Part of the intoxicating 2024/2025 season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, the Brazilian dance troupe transcended expectations.
By John Lavitt
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 05-05-2025
When Grupo Corpo took the stage at the Ahmanson Theatre on May 2nd, their dancing exceeded the obvious and captured the imagination. The troupe went beyond personality and individuality by summoning something primal, something sacred, onto the stage. In a performance that fused tribal themes and instinctual movement, the Brazilian company delivered an experience that blurred the line between the individual and the collective.
In the Brazilian dance troupe, individuality dissolves into unified passion, and the dancers become a singular organism. On stage, they pulse with life as they interact with each other. Each dancer’s breath in each movement becomes an expression of the whole. With a unified purpose, the dancers become one.
As Rachel S. Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center, expressed in the program, “Grupo Corpo has the unparalleled ability to fuse cultural traditions with innovative dance techniques, making the company an extraordinary force in the dance world. A beautiful reflection of Brazil’s rich cultural heritage, Grupo Corpo’s performances will undoubtedly leave an indelible impression on Angelenos, who will be transported by the dancers into the heart of their vibrant, diverse country.”
The two-part performance began with 21, a classic piece choreographed by Rodrigo Pederneiras. 21 is set to Marco Antonio Guimarães’ dynamic score to immerse the audience in a sonic and visual landscape. The score features experimental instruments and polyrhythmic textures that unfold into three sections. As you watch the performance, the dancers build upon each other’s movements with rhythmic precision and mounting urgency.
The number 21 serves as a formal structure and a kind of numeric incantation. Indeed, the theme guided the flow of the bodies in motion on the Ahmanson stage. Moving like parts of a finely tuned engine, fluid yet mechanical, sensual yet controlled, the dancers realize the company’s signature fusion of the gracefulness of traditional ballet with Afro-Brazilian grounding.
Beyond the brilliance of 21, Gira truly transported the audience. Rooted in the spiritual traditions of Umbanda and Candomblé, the piece became a ritual in its own right. Swirling in relentless circles, the dancers echoed the trance states of spiritual possession. Suddenly, on the stage in Los Angeles, it felt like ancestral and internal forces were taking over.
Dressed in dark skirts and bare chests, adorned only by beads and symbolic markings, the dancers succumbed to blurred gender and identity. By surrendering ego to the communal rhythm, the dancers sacrificed their personalities to the beauty of the whole. With chests heaving, limbs vibrating, and bodies spinning, the intoxicating effects spread through the crowd. Set to the music of Brazilian fusion group Metá Metá, the spectacular Gira offers a primal, ritualistic energy that pulses from start to finish.
Rodrigo Pederneiras has long emphasized the power of the group over the individual, and Gira exemplifies this philosophy. The ensemble moved not as a collection of soloists, but as a single body expressing a greater goal. A visceral reminder that true artistry often lies not in personal expression, the power of the collective brought the audience back to ancient times of ritual expression. As a collective embodiment, Grupo Corpo does not just perform choreography—they embody a philosophy where body and soul, tradition and innovation, merge to become a holistic expression of philosophy.
Ultimately, it is not any single dancer who lingers in memory, but the force and transcendent power of the whole. Meaning the Body Group, Grupo Corpo realizes the dream of a troupe of dancers becoming a single mode of pure expression.
Photos by Jose Luiz Pederneiras, Courtesy of The Music Center
