For almost 30 years, DanceBrazil has combined modern dance with contemporary and traditional Afro-Brazilian 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 Edison Theatre.
Performances, sponsored by Dance St. Louis and the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series, begin at 8 p.m. Feb. 23-24 and at 2 p.m. Feb. 25. Tickets are $30, $25 for seniors and faculty and staff and $18 for students and children.
In addition, DanceBrazil will present an all-ages matinee performance as part of the ovations! for young people series at 11 a.m. Feb. 24. Tickets are $7.
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 also may 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 — immigrated to New York and began hosting grassroots 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 soon was 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 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 community organization, inducted Vieira into its Hall of Fame. In 2000, he was recognized by the Brazilian Cultural Center in New York as the “pioneer of capoeira in the United States.”
Tickets are available at the Edison Theatre box office, 935-6543; the Dance St. Louis box office, 534-6622; the Dance St. Louis Web site, dancestlouis.org; and through MetroTix, 534-1111.
For more information, call Edison Theatre at 935-6543 or visit dancebrazil.org or edisontheatre.wustl.edu.