LATIN JOYS FROM BRAZIL

AUDIENCES can look forward to some Brazilian sunshine this spring when São Paulo Dance Company tours the UK and Ireland for the first time. The company comes to Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre on March 15 and 16 with a triple bill of contemporary works by some of the world’s leading Spanish and Latin American choreographers.

Founded in 2008, São Paulo Dance Company has produced more than 100 classical and contemporary works, toured nearly 20 countries and performed to more than 900,000 people.

Artistic director Inês Bogéa says: “We have the passion for dance, we have the energy of Brazil and we love to share that with audiences around the world.”

Inés, who was the founding director when the company was created by the Brazilian state government 15 years ago, says music and dance are integral to life in her country. “Movement and the sensation of dance is so much a part of our culture, we celebrate life through dance,” she says. “We dance around the kitchen when we are cooking, we dance at a party with our friends, we dance because we are happy and we dance when sometimes we are sad.”

The triple bill features Anthem by Spanish choreographer Goyo Montero, Gnawa by Spain’s Nacho Duato and Agora by Cassi Abranches, who was born in São Paulo and has recently choreographed part of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Black Sabbath – The Ballet.

“The three works talk about rituals in different ways,” says Inês. “Anthem looks at how we are connected through a common purpose that leads us to recognise ourselves as the same group. Gnawa talks about the rituals of people who live in the north of Africa and their connections with the natural world. And in Agora we are talking about time, memories and the reverberation of Brazilian dance.”