Creations

Choreography: Cassi Abranches
Soundtrack: Beto Villares, with participation of Siba, Érico Theobaldo, Fil Pinheiro, Mauricio Badé and Julia Valiengo
Lightning: Gabriel Pederneiras
Costume: Verônica Julian
Choreography Assistance: Filipe Bruschi
Duration/cast: 15 minute with 8 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2020 | Teatro Alfa, São Paulo/SP – Brazil

Respiro (breath) evokes a pause, a break or simply the act of breathing. In this work, the choreographer is inspired by the feelings of losses and gains perceived by the dancers during the pandemic and incorporates elements that start from the fullness of meditation and explode in an apex of well-being to suspend the present from a reality, sometimes asphyxiating.

Choreography, costumes and lighting: Stephen Shropshire
Music: Variations on a Rococo Theme, by Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Duration/cast: 17’50 ” with 8 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2020 | Sérgio Cardoso Theater, São Paulo / SP – Brazil
Partnership The Dutch Performing Arts program of the Performing Arts Fund NL (Netherlands) and Pro-Dance Association / São Paulo Dance Company

Stephen Shropshire makes his debut in the repertoire of São Paulo Dance Company with Rococo Variations, work conducted by the song Variations in a Rococo Theme, by Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). In the creation, he proposes an investigation of the relationship of contemporary dance with the virtuosity of classical dance through a direct dialogue with music. Rococo Variations is the result of a partnership between The Dutch Performing Arts program of the Performing Arts Fund NL (Netherlands) and the Associação Pró-Dança / São Paulo Dance Company.

Choreography: Ana Catarina Vieira
Music: Suíte Sinfônica nº 2 Pernambucana (1955) and Ponteado (1955), by César-Guerra Peixe (1914-1993)
Lightning: Wagner Freire
Costume and props: Marco Lima
Scenario: Marco Lima, with imagens of four arts from Candido Portinari (1903-1962): Pipas (1942); Ilha de Paquetá, Circo and Desfile de Carnaval (1941), used in the ilustration of the book Maria Rosa (1942) by Vera Kelsey (The rights of the arts’s reproduction were kindly provided by João Candido Portinari)
Scenario and costume assistant: Cesar Bento
Dramaturgy: Vivien Buckup
Costumes design: Judith Lima (overalls), FCR Produções Artísticas (others costumes and props)
Duration and cast: 20 minutes with 10 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2020 │ Theatro São Pedro │ São Paulo,Brazil

First creation by the contemporary choreographer Ana Catarina Vieira for São Paulo Dance Company, Aparições is inspired by the arts of Candido Portinari, César Guerra-Peixe and popular dances from northeastern Brazil. Marco Lima’s costumes and scenic elements expand the gesture in space. And the light of Wagner Freire dialogues with the various elements that contributes to the dramaturgy of the work. Aparições – a name that refers to the homonymous poem by Portinari -, brings images of Brazil in a poetic way and with a lot of creative freedom.

Choreography: Goyo Montero
Music: Owen Belton
Lightning: Nicolas Fischtel e Goyo Montero
Costume: Goyo Montero e Fábio Namatame
Organization: Carlos Iturrioz Mediart Producciones SL (Espanha)
Duration/cast: 25 minute with 14 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2019 | Teatro Municipal Castro Mendes, Campinas/SP – Brazil

Anthem is the first creation of the Spanish choreographer Goyo Montero for a Brazilian company. The work brings a reflection about the process of construction and deconstruction of collective identities. To Goyo: “There are cycles in life and we always repeat the same mistakes, thinking that we are separated, that we are different when, actually, every human being is one group, the humanity, and at the moment we lose this unity, the problems begin. This is a trace of the human history”.
The music is created by Owen Belton, with whom Goyo has created more than nine pieces. The inspiration of the song comes from songs that become hymns – whether from nations, people with similar preferences or individuals from the same generation. Therefore, the name chosen for the work: Anthem. For Montero, “The human voice becomes a song and this song becomes something we identify with.”

Choreography and Lightning: Édouard Lock
Musical Composition: Gavin Bryars, interpreted by Percorso Ensemble (Musical Director of Percorso Ensemble: Ricardo Bologna | Musicians: Adriana Holtz (cello), Douglas Kier (cello), Horácio Gouveia (piano), Joana Queiroz (clarion), Pedro Gadelha (contrabass))
Costume: Ulrika Van Gelder (dresses)
Costume design Assistant: Edmeia Evaristo (corsets)
Duration/cast: 50 minutes with 14 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2019 | Teatro Hafen 1, Wolfsburg/Germany
Produciton Associação Pró-Dança/São Paulo Dance Company and coproduction Moviments Festwochen der Autostad, in Wolfsburg, Germany

Movement linked to iconic operas and their collective memories, deconstructed, the sweetness stripped away in a gradual descent into a nihilistic terrain, reflecting both a darker view of the passions expressed in these arias and the fragmentation of the social utopia that gave them birth. A dance like wind in grass between dusk and night. Trick Cell Play is the second work from the Choreographer for São Paulo.

