brilliant Grupo Corpo open season #72 at the Pillow

6/23/04 performance at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, reviewed by Connell McGrath

The 72nd season at Jacob’s Pillow opened to a sellout crowd and standing ovations with the Brazilian company Grupo Corpo in their fifth appearance at the Becket dance venue. They were brilliant in performance of two deep, exuberant, and crowd-pleasing works. No wonder Grupo Corpo ducats are the most sought-after at the Pillow’s box office.

The company, founded in 1975, is led by brothers Paulo and Rodrigo Pedeneiras. Choreographer Rodrigo really found his feet in the mid to late eighties, and the company has enjoyed steady acclaim ever since. They mix distinctly Brazilian movement and music with jazz, modern, and ballet styles. Their particular amalgam is successful for many reasons. They don’t take their work too seriously, or attempt to imbue it with too much meaning. The emotion expressed through their work is joy and exuberance, and they remain focused on movement as an expression of music.

Despite this, they are far from entertainment only. They choose challenging music and dance subtle and original pieces to it. Their “vocabulary” of movement is, for the most part, original, and they avoid grandiose or showy gesture. Above all, that they love what they’re doing is obvious, and it’s infectious.

They started this evening’s performance with the wonderful 1993 work Nazareth, set to music by contemporary Brazilian composer Jose Miguel Wisnik based on works of Ernesto Nazareth. Apparently, Nazareth was a composer who lived from 1863 to 1934, and is credited with being one of the pioneers of Brazilian tango called “amaxixadas” polkas. Wisnik remixes this music—commissioned for Grupo—and transforms it by running it backwards thru computer and adding synthesized sound. At times strange, beautifully rhythmic and intriguing, the Wiznik/Nazareth score is a perfect vehicle for Grupo’s dance fusion.

Nazareth is fun, with whimsical leotard costumes in black and white (and an occasional tutu-type skirt). The movement is brisk, fast and equally whimsical, and seems to strive only to express the music and not go beyond it into a meaning of its own. This is welcome and refreshing as it allows the audience to delight in the technical brilliance of the dance and the odd groove of the music. If Nazareth is about anything, it’s Brazil’s identity.

After the intermission, the company performed 21, which is a more challenging piece, but still does not overstep into pretension. Unlike Nazareth, Grupo takes a stand on meaning in 21 by investigating time, numbers and rhythm. The program informs us: “There are eight short pieces extracted from the combination of numbers 6,5,4,3,2,1 (which add up to 21).” It is clear the piece is concerned with counting, time lapsing and sometimes rolling back, and the relationship between time and rhythm. Some of the sequences in 21 are slow and hypnotic and require more attention from the audience. The piece ends with a distinct Brazilian rhythm and terrific, high-flying choreography.

In the many performances I’ve reviewed at the Pillow, I’ve never seen the audience give so strong and sustained an ovation as they did tonight, in adulation of Grupo Corpo.