As the days grow long enough for us to believe yet again in the promise of patios and after-work beach time, DanceHouse has decided to bring us, in a most timely fashion, Käfig Brasil and a jolt of Brazilian sunshine to suit.
“This show, in the context of our season, is the big, joyful, sunny, bright spot,” explains DanceHouse producer Jim Smith. “It feels a bit like an antidote to some of the heavier offerings that have been going on in our season.”
Käfig Brasil combines the European spice of French/Algerian choreographer Mourad Merzouki with the simmering heat of 11 male dancers from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to create a cultural explosion of street slang, capoeira, and contemporary dance.
“The dancers don’t have that studied look about them, you know?” says Smith. “Like, ‘From a very early age they were taking ballet…’”
Rather, he explains, it’s a pure celebration of movement, athleticism, and grittiness.
“There’s a real rawness to their energy and what they bring to it.”
Merzouki, a prolific choreographer who studied circus arts and martial arts before turning to hip-hop and dance, has created 21 works since founding Compagnie Käfig in 1996 in an attempt to contain street-dance styles and bring them to the stage.
He has received numerous awards, including the Prix SACD in 2006, and Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, and Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor in 2012.
With Käfig Brasil, Merzouki has blended the work of four different French choreographers – Anthony Egea, Céline Lefèvre, Octávio Nassur, and Denis Plassard – into a mélange, a fluid series of duets and vignettes, and set it to a soundtrack ranging from Baroque to electronic music.
“This one has a stew of offerings and influences,” laughs Smith. “It’s a populist work, and that’s not a bad thing at all! It will appeal to a lot of people.”
Smith (who has previously presented Brazilian dance sensation Grupo Corpo in Vancouver) first discovered Compagnie Käfig three years ago during a Canadian showcase of Aqwa, the predecessor to Käfig Brasil.
“In many ways that was the first time Käfig had come to North American, and everyone was like, “WOW!” explains Smith. “And we tried to actually land Aqwa in Vancouver, but the dates didn’t line up, so we’re happy to be having the company here with a piece specifically about Brazil.”
According to Smith, it ties in well with the growing spotlight the world is shining on the largest South American nation.
“All of this has been part of the world curiosity about Brazil,” he says, “as it rises as an economic powerhouse in South America, hosting the World Cup, and now the Olympics.
“Everyone is curious about Brazil, and the slums of Brazil. How there’s huge diversity inside of Brazil but a great disparity between the classes, and how that is now being addressed through a larger economic awakening.”
But, in the case of Vancouver audiences, Käfig Brasil can also be considered an awakening of a more basic kind.
“As spring approaches and as we all start coming out from being under the winter rock, it is one of those pieces that makes you feel good to be alive,” concludes Smith. “It makes us look forward to life being light.”
• Käfig Brasil runs April 10 and 11 at 8pm at the Vancouver Playhouse. DanceHouse.ca
