Dance

Brazilian Dance: An Introduction

To Be or Tupi: An overall view of dance in Brazil

There are two basic ways in which dance in Brazil relates to the country: it either makes Brazil a theme of its aesthetic content or it does not. Brazilian dance descends from both European court styles and the festival dances of the earliest inhabitants, and possesses the typical ambivalence to be found in most colonized countries.

Sometimes it is like a little bird which builds its nest from materials close to hand; and other times it goes on a one way flight without turning back to its place of origin. In general, however, it operates on the margins of the two traditions, in that zone where something of both meet each other - which is generally speaking the distinguishing mark of Brazilian dance.

In recent history the most significant encounter between "to be and Tupi" was at the hands of Ballet Stagium from São Paulo when, in the 1970s, it decided to make European ballet "speak Portuguese". The directors Décio Otero and Márika Gidali not only searched for Brazilian themes, authors, music and collaborators, but also set themselves to fuse movements from Brazilian popular dances with the techniques of classical ballet.

Two decades earlier, in Rio de Janeiro, the Municipal Theatre Company had tried another form of synthesis. In the belief that to produce Brazilian dance it was enough to use national themes and music, it started to produce works whose structures were identical to those of foreign ballet. The choreographers added some touches of local color, such as Indians using ballet shoes but wearing skin colored leotards and tights to give the illusion of nudity.

Though false, these ideas found a way to survive. Even today, whenever one sees choreography in which the theme has insufficient strength to change the syntax of the work, and is merely decorative, one is dealing with a descendant of such beliefs.

Artists like Toninho Nóbrega, from Recife, and Graziela Rodrigues, from Minas Gerais, are exceptions, not only because they do not start from the outside to arrive at the center, but also because they succeed in making a whole from the various elements.

Graziela Rodrigues promotes minority cultures, such as indians, blacks, candomble. Toninho Nóbrega, an artist with deep knowledge of popular festivals, is an exceptional example of the combination of many arts, from singing to theatre, music, circus, dance. In his work the combination transforms each one of these arts.

In the specific field of ballet, Rodrigo Pederneiras has opened up avenues towards a new fluency. As choreographer of Grupo Corpo, he breaks and bends vertical ballet movements with curves and dynamics which are more street-wise than the traditional language of the theatre.

There is no foreign audience which fails to identify the dance of Toninho Nóbrega, Graziela Rodrigues or Rodrigo Pederneiras as "Brazilian".

Outside ballet, pioneers like Renée Gumiel and Ruth Rachou, for example, have made efforts to attune Brazil with modernity in this second half of the century. They both established schools which became reference points for anyone looking for a connexion with their time.

In the 1970s it was the Teatro Galpão followed by Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia (TBC), both in São Paulo, which introduced the most innovative work. On their stages were seen such professionals as Sônia Mota, Ivaldo Bertazzo, Célia Gouveia and Maurice Vaneau, Mara Borba, Antonio Carlos and Iracity Cardoso, Marilena Ansaldi, Denilto Gomes and Janice Vieira, Clarisse Abujamra, Susana Yamauchi, Penha de Souza, J.C.Violla and Naum Alves de Souza, Ismael Ivo, plus Grupo Endança, Grupo Ex, Cisne Negro.

Traces of that period can be found today in those who continue to research the subject: Helena Bastos, Regina Miranda, Vera Sala, Lia Rodrigues, João Saldanha, Gisela Rocha, João Andreazzi, Márcia Milhazes, Márcia Bozon, Thelma Bonavita, Eva Schull, Sandro Borelli, Kleda Muhana and Betty Grebler, among others.

Just as there are different regional accents, cuisines and customs within Brazil, so Brazilian dance is influenced by geographical factors and is spiced with other influences from abroad.

But the old meaning of frontiers is modified in the world of the Internet and Brazilian dancers have always known and practiced this. Used to the vastness of their own country, they know they can only perform Brazilian dance in the plural, and that their uniqueness comes from that.

by Helena Katz