PRESS INFORMATION
Ellen Jacobs 212-245-5100
AVENIDA BRASIL CHOREOGRAPHY by Regina Miranda
Dance piece commissioned by Ballet Hispanico of New York Artistic
Director: Tina Ramirez
New York premire: December 3, 1999 at the Joyce Theatre, New York
Drawing from the core concepts and body attitudes of the Brazilian
Capoeira, intertwined with traditional and contemporary dance steps,
this group piece brings to the stage a spatially complex work that
displays intense physicality, ambiguity between playing and fighting,
great variety of spatial exploration and, above all, an intense
joy in the quick, fierce and sensuous use of the body.
The name AVENIDA BRASIL derives from the main artery that funnels
vast streams of traffic in and out of Rio de Janeiro. Instead of
trying to describe the urban space or depict any particular story,
the piece brings the musical dynamics of the street: a kaleidoscope
of hush and commotion, relaxation and urgency, which come together
in momentary images that quickly scatter to form new ones.
Brazilian choreographer REGINA MIRANDA sees in this urban energy
a particularly Brazilian musical quality, which she embodies in
a movement vocabulary that emphasizes agile turns, successive body
movements, curved patterns, intense change of spatial levels and
configurations and graceful inversions derived from Capoeira, together
with ordinary gestures, rooted in the physicality and surprise of
everyday life.
The original music score is by Dmaso Cerruti (drums), an Argentinean
composer who, for the past 15 years, has been living in Brazil and
working with Brazilian folk sources. The electric guitar arrangements
were composed and performed by Vinicius Brazil.
Costumes are by Candice Donnely and lighting design by Jeff Segal.
Ms Miranda's longtime dancer and collaborator from Brazil, Ms.
Marina Salomon, assisted her.
Dancers in the piece are: Pedro Ruiz, Alessandra Corona, Maria
Berman Glimcher, Eric Rivera, Warren Adams, Arleane Lopez, Shila
Tirabassi, Fernando Carrillo and Silvia Vrskova. NDA
