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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Megan Graye

Beyoncé congratulates sister Solange as the first African American woman to compose for the New York ballet

Nicholas Hunt / Staff

Beyoncé has posted a congratulatory message to Solange for her work with the New York City Ballet.

The singer shared two photos of her sister to her Instagram page and included a caption, which the star does not usually do.

“Cranes In The Sky” singer Solange was commissioned to compose for Gianna Reisen’s Play Time for the New York City Ballet. She is the first African American woman to do so.

“My beloved sister, there are no words to express the pride and admiration I have for you,” Beyoncé wrote on Instagram.

“You are a visionary and one of one. Congratulations on being the first African American woman to compose for the New York City Ballet. The piece you composed is phenomenal. I love you deep.

“Might I suggest you don’t f*** with my sis,” she added to the post in reference to a lyric from the song “COZY”, which features on her recent album Renaissance.

The image shows Solange holding a bunch of flowers, while another image shows her waving to fans in the street, seemingly both taken from the event that unveiled the piece last week.

Entitled “Villanelle for Times” the composition is a 16-minute long jazz inspired piece which contains piano, brass, double bass, flutes, drums, bells and more.

The suits for the 10 dancers were designed by menswear specialist Alejandro Gómez Palomo, who was chosen for his knack for “angular shapes”. These brightly coloured costumes were brought to Solange to inspire her composition.

There were a total of 800,000 Swarovski crystals used across all of the pieces, which were embedded along the pinstripe of the suits.

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