How does a dance performance connect with an audience? The answers are probably as plentiful as people, but we'd guess some shared traits include a performance's ability to convey story, and vibrancy, and history, and myth, and a sense of emotion, whether that's unbridled exuberance or melancholy or a little bit of both. If any or all of that goes down, bet a viewer is 100 percent engaged.
Viver Brasil, the lauded Afro-Brazilian troupe based in Hollywood, has been effectively and movingly employing movement and percussion and costume for a decade and a half in order to tell the vibrant tales of Brazil's African heritage.
Now the company is ready to celebrate its big 15th on Saturday, July 27 at the Ford Amphitheatre. "Intersections/Ajê" will call upon Bahia styles, drums, sambas, and "tales of love and intrigue" to help myth and real-life happenings unfold upon the Ford's stage.
It's contemporary dance threaded through with historical tributes, paeans, and story-telling styles, a combination that is uniquely Viver Brasil's.
And July 27 is set to be quite the day for dance: National Dance Day unfolds at Grand Park at 10 a.m. Thousands are set to join the "free interactive dance experience." Could you tap your toes that morning then head to the Ford for some joyful Viver Brasil expression that night?
You could. And you could call it a perfectly expressive, exuberant day brimming with culture, cause, and a good amount of fun.
