Baila Brazil to raise temperatures at Sydney Opera House

TEMPERATURES are set to soar in Sydney this summer with the arrival of dance and live music spectacular Baila Brazil at the Sydney Opera House in January.

From the creators of 2010’s sell-out Bale de Rua, Baila Brazil is a pulsating mix of African dance, hip-hop, samba and capoeira that will have people dancing in the aisles.

“The show was inspired by the richness of Brazilian popular culture and Afro-Brazilian heritage, Brazilian music, the huge diversity of rhythms and beats and the spiritual aspects of the Brazilian people,” co-creator and artistic director Fernando Narduchi told the Star Observer.

“Another inspiration was our own 23 years of history, our challenges and struggles to survive as a dance company for so many years. We talk about Brazil, the Brasil we love. Somehow what we take to the stage is the life we live in the day-by-day life.”

Narduchi, along with Marco Antônio Garcia and José Marciel Silva created the Cia de Dança Balé de Rua (Street Ballet) in 1992, after collaborating for four years as part of the urban dance movement in Uberlândia, a small city in the middle of Brazil.

They soon developed a close friendship and the mutual desire to establish a new style of dance, always urban but with a marked Brazilian identity. Originally from a poor community, they managed by hard work and perseverance to realise the dreams they had for themselves and their colleagues through their choreography.

Today, Cia de Dança Balé de Rua live by their art and  provide dance training to more than 300 young people from different parts of Uberlândia.

It’s a success that Narduchi does not take for granted.

“To see the growth of the show and performers, I think it’s like to a father seeing his boy growing up and become a man,” he said.

“It’s really amazing to see the dedication of the dancers and the crew, to see how much they believe in us and they give all to us and to the show. It’s very rewarding to see the show acquiring its own life and become independent.

“Then you can say: it is born and it’s beautiful.”

Narduchi said gay audience members would be particularly enjoy the production because his dance troupe’s origins have something in common with them.

“The show is for everyone but I think the gay audience will enjoy it a lot because [they] are used to fighting the system against oppression and discrimination and the message we bring to the stage is about freedom and joy of life,” he said.

“There is a struggle in the history we say but we are the winners in the end.

“The show is also about human rights as we talk about the black people who lived under slavery for 300 years in Brazil until freedom conquered. It is about to be strong and never giving up.

“Besides, you will also see amazing and gorgeous dancers, the best Brazilian songs and percussion alive.”

Baila Brazil is showing at the Concert Hall in Sydney Opera House between January 9-18. For tickets and full details, call 02 9250 7777 or visit sydneyoperahouse.com