The Virginia Arts Festival will present the U.S. premiere of the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s “Black Sabbath - The Ballet” next spring, mixing traditionally delicate choreography with the loud metal music of Black Sabbath.
The Arts Festival regularly presents orchestra and dance performances, but hasn’t done it with traditional ballet and rock music of this subgenre.
“One of the goals I have when I’m programming the festival is if you have any interest in live performing arts … there’s something there that you like,” said Virginia Arts Festival Executive Director Rob Cross. “This kind of reinforces that.”
The Birmingham Royal Ballet came to the Virginia Arts Festival in 2007 and were extremely popular, Cross said.
“It’s a really young, energetic company. You’ve got to be an incredible athlete to do what they do,” he said.
Like all arts organizations, Cross said, the ballet wanted to expand its audience beyond traditional dance enthusiasts. The company shares a hometown with metal godfathers Black Sabbath – Birmingham is a major English city between Manchester and London – and came up with the idea to put ballet to metal music.
The company debuted “Black Sabbath - The Ballet” in Birmingham in September 2023 featuring arrangements of Black Sabbath songs like “Paranoid” and “Iron Man,” as well as new works inspired by the band’s music, according to the ballet’s website.
During the performance, the guitarist joins dancers onstage to be lifted or become part of the choreography. A silver, winged devil that mimics Black Sabbath’s logo stands on an overturned car, watching over all the performers throughout the ballet.
“I think it’s going to pique some interest of people that we probably never touched before,” Cross said. “It gives us the ability to reach our traditional dance audience (and) people who love classic rock and roll.”
The Birmingham Royal Ballet will be part of master classes held in local schools, a common feature of the Virginia Arts Festival, Cross said, and host community classes for people interested in learning from professional dancers.
“Black Sabbath - The Ballet” will be at Chrysler Hall May 30-31, 2025. Tickets and more information are on the Virginia Arts Festival website.
WHRO’s CEO and President Bert Schmidt is a member of the Virginia Arts Festival board. Schmidt is not involved with editorial decisions.