Choreography: Cassi Abranches
Music: Sebastián Piracés
Lightning: Gabriel Pederneiras
Costume: Janaina de Castro
Duration/cast: 20 minutes with 12 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2019 | Teatro Estadual de Araras, Araras/SP – Brazil

Agora, the third commission by Cassi Abranches to São Paulo Dance Company, explores the word “time” in every possible meaning regarding: musical aspect with dynamics and sonorities; chronological aspect with memories and expectations, temperature with different degrees and intensities. The choreographer sculpts the movements in each dancer’s body from the musical rhythms of the track composed by Sebastián Piracés, which uses drums and Afro-Brazilian percussion elements, mixed with contemporary rock and singing.

Choreography: Jöelle Bouvier
Music: excerpts from Bachianas Brasileiras by Heitor Villa Lobos; excerpts from Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Melodia Sentimental by Villa Lobos (lyrics from Dora Vasconcellos);poem Pátria Minha by Vinícius de Moraes; and text from Irène Jacob
Lightning: Renaud Lagier
Costume: Fábio Namatame
Choreography Assistants: Emilio Urbina and Rafael Pardillo
Duration/cast: 37 minutes with 14 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2018 | Teatro Alfa, São Paulo/SP – Brazil
Production Associação Pró-Dança/São Paulo Dacen Company and coproduction Chaillot – Théâtre National de la Danse (Paris/France)

Odisseia is a journey, a reencounter with oneself. Inspired by migration’s issue in today’s world, the choreographer has created a dramatic and poetic structure dealing with topics such as change, transition, departure, and the hope for a better life. “We are all sensitive to it now. It is a big issue worldwide”, says Joelle. Bouvier explains that her idea was to mix fragments of the Bachianas Brasileiras with excerpts from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; and at the end we can listen in Maria Bethânia’s voice, the music Melodia Sentimental and the poem Pátria Minha.

Choreography and Lightning: Henrique Rodovalho
Music: Original creation of Pupillo with vocal by Céu
Costume: Cássio Brasil
Duration/cast: 21 minutes with 14 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2018 | Sesc Santos, Santos/SP – Brazil

Rodovalho says that in this work he experiments expanded and continuous movements stemmed from the dancers who stay onstage the whole time. “The reference to this characteristic came from large groups of animals in movement and how they develop and connect.”  The work deals with ‘what has to happen’, in this brief gap of time existence of this large group, especially connected with some sort of pleasure, hence the name Melhor Único Dia (Best only Day, in prtuguese)  “In order to try and explain somehow the short existence which is expressed through the movement of the group,” adds Rodovalho. This work was chosen as Third Best Spectacle by Guia da Folha (2018), an important Brazilian newspaper, and Best Premiere of 2018 by APCA Award (Paulista Association of Art’s Critics).

Choreography: Jomar Mesquita with collaboration of Rodrigo de Castro
Music: Por Toda a Minha Vida by Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes (in the voice of Cibelle); Melancolia and Uma Canção pra Você (Jaqueta Amarela) by Assucena Assucena (performed by As Bahias e a Cozinha Mineira); Segunda Chance, composed and played by Johnny Hooker; Volta, by Lupicínio Rodrigues (in the voice of Adriana Calcanhoto); O Desejo do Desejo do Desejo, by Celso Sim and Pepe Mata Machado; Vai Saber, by Adriana Calcanhoto (in the voice of Marisa Monte)
Lightning: Joyce Drummond
Costume: Fernanda Yamamoto
Duration/cast: 27 minutes with 12 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2016 | Teatro Sérgio Cardoso, São Paulo/SP – Brazil

Jomar Mesquita’s second creation for São Paulo Dance Company is a free inspiration on Arthur Schnitzler’s play La Ronde – written in 1897, the work depicts different love relationships including a third person and brings elements of ballroom dance to portray the different ways of loving. Ngali… is a word of Aboriginal origin of Western Australia, whose meaning, without correspondent in another language, is: “the two of us, including you”. In opposition to another pronoun from the same language – Ngaliju – which means “both of us, excluding you”. The choreography was awarded best choreography by the public’s choice in the Best of the Year Award 2016, promoted by Guia da Folha, published by Folha de S. Paulo, the largest Brazilian newspaper.

