A resilient and longstanding company, the 21-year-old Ballet Black is no stranger to reinventing itself, and this double act from Will Tuckket and Mthuthuzeli November (who also dances with the company), shows that the company is still very capable of delivering artful performances in a range of emotional registers.

November’s piece was co-commissioned by the Barbican, where it was first performed in March before Ballet Black embarked on a nationwide tour, with dates through the end of October. I personally was lucky enough to catch them at the Oxford Playhouse last week.

The two pieces sit somewhat uneasily side-by-side - it’s more like two shows for the price of one than two halves of a whole - but then again, the contrast between the sleek, monochrome movements and costuming of Then or Now and the loud, brash vibrancy of NINA: By Whatever Means allows the pieces to throw each other into sharp relief.

Then or Now is set to Biber’s ‘Passacaglia for single violin’, a swift but contemplative series of pieces recorded by Daniel Pioro, and is interspersed with poetry from Adrienne Rich’s Dark Fields of the Republic. The voiceover plays as the dancers enact a series of vignettes on widespread uncertainty and the universal need for connection. There’s something poignant and delicate about the scenes, which feel like revisiting old journal entries.

Although the piece was created in 2020, it feels current and organic, in both tone and structure. The dancers are all dressed in unobtrusive nude colours and prioritize a team effort throughout, although Sayaka Ichikawa shines particularly bright.

NINA: By Whatever Means, meanwhile, sets its sights squarely on one musical giant - Nina Simone. The piece is an explosion of colour, sound and movement, from the supremely stylish sixties-style frocks worn by the dancers, to the mercurial and pulse-pounding choreography.

A faithful, chronological bio-musical runs the risk of coming off as formulaic, but here the fairly straightforward storytelling is ignited by deeply felt performances and richly designed costuming and set design. It also helps immensely that, as the titular character, Isabela Coracy has the gravity and charisma to make Simone’s rise feel almost inevitable.

Like Then or Now, NINA: By Whatever Means gathers momentum as it goes on. There’s a perhaps overstretched portion at the start devoted to child-Simone’s ambitions to become a professional classical pianist, thwarted by racism. Once she begins singing in nightclubs and meets her ambitious, ultimately abusive husband (magnetically played by Alexander Fadayiro) the pace picks up.

As Simone’s involvement in Civil Rights deepened, her career became a harder sell, and she became addicted to pills and struggled with bipolar disorder. The piece chooses to exit before those struggles, showing her at the top of her powers, using every modicum of star quality to fight for Black Power. It’s an exhilarating and euphoric end to the show - and the evening.