Ballet Folclorico Do Brasil

Presented by Dance Umbrella November 1 and 2, 2002

Ballet Folclórico do Brasil is an exubrent Afro-Brasilian performing ensemble that bridges the ancient and urban world through music and dance. Their creative tools are the athletic capoeira, dynamic movement, polyrhythmic percussion, and soothing vocals. Do Brasil is a unique opportunity to experience new meaning of dance and music as practiced in Brasil. Their performances are appropriate for audiences of all ages.

About The Company
The Ballet Folclórico do Brasil was founded in 1990 by Amen Santo to uplift Afro-Brazilian culture through the performing arts. The ensemble uses dance and music as platform for promoting intercultural interchange, and valorization of Latin American diversity and the African diaspora. The company's overall mission is to link history to our contemporary struggles for identity and community building.

About The Show
Do Brasil performed a rich and diverse repertoire of live music and dance. The performances included meditative choreographies of ritual dance, the rhythmic Maculelê stick dance/martial art, and the joyous percussive dances of the Batucada. Do Brasil also performed capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art outlawed until recent times by the state. Capoeira has since grown into an internationally recognized art form performed in the street, in theaters, films, and even video games.

The company also be presented a new work in progress titled BESOURO. This piece emerged from research done in Brazil and West Africa by Amen Santo on African based martial art forms.

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