Choreography: Márcia Haydée
Music: Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917) and Norberto Macedo (1939-2011)
Lightning: José Luiz Fiorruccio
Costume: Tânia Agra
Scenario: Hélio Euchbauer, with eight drawing images of Candido Portinari (1903-1962) (The rights of the arts’s reproduction were kindly provided by João Candido Portinari)

It is a colorful, vibrant an humor work. The ballet tells the adventures of Don Quixote, a visionary dreamer who is willing to fight “the error, the false and the evil of a thousand faces” and find your perfect lady Dulcineia, and the story of the almost impossible love of Kitri and Basile, as she was promised by her father to Gamache, a wealthy merchant. Peasants, bullfighters and gypises help to compose the work. With the complicity of Don Quixote, the marriage of love is realized and is celebrated by all. Don Quixote is one of the most popular ballets in the world. The Marcia Hayde’s special version for São Paulo Dance Company retains some recognizable moments of the original work – created by Marius Petipa (1818-1910), in 1869 and inspired by a chapter of the work of Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), with music composed by Ludwig Minkus, with a new set design made by Hélio Euchbauer with Candido Portinari’s drawings, Tânia Agra’s costumes, lighting by José Luiz Fiorruccio, Norberto Macedo’s music compositions and poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade.

Choreography: Jomar Mesquita with collaboration of Rodrigo de Castro
Music: Te amaré e Después, by Silvio Rodrigues, No se Nada, by Rodrigo Leão, Tema Final, by Cris Scabello and As rosas não falam (Cartola and Grupo Planetangos)
Lightning: Joyce Drummond
Costume: Cláudia Schapira
Duration/cast: 21 minutes with 8 dancers
Debut SPDC: 2012 | Teatro Geo, São Paulo/SP – Brazil

A look shared by two people. Both wishing the other to make a move for something to happen. However, none of them moves. This is the meaning of Mamihlapinatapai, a word originally from the indigenous language Yaghan, from the Tribe of Tierra del Fuego. Choreographer Jomar Mesquita uses deconstructed elements of ballroom dance to create this work, with movements that deal with the relationship of desire between men and women.

Choreography: Duda Braz, from Carnival de Venise (1859) by Marius Petipa (1818-1910)
Music: Cesare Pugni (1802-1870)
Lighting: Nicolas Marchi
Costume: Marilda Fontes

Originally created based on themes from Niccolò Paganini’s Carnavale di Venezia (Op. 10), this work is part of the classic repertoire of large companies. The Carnaval in Venice Grand Pas de Deux brings a vibrant and virtuous classic duo to the scene, reminiscent of 17th century European masquerade balls.

Choreography: Shamel Pitts
Soundtrack: Remix by Shamel Pitts e DiPa of the musics Into the tranquility, by Ryoji Ikeda; Spring break Anthem, by The Lonely Island; Obatalá, by Metá Metá; Spirit Caller, by Alleged Witches; Banomoya, by Prince Keybee ft. Busiswa; Freedom is a Feeling, by Nina Simone; Zion, de Fluke; Prismis, by Tim Hecker; F****t, by Arca; Ode, by Nils Frahm; Tudo Que Você Podia Ser, by Clube da Esquina
Lightning: Mirella Brandi
Costume: Tushrik Fredericks
Choreography Assistant: Mirelle Martins

Vai is the first creation of the American choreographer Shamel Pitts for a Brazilian company. The work is based on a post-apocalyptic future created not because the necessity or the destruction, but because the capacity of the human begin to restart. “It is an individual and a collective journey based on euphoria, eccentricity, discovering, enchantment and sharing.
After the end, the softness and the lightness of being human are the essences to create a new world, a moment to discover what is inside us, between us and around us”, explain Shamel. Then, the conscience is awaken and the group gather together in a commemoration, where the collective energy is improved by the potential of each individual. The final duet of Vai represents the humankind into harmony after the restart, where the softness of the touch and the skin, the trust and commitment to move forward together conduce the scene. “To discover in the other yourself, as mirrors of each other.”

Choreography: Lars Van Cauwenbergh from the original by Michel Fokine (1880-1942)
Music: Camile Saint_Saens, The Swan, abstracted from the Animal’s Carnival (1866)
Lightning: Wagner Freire
Costume: Marilda Fontes

The ballet created in 1907 by Fokine for Anna Pavlova is an emotional solo that dialogues with the harp and cello sounds, inspired by Alfred Tennyson’s poem (1809-1892) and the swan’s movements in their last moments of life. This solo is performed by great dance stars and now gain new accents and dynamics in the body of a dancer from the São Paulo Dance Company.

