Brazz Dreams
Brazz Dance Theater presents Two Worlds
with Letty Bassart
June 5 and 6 at 8:30pm
Byron Carlyle Theater
500 71st Street, North Miami Beach
Tickets $20
It’s 9:00 a.m. and the rising sun drenches the pristine new dance studio overlooking the Miami River at Jose Marti Park in downtown Miami. Here, during a daily rehearsal, the Brazz Dance Theater awakens body and mind in a synchronized warm up to Afro-Brazilian rhythms. The six-member dance troupe flanks artistic director Augusto Soledade, a tall and stunning presence who shares the toil and pleasure of the morning ritual. The dancers’ movements span continents, sweeping, lifting, arching, and bending in and out of the genres of the African diaspora.
“Let’s do Oshosi,” directs Soledade as the dancers move from warm up mode to rehearsal. A professor at Florida International University (at least until the dance department’s scheduled closing due to budget cuts in 2011), the soft spoken, native Bahian approaches his creative process with scholarly rigor. His piece “Oshosi” is based on the mythology of the hunting god of the Yoruba people of West Africa, as depicted in the work of photographer and anthropologist Pierre Verge. Soledade’s physical storytelling suggests fable, politics, transculturation, and nature all with precision and innovation. The choreographer is quick to point out that his company does not perform “Orisha dance,” the traditional dance of the Yoruba who have had strong influence in the Caribbean and Brazil. Yet he admits that working with Afro-Brazilian themes is “important as it is part of my background.”
Soledade explores those themes in his new work “Dreaming Amazonia” that debuted last spring during the Miami Dance Festival. Free from the clichéd gestures that often plague contemporary dance, “Amazonia” engaged the audience at the deepest visceral level.
“It is a political act to interact with the audience to this degree,” Soledade asserted in a recent interview. The choreographer blurred the lines between audience and performer by placing video feeds in the wings, forcing the audience to jostle each other on their way to their seats as they stopped and looked at abstract urban images.
These civilians crossed paths with unassuming performers who traversed the stage before the official performance. Once settled into their seats, the spectators were invited to leave the urban space behind by accepting plants offered to them by the choreographer. These natural elements become part of a meditation on the urban, the rural, and the ritual experience of the Amazon.
In 2007, choreographer Soledade visited the Brazilian Amazon for the first time and was struck by the devastating evidence of global warming, deforestation, and water scarcity. The choreographer said that he “used what he observed and filtered that through movement to create the work.”
In “Amazonia,” empty tubs sat on stage and dangled from the ceiling, symbolizing water. In the opening sequence, the dancers peered into an empty tub and erupted into violent gestures and shouting. Later, the dancers dove into the tubs, their bodies disappearing and reappearing in a kinetic fable about what we have and what we may well lose. In movement that Soldade described as “Afro-fusion” or “a blending of forms,” the dancers drew from capoeira and West African dance to create an extended sensual allegory with the intricate interlacing of their bodies.
If the movement made contemplating a world without water almost pleasurable, the electronic score offered a metallic – at times tiresome -- scold. Devoid of melody or steady rhythm, the score forced the dancers to move against the music.
Soldade clearly has a message to convey through “Dreaming Amazonia.” Yet the work still left open spaces for questions. By inviting the audience to search for answers, “Dreaming Amazonia” is both a mesmerizing spectacle and a call to action.
Brazz Dance takes action off-stage as well. The troupe has demonstrated a strong commitment to community involvement since 2006, partnering with social service groups such as En Familia and the Overtown Youth Center. Most recently, Brazz Dance offered an outreach program for children from low-income families in Homestead, called ASIWAJU. According to Soldade, “ASIWAJU is a Yoruba word for ‘pioneer’ or ‘ the one who opens paths.’” The company believes that exposure to and participation in dance will release creative pathways for each child.
with Letty Bassart
June 5 and 6 at 8:30pm
Byron Carlyle Theater
500 71st Street, North Miami Beach
Tickets $20
It’s 9:00 a.m. and the rising sun drenches the pristine new dance studio overlooking the Miami River at Jose Marti Park in downtown Miami. Here, during a daily rehearsal, the Brazz Dance Theater awakens body and mind in a synchronized warm up to Afro-Brazilian rhythms. The six-member dance troupe flanks artistic director Augusto Soledade, a tall and stunning presence who shares the toil and pleasure of the morning ritual. The dancers’ movements span continents, sweeping, lifting, arching, and bending in and out of the genres of the African diaspora.
“Let’s do Oshosi,” directs Soledade as the dancers move from warm up mode to rehearsal. A professor at Florida International University (at least until the dance department’s scheduled closing due to budget cuts in 2011), the soft spoken, native Bahian approaches his creative process with scholarly rigor. His piece “Oshosi” is based on the mythology of the hunting god of the Yoruba people of West Africa, as depicted in the work of photographer and anthropologist Pierre Verge. Soledade’s physical storytelling suggests fable, politics, transculturation, and nature all with precision and innovation. The choreographer is quick to point out that his company does not perform “Orisha dance,” the traditional dance of the Yoruba who have had strong influence in the Caribbean and Brazil. Yet he admits that working with Afro-Brazilian themes is “important as it is part of my background.”
Soledade explores those themes in his new work “Dreaming Amazonia” that debuted last spring during the Miami Dance Festival. Free from the clichéd gestures that often plague contemporary dance, “Amazonia” engaged the audience at the deepest visceral level.
“It is a political act to interact with the audience to this degree,” Soledade asserted in a recent interview. The choreographer blurred the lines between audience and performer by placing video feeds in the wings, forcing the audience to jostle each other on their way to their seats as they stopped and looked at abstract urban images.
These civilians crossed paths with unassuming performers who traversed the stage before the official performance. Once settled into their seats, the spectators were invited to leave the urban space behind by accepting plants offered to them by the choreographer. These natural elements become part of a meditation on the urban, the rural, and the ritual experience of the Amazon.
In 2007, choreographer Soledade visited the Brazilian Amazon for the first time and was struck by the devastating evidence of global warming, deforestation, and water scarcity. The choreographer said that he “used what he observed and filtered that through movement to create the work.”
In “Amazonia,” empty tubs sat on stage and dangled from the ceiling, symbolizing water. In the opening sequence, the dancers peered into an empty tub and erupted into violent gestures and shouting. Later, the dancers dove into the tubs, their bodies disappearing and reappearing in a kinetic fable about what we have and what we may well lose. In movement that Soldade described as “Afro-fusion” or “a blending of forms,” the dancers drew from capoeira and West African dance to create an extended sensual allegory with the intricate interlacing of their bodies.
If the movement made contemplating a world without water almost pleasurable, the electronic score offered a metallic – at times tiresome -- scold. Devoid of melody or steady rhythm, the score forced the dancers to move against the music.
Soldade clearly has a message to convey through “Dreaming Amazonia.” Yet the work still left open spaces for questions. By inviting the audience to search for answers, “Dreaming Amazonia” is both a mesmerizing spectacle and a call to action.
Brazz Dance takes action off-stage as well. The troupe has demonstrated a strong commitment to community involvement since 2006, partnering with social service groups such as En Familia and the Overtown Youth Center. Most recently, Brazz Dance offered an outreach program for children from low-income families in Homestead, called ASIWAJU. According to Soldade, “ASIWAJU is a Yoruba word for ‘pioneer’ or ‘ the one who opens paths.’” The company believes that exposure to and participation in dance will release creative pathways for each child.