaced footage, the collaboration was one of the most exquisite mashups of contrasting music and dance forms since last year’s brilliant South African pantsula meets afrofuturistic jazz video.
“We are deeply honored and happy to be musically part of DEEP,” Ibeyi said in an Instagram post.
The 29-minute show debuted last month at Alvin Ailey. Watch highlights from DEEP in the video below.