Choreography: Mario Galizzi, from the original by Marius Petipa (1818-1910) and Lev Ivanov (1834-1901)
Music: Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) with score reviewed by Riccardo Drigo (1846-1930)
Lightning: Wagner Freire
Scenario: Marco Lima
Costume: Fábio Namatame| 1st and 3th scenes, all | 2nd scenes, men Tânia Agra | 2nd and 4th scenes, tutus e wizard | 3th scene, Odille
Props: Robson Rui (crossbow) I Américo Corrêa (axes, Trompets e scepter)
Choreography Assistant: Sabrina Streiff
Scenography Assistant: César Bento
Visagism: Augusto Sargo
Dramaturgy: Vivien Buckup

The Swan Lake is a ballet with music especially composed by Tchaikovsky that premiered in 1877 at the Bolshoi Theater, but only in 1895, with new choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, for the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the work became a huge success. The Swan Lake by Sao Paulo Dance Company is tailor made for the artists of the house. Galizzi’s choreography dialogues with tradition and renews itself in the relationships of the characters, in the detail of the pantomimes, in the drawings of the scenes, in tune with the emblematic music of Tchaikovsky and puts all the artists on the scene. He was elected the second Best Show by the Guia Folha de S. Paulo (public vote and also by the jury vote) and also received the APCA Award – Technical Award from Vivien Buckup, The Swan Lake dramaturgy teacher.

Direction: Inês Bogéa and Luciano Cury
Choreography: Milton Coatti
Executive production: João Marcello Bôscoli
Music: The Four Seasons Winter 3, by Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741), with the composition of Max Richter
Costume: Raquel Davidowicz – UMA
Styling: Paula Iglecio
Filming and editing: Panogramma

Developed from the perspective of 360° vision and virtual reality (VR), the choreographic by Milton Coatti for São Paulo Dance Company translates into motion the issues that ravage the human being. Known for its brighter appearance in the southern hemisphere, the star has the brightness changes in its appearance. Concerns, questions and a certain inner anguish move the dancers to seek an answer to these feelings and sensations. In this search, they aim for themselves and others to rediscover the beauty, light and love that are apparently lost (or temporary forgotten) in these place almost lunar that suggests dissipating, but which still holds hope and the prospect that, at some point, the ideal encounter, with yourself and with the other, will materialize.

Conception, dramaturgy, theatric direction and scenic space: William Pereira
Musical direction: Ricardo Ballestero
Choreography: Cassi Abranches and Milton Coatti
Artistic and pedagogical Direction from Santa Marcelina Cultura: Paulo Zuben
Artistic direction: Inês Bogéa
Lightning: Caetano Vilela
Costume: 1th Act – Dancers: Acervo SPCD | Singers: Fabio Namatame, Acervo Theatro São Pedro I 2nd Act – Dancers: Plié e Fernanda Yamamoto | Singers: Plié e Fabio Namatame | Dancers and singers: Highstil

Composed of two acts, a Neoclassical and a Contemporary, the play traces a clipping of songs by the German composer Robert Schumann, written in 1840, with adaptations of guest conductor Ricardo Ballestero, based on the scenic conception of William Pereira in partnership with São Paulo Dance Company, directed by Inês Bogéa. The choreography is signed by Milton Coatti and Cassi Abranches and the lighting is by Caetano Vilela. The first part – a Neoclassic – contemplates the complete cycle of The Loves of the Poet Op.48., whose setting goes back to Romanticism. The second act has a more contemporary language with clear scenography and a stripped-down look. The texts of these 16 songs come from the poet Lyrisches Intermezzo or the “Intermezzo lyrico by poet Heinrich Heine, written between 1822 and 1823 and published as part of Das Buch der Liede.

Direction: Samuel Mac Dowell de Figueiredo
Acting: Ulysses Cruz
Music: Leonard Bernstein
Jazz Symphonic Orchestra (Regency: João Maurício Galindo / Choir: Coral Paulistano / Regency: Naomi Munakata) Soloists: Camila Titinger and Carla Cottini, soprano | Luciana Bueno, mezzo-soprano | Daniel Umbelino, tenor | Johnny Lima, baritone
São Paulo Dance Company
Artistic direction: Inês Bogéa
Guest Choreographers: Erika Novachi and Edson Guiu
Lightning: Wagner Freire
Costume: Balletto by Luciana Mantegazza

Inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s major works for Broadway, this show reflects the concerns of the composer, pianist and conductor through a journey through the musicals West Side Story, Fancy Free, On the Town and Candide. Added to all that Bernstein represented, from the importance of his scholarly work to defending the transition between classical and popular genres and his acting as conductor of the world’s leading orchestras, Bernstein 100 is born. He is the renewing, emotional and provocative man, always determined to break through borders!

Choreography and Lightning: Thiago Bordin
