Founded in 1975, contemporary Brazilian dance company Grupo Corpo have been blending musical genres and dance styles for nearly 50 years. With influences spanning everything from medieval songs to Philip Glass, contemporary Brazilian pop to traditional ballet, their extensive range of choreographies are performed by a blend of male and female dancers who seamlessly overlap and merge into each other.
In Edinburgh, Grupo Corpo perform two pieces – 2022’s Gil Refazendo and 2017’s Gira. Gil Refazendo is set to a reworking of music by innovative Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil. The soundtrack ranges from fragmented to hypnotic, mixing jazz with traditional drumming and Afro-Brazilian sounds.
The dancers jerk and twitch along, joints rolling and snapping, sometimes hanging like puppets, at others prancing with a playful joy. They step precisely around the stage, interweaving and separating in complex patterns of solo and group work. There is an organic thread throughout. The dancers wear natural-looking, loose shirts, with a projection of slowly growing sunflowers providing a backdrop to insect-like skittering and movements that might mimic gorillas.
Just as the piece begins to lag and become repetitive, a superb pas de deux emerges. Two almost nude dancers start to twine their way sinuously around each other, before the choreography becomes increasingly ominous. Partway through a piece that seems to celebrate nature, this acknowledgment of its often dark heart is gripping. From there, Gil Refazendo canters to its finale, a celebration of renewal and regrowth.
If Gil Refazendo is rooted in nature, Gira is inspired by people and their rituals. The whole piece is a sort of evocation of ceremonies originating from the Brazilian religion of Umbanda – a unique fusion of Catholicism, Spiritualism and Afro-Brazilian traditions.
Gira takes place on a stage surrounded by walls of black cloth. The dancers sit around the edges of the stage, partially visible but shrouded in black. They seamlessly appear from and disappear into the drapes, a heart-stoppingly dramatic punctuation every time it happens. Dressed uniformly in gender-blurring long white skirts with bare torsos, they come together and part in endless combinations, male and female dancers performing a mix of complimentary and contrasting dances.
The music is propulsive, driving the dancers along in hypnotic, trance-like rituals, pulling the audience almost bodily along with them. The dancers move so ferociously and mesmerically it is hard to remember to breathe. There are suggestions of sacrifice and erotic rites. A delicate solo evokes a bird, prancing and preening to a single clarinet. Occasionally the music and choreography takes a darker turn, but whether joyful or sinister, there is no let up in the intensity of Gira from beginning to end.
If the first half of Grupo Corpo’s Edinburgh programme meanders at times, the unrelenting energy and physicality of its second act is more than ample compensation. Their celebration of the distinct and diverse traditions of Brazilian music and dance is an absolute joy to behold.
Edinburgh International Festival
Choreographer: Rodrigo Pederneiras
Artistic Director: Paulo Pederneiras
Music: Gilberto Gil and Metá Metá
Costume Designer: Freusa Zechmeister
Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes, including interval