“Dance like a fight”

For almost 30 years DanceBrazil has combined modern dance with contemporary and traditional Afro-Brazilians forms such as samba and the martial arts-inspired capoeira. Now the internationally acclaimed troupe will bring its magnetic, gravity-defying mix of strength and power, intricacy and elusiveness, to Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

Performances, sponsored by Dance St. Louis and the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series, begin at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23 and 24, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25. Tickets are $30; $25 for seniors and Washington University faculty and staff; and $18 for students and children.

In addition, Dance Brazil will present an all-ages matinee performance as part of the ovations! for young people series at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 24. Tickets are $7.

Tickets are available at the Edison Theatre box office, (314) 935-6543; the Dance St. Louis box office, (314) 534-6622; the Dance St. Louis Web site, www.dancestlouis.org; and through MetroTix, (314) 534-1111. Edison Theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. The Dance St. Louis box office is located at 3547 Olive Blvd., Suite 301.

For more information, call (314) 935-6543 or visit edisontheatre.wustl.edu.

Jelon Vieira, founder and artistic director of DanceBrazil, describes capoeira as “a fight like a dance, and a dance like a fight.” The form is thought to have developed in the 16th and 17th centuries as a means of self-defense for slaves brought to Brazil by the Portuguese. Forbidden to practice, the slaves disguised the form as a dance, and “played” the round, fluid, low-to-the-ground movements to pulsating musical beats that remain part of capoeira. Some say the moves — in which only head, hands, and feet touch the ground — were developed to avoid dirtying the white religious clothes worn by the slaves.

No capoeira circle is without someone playing a birimbau, a tall, slender instrument made from a wooden stick, string and a gourd. Drums and tambourines may also accompany the call-and-response songs, which tell old stories of slavery and new tales of life and love in Vieira’s native Bahia, home to the majority of the country’s Afro-Brazilian population.

Vieira and the late Loremil Machado were the first artists to bring capoeira to the United States. In 1975, Vieira — speaking no English — emigrated to New York and began hosting grass-roots workshops at the Clark Center for the Arts. He founded DanceBrazil two years later. In 1980 Alvin Ailey joined the board of directors and the company was soon traveling throughout Europe and the United States, performing at prestigious venues such as the John F. Kennedy and Lincoln centers.

In the years since capoeira has achieved widespread popularity (second only to soccer in Brazil); its influence can be seen in both modern and hip-hop performances. Vieira now divides his time between New York and Boca do Rio, Brazil, using capoeira to build self-esteem, self-discipline and a sense of social consciousness in children and young adults. In 1999 CityLore, a New York City community organization, inducted Vieira into its Hall of Fame. In 2000 he was recognized by the Brazilian Cultural Center in New York City as the Pioneer of Capoeira in the United States.

For more information about DanceBrazil, visit www.dancebrazil.org.

Edison Theatre’s OVATIONS! Series serves both Washington University and the St. Louis community by providing the highest caliber national and international artists in music, dance and theater, performing new works as well as innovative interpretations of classical material not otherwise seen in St. Louis. Focusing on presentations that are interdisciplinary, multicultural and/or experimental, Edison Theatre presents work intended to challenge, educate and inspire.

Since its founding in 1966 by a small group of dance enthusiasts — led by Annelise Mertz, Washington University professor of dance — Dance St. Louis has become one of the area’s cultural treasures and a national dance landmark, one of only six organizations in the United States that presents a complete fall-to-spring season of dance every year. Dance St. Louis is a funded member of the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis.

Both Edison Theatre and Dance St. Louis receive support from the Missouri Arts Council, the Regional Arts Commission and the Heartland Arts Fund (a joint venture of Arts Midwest and Mid-America Arts Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts and other sources).