Introducing ‘IF’, performed by Hip Hop Legend, Jonzi D, and Rising Star, Alexander Fadayiro, choreographed by Ballet Nights Artistic Director, Jamiel Devernay-Laurence.
Rudyard Kipling’s ‘IF-’, written c.1895, and published in 1910, has become one of his most enduring and beloved works, a poem that has resonated across generations, becoming something of a national and cultural touchstone. Imagining a Father speaking to his son, the stanzas recount a set of guiding principles by which a boy becomes a man, musing on themes of masculinity, ambition, and self-discipline. An early evocation of Victorian Stoicism in the face of a rapidly industrialising landscape, his words speak to the ‘Stiff Upper Lip’ that came to embody the National Masculine ideals and virtues of the time.
However, a testament to the ubiquity of Kipling’s words, its message has remained a popular source of inspiration. American Boxer and activist, Muhammad Ali was known to carry a copy in his wallet, while the third and fourth lines of the second stanza: “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / and treat those two impostors just the same" remain inscribed above the players entrance at Centre Court at Wimbledon. Speaking to Artistic Director, Jamiel Devernay-Laurence, the poem has also been a source of inspiration throughout his life, and in the founding of Ballet Nights. As the start-up celebrates its first birthday, this new creation made for Ballet Nights 006: The Cadogan Hall Concert, choreographed to the very words of Kipling’s Poem, reflects this. Resonating with each of the artists' own experiences, they hope many in our audience will identify and connect with the scenarios portrayed.
“I wanted to bring to life the poem that has acted as a guiding set of principles throughout the past year, and recreate those feelings on stage, working with a dream team of experience and fresh young ambition. It's a huge honour to be able to work with Jonzi D in the flesh, and a great privilege to celebrate Alexander's dancing with this performance.”
Jamiel Devernay Laurence.
Emerging new talent, ‘IF,’ will be performed by Alexander Fadayiro, previously of Ballet Black and New Adventures, having joined as their Central School of Ballet Student Associate 2018/19 for Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake before touring Romeo & Juliet during his third year. This is not the first time Alexander has performed with Ballet Nights, also featuring in Ballet Nights New Voices at Ministry of Sound back in May.
Above: Alex Fadayiro, photography by Viktor Erik Emanuel
Alongside Alexander, Kipling’s words will be read by pioneering spoken word artist, dancer, and theatre maker, Jonzi D, renowned for his contributions to the hip-hop theatre movement, and a leading figure in the promotion and evolution of hip-hop culture since the early 1990s. He is also the founder and artistic director of Breakin’ Convention, an international festival of hip-hop dance theatre, which has become a pivotal platform for showcasing hip-hop culture on a global stage.
Above: Jonzi D, photography by Ben Wachenje.
'IF-' by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
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