Balé Folclórico da Bahia is internationally known for its balletic and remarkably physical performances based on Brazilian folk dances and orixás, spiritual entities known in Candomblé and other Afro-Brazilian traditions.
The photos below are impressions of the class. The video at the end of the post gives a sense of the dynamics of the class.
Dancers from the main company joined the class to demonstrate the movement sequences. Through the windows you can see part of the old city of Salvador. Some of the movement is photographed against a wall of mirrors in the rehearsal space.
Warm upSilhouetted against the old city. June is winter in Salvador, but the temperatures were still in 80s. Cooling was through these windows and fans.In the studio mirrorOne of the Balé Folclórico company members who helped lead the classThe old city center in the background
The video excerpts give a sense of the class. The instructor would give a sequence, then members of the company would lead the sequence for the dance students. On the audio track you can hear the propulsive drumming that drives the practice (and the company’s performances as well).
UWM dance students in class with the Balé Folclórico da Bahia
Rio de Janeiro is lustrous on the surface, to many the most beautiful city in the world. To others it is known as one of the most dangerous and troubled. This is only the postcard side, where all things are beautiful and everything looks like the travel posters you have seen.
Everyone’s obligatory visit: Cristo Redentor, the 30 meter statue of “Christ the Redeemer.” Hundreds of visitors mill around waiting for their chance to shoot selfies, with arms outstretched, of course. The arms are 28 meters (92 feet) across. It was built between 1922 and 1931.View of the city showing Pão de Açucar, Sugar Loaf (upper left), from the 700 meter heights of Cristo RedentorHIgher: Cable car up to Sugar Loaf, second stage. The first stage is just below and is the first stop for postcard pictures. There is also a Starbucks, or the like.View on the way upEscadaria Selaron, constructed over the years by an eccentric lover of the city. A familiar stop in Lapa, used often for music videos and films. The tiles now come from all over the world.Escadaria Selaron, “Stairs of Selaron” made of thousands of tilesLapa is a center of night life, and street artDeliveries, LapaStreet art, and jewelry artist, Lapa
In June 2019 dance students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, led by Simone Ferro, spent more than three weeks in Brazil. This is the first leg of the trip –Salvador, Bahia, where the dancers took capoeira classes from Mestre Angola in the shadow of the famous church Nosso Senhor do Bonfim.
The classes were conducted in an African-Brazilian house of worship where our hosts also prepared food for us.
Photos by Meredith W. Watts
Igreja Nosso Senhor do Bonfim, “Our Lord of the Good End,” an iconic Catholic church that has long accommodated Afro-Brazilian celebrationsMestre Angola with carving of an orixá in the spiritual house where he gave classesCapoeira is accompanied with Berimbau, a musical bow with a gourd resonator of probable African origin. The carved orixa on the wall is an artistic rendering of Oxum, goddess of fresh water.The lower level of the spiritual house has a fountain whose water is used in ceremonies. It was uncovered in renovation of the house. It is repurposed as a tribute to Oxum.Mestre Angola with University of Milwaukee – Milwaukee dance students
Humberto de Campos is a small city in the Lençois region of the state of Maranhão in the Northeast of Brazil. Its current name is that of a Brazilian writer, but it has had various names and administrative changes. The original indigenous name for the region was Miritiba and the name remains (a pousada carries that name, for example), but the indigenous people have long been displaced.
The center of government (prefeitura) of Humberto de Campos
It is only about 180 miles from the equator (289 kilometers). The state capital of São Luís is only about 90 kilometers away, but the metropoles of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are over 2000 kilometers to the south.
The French arrived in 1612 (around the time they founded São Luís), but the occupation was ended by the Portuguese.
According to local history, the region figured in the Balaiada revolt (1838-42) and was part of the brief reign of the rebel and former slave Cosmé Bento. Cosmé and his force of former slaves were part of a broader revolt of liberals and middle-class and poor whites. The struggle involved much of the state of Maranhão. The conflict was actually triggered in 1838 when a group led by Raimundo Gomés attacked a jail in city now known as Nina Rodrigues to free his brother. The revolt spread to include thousands of poor farmers who were angry about the declining economy and predatory military draft. It has been estimated that some 8,000 rebels were involved, including some 2-3,000 former slaves, before being repressed by the military. Cosmè was captured and executed in 1842 in the final days of what was known as the Balaiada revolt, but not before occupying for a time the second largest city in the region, Caixias to the south. In the Portuguese practice of the time, Gomés was draw and quartered, and his body parts distributed around Maranhão as a warning.
The 1850s church Igreja Matriz São José do Periá, the mother church of Saint Joseph of Periá
Humberto de Campos was affected, but the end of the revolt was played out in Caxias to the south where Cosmé was defeated. Both the region of Miritiba and Maranhão as a whole have had a turbulent political and social history.
