Two weeks ago I headed to the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank for an evening fusing dance, Afro-Brazilian culture and live music. Baila Brazil by the acclaimed dance company Balé de Rua is 90 minutes of percussion, street dance, samba, capoeira and breakdancing performed by 14 dancer/percussionists, a singer and a band.
Balé de Rua (‘Street Ballet’) started in 1992 by a group of street dancers in the favelas and poor neighbourhoods of Uberlândia in the heart of Brazil. Since then, the company has developed free schools in their hometown and now trains 300 children from local communities each year.
The show was lively and energetic - including the rowdy audience, at times a little too clap-a-long for me - and even more so afterwards, as the carnival spirit continued with a post-show workshop with the cast. It was great fun, with people of all ages smiling, sipping caipirinhas and getting sweaty learning the moves. The production has been performed to more than 500,000 people in 13 countries and continues to tour the world - check it out if it comes your way!
Wednesday 5 - Saturday 15 Aug 2015 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
