“African Influences on Brazilian Culture”
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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.
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).
