Feet on the Ground, spirit in the air

The geese are flying south and an Arctic chill is sweeping south. But one of the best antidotes to the winter blues is a couple of hours of vivacious Afro-Latin sizzle.

And judging by Internet reviews, Viver Brasil is packed with the kind of heat needed to revitalize a winter gloom.

The Los Angeles-based dance troupe, now on its second international tour with stops in St. Albert and Fort McMurray, will share its ferocious energy at the Arden Theatre on Oct. 29 and 30.

A relatively young dance troupe founded in 1997 by husband-wife team Luiz BadarĂł and Linda Yudin, Viver Brasil showcases Afro-Brazilian traditional and contemporary movement. It fuses the mythology of African Orixás (deities) with sensuous samba and Brazil’s athletic martial arts/dance form of Capoeira.

The company is touring Feet on the Ground, an elemental cultural journey enhanced by stunning costumes, pulsating, non-stop percussion and soulful vocal chants.

“In Afro-Brazilian tradition, we are fed by the Earth’s divine energy. The forces of nature fuel us artistically and physically. We dance barefoot to feel the earth. We understand the Earth and its relationship to the cosmic world. The Earth feeds us and allows us to rise to the occasion and jump up relative to the cosmos with pirouettes and leaps,” says Yudin, the company’s artistic director.

Under the umbrella of Feet on the Ground, the company of seven dancers, five percussionists and two vocalists will perform a series of dances highlighting the Bahia region’s traditions in northeast Brazil.

One of the program’s first dances is Avanhia, a ceremonial work that salutes the forces of nature. Using Orixás dance vocabulary, it was brought to Brazil as early as the 1500s through slavery, explains Yudin.

The program moves into Bahia-Africa, a retelling of the ancient Orixás mythology and its archetypal characters: Yemenja, mother of all; Ogurm, deity of iron and war; Oxossi, the hunter, and Saxengo, Orixá of justice, thunder and lightning.

Following is Identity, a joyous contemporary dance originated by company choreographer Rosangela Silvestre, and is “an explosive movement of technical prowess.”

In Motion combines the Capoeira and the sassy samba, and introduces the traditional berimbau, a bamboo stick with a taut wire attached to a gourd. The program closes with a colourful Tribute to Carnival.

Yudin adds that during the ’70s’ civil rights movements, Brazil was under a military dictatorship and artists looked to the carnival as a means of protest.

“The whole point was to recognize Afro-Brazilian culture as part of what Brazil was and at the time it wasn’t regarded as culturally significant.

Forty years later the troupe simply revels in its rhythms.

“There is so much joy, passion and respect for nature and it is so important in this experience. Africa is so much a part of Brazil and it continues to be developed and honoured.”