Brazil’s leading contemporary dance troupe Grupo Corpo returns to BAM with two wildly different works that showcase the 21-member group’s extraordinary range and choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras’ mastery of ballet, modern, and Afro-Brazilian dance idioms.
First, Pederneiras renders the baroque beautifully modern in Bach, a buoyant exercise in the disconnect between seeing and hearing. As dancers clad in gold, black, and regal blue drop from enormous organ pipes, Marco Antônio Guimarães’ score reveals and reimagines the richness of Bach’s compositions.
Then, the ensemble transports us to its home country with Gira, featuring a soundtrack by São Paulo band Metá Metá. Inspired by the rites of Umbanda, one of the most widely practiced Brazil-born religions, this new work animates gestures of praise and worship, resulting in an explosion of movement that is unmistakably Brazilian.
