After performances last year at New York City’s Joyce Theater, San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center, Minneapolis’ Walker Center and Washington D.C.’s Dance Place, Companhia Urbana de Dança is back to wow American audiences with its creative fusion of hip-hop, urban, contemporary and Brazilian social dance.
The company, made up of eight young dancers from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, brings its performers’ Afro-Brazilian identities to an international stage. Artistic director Sonia Destri Lie, who traveled to Rio to work in a fashion show, held auditions for urban break-dancers and found an incredible amount of talented cariocas.
“'Sonia, you are the only one that can understand our language, and you are the only one that can take us to a different level. If not, we are going to be the black kids that dance from the favelas,'" Lie recalled one of the eight dancers, Tiago Silva, saying to her during the fashion show rehearsal. "'And we are never going to respect that. We need you, and I think you need us because we’ll be the reason you start something fresh. You can start fresh instead of going back to Europe.'”
It was after Sousa’s request that Sonia Destri, who had directed two dance companies before, set out to get the support, funds and sponsors necessary to birth Companhia Urbana. Today, it is one of the most firmly positioned contemporary dance groups both in Brazil and around the world.
“The institution is starting to seriously consider the culture, politics and history of an increasingly important country," Aaron Greenwald, Executive Director of Duke Performances, said in light of a new Brazilian initiative. He saw Companhia Urbana de Dança at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival this past summer and was drawn to the performance. “I was impressed with the kinetic energy of the performance which translates palpably to audience enthusiasm, the quick silver melding of dance styles and the ability to assemble sufficient choreographic structure to make for a wholly satisfying evening of dance performance.”
After reading several performance reviews, he was convinced—he had to get the Brazilian troupe on Duke’s campus. Shortly after, Greenwald ran into the company’s U.S. agent and, with the help of a presenter in Washington D.C., established a fall tour for the company in America. Now, a stop on their tour is Duke's own Reynolds Industries Theater this weekend on Nov. 7 and 8.
In addition to the performances, Duke anthropologist and capoeira instructor Katya Wesolowski will moderate a discussion with the dancers and Lie.
“I hope it provides a space to think about dance and social activism in Brazil," Wesolowski said of the panel. "Brazil, and Rio de Janeiro in particular, has been very much in the news lately as the nation’s economy grows and as it hosts two major international sporting events. However, this nation still grapples with a lot of social and racial inequality. The arts are a space to speak out against this and try to make a difference in people’s lives.”
Social disparities often go unseen in mainstream press coverage of Brazil. The dancers of Companhia Urbana de Dança seek to communicate the realities of the poverty-stricken Brazilian class through their energetic dances. Onstage, they grab hold of your attention and reel you in with their poetic movements. A recent New York Times review of the company’s spring performance at the Joyce theater claims:
“Classic hip-hop moves are visible — the rippling of arms, the rolling on backs — yet they have been stretched and shaped into something new. Occasionally and briefly, the eight dancers face front and sync to a beat, but the rhythms of most phrases have been pulled apart and inflated with breath. And that open and unpredictable rhythm extends to the dancers’ continual comings and goings and groupings and separations. This is a work overflowing with movement and ways of putting movement together.”
Companhia Urbana’s performance will undoubtedly be a high-energy show that will provide a glimpse into Brazilian lifestyle for Duke and Durham member community members.
“It will be a great show for those already hooked on Brazil," Wesolowski said, "And for those getting their very first taste of this magical place.”
Companhia Urbana de Dança will perform on Friday, Nov. 7, and Saturday, Nov. 8, at 8 p.m. in Reynolds Industries Theater. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or at the door.
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