Humberto de Campos lies along the river Piriá, or Preá, which flows northward to the Atlantic. The city and the river are an access point to the Atlantic Ocean and the Lençois Dunes National Park. It was our starting place for a river trip and visiting the dunes, but also an interesting little city in its own right.
The river Preá or Piriá connects to the Atlantic and the transitional zones of brackish water are home to mangrove forests, flocks of red ibis birds and white egrets. Fishing is a major occupation along the rivers and in the dunes where fishermen live temporarily in lean-to shacks that protect them from the sun. The landscape is, by turns, lush, swampy, and desert-like.
.
The Church and the Prefeitura are interesting buildings, but the side streets, the market, and the docks show more of the life of the citySide street: bicycles here are utilitarianGrain seller at the city market. Mandioca (manioc, processed cassava) is a staple in the Northeastern diet. Its use dates to the indigenous people who originally populated the region.In the fish market near the docks he dries and salts fish for sale.Fishing boats on the river Periá/Preá.Fishermen docking in the early morningRiver boats are simple, designed for fishing. Here they are docking with the morning’s catch which will be carried some fifty yards up a hill to the market.
In Humberto de Campos word got around that we were students and researchers interested in the regional celebration Bumba-meu-boi. One night a group called Boi Novilho dos Lençois came to the Pousada Miritiba where we were staying. They staged a rehearsal for us in the dining room of the pousada.
This video is of the rehearsal.
After the rehearsal in the pousada we visited the headquarters of the group. They showed their workshop and modeled their new costumes for us.
It’s worth taking a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship involved in costume productionDirector and designer of the group shows this year’s costumesLike most groups, Boi Novilho’s costumes are a mix of showmanship and traditional religious motifsCostume room, Boi Novilho dos LençoisSome of the performers (brincantes) after the rehearsal
Boi Famosão de São João
Humberto de Campos is also home to the headquarters of Boi Famosao de Sao Joao which is celebrating its 30th year. The boi (ox) of a traditional group is usually 3-4 feet long and “danced” by one person called a miolo. Boi Famosão is so large that it takes over a dozen miolos to animate it.
A week later we saw the group perform at the Maria Aragão venue in São Luis. The performance photos are from that appearance.
You can see the scale of the boi by comparing the relative size of UW-Milwaukee student Alex (l) who was photographing. This large wall mural was actually the previous decoration for the boi. By custom groups change the decoration on their ox figures often, usually at great cost. The cost is significant for a normal-sized ox. A work this size takes many hands and a huge investment.Caterina is a character in the narrative of most Bumba-meu-boi performances. Here she is dancing with the boi on stage in Sao Luis.The boi towers over the stage at Maria Aragao, Sao Luis.Looking like a centipede, Boi Formosao is carried by more than a dozen miolos who animate it in performanceYou can see a bit of the framework of the boi, and the tremendous effort it takes to animate it in performance.The boi stands over the brincantes, dominating the stage with its sheer size. Here the miolos are preparing to carry it offstage where a special path had to be cleared by security
In June 2019 Simone Ferro, Professor and Chair of Dance, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Peck School of the Arts, led a group of seven dance students on a 23-day trip to Brazil. The class studied African influences on Brazilian culture in three cities: Salvador, Bahia; São Luís, Maranhão; and Rio de Janeiro. The group also spent a few days in the northeastern Maranhão area known as Lençois, a huge coastal region of dunes with small inland lakes and lagoons formed by rainfall.
The beginning of the 23-day Study Abroad class in Brazil
This is an introduction to the trip. Successive posts will describe various parts of the visit which include: capoeira, Bahian cuisine, a turtle preserve, and colonial-era churches (Salvador); desert-like dunes and rivers populated by red ibis, huge tracts of mangroves, and white egrets (Lençois); performances of the Bumba-meu-boi festival and lessons in Northeastern dances (São Luís); and samba lessons, and, of course, a visit to the 30-foot Cristo Redentor statue and Sugar Loaf mountain (Rio de Janeiro).
Near Salvador in Praia do Forte is a marine preserve dedicated to protecting the breeding grounds of enormous ocean turtles such as the 300 lb. loggerheadBahaianas in traditional dress help visitors in the old center of Salvador (Pelourinho). We have known Thelma (Bahiana, right) for years, and just met her daughter (Bahiana , left). Simone Ferro, group leader is at the right.Dance students took drumming lessons with Olodum, a samba-reggae group and community organization in the historic center of the city. Here they performed in the street on front of the Olodum headquarters.Capoeira with Mestre Angola in the shadow of the historic church, Nosso Senhor do Bonfim (“Our Lord of the Good End”), SalvadorTalyene Melônio is choreographer. dance specialist, and administrator in the traditional Baixada group Bumba-meu-boi de Apolônio. She taught UWM students movement from her group and a variety of other Northeastern Brazilian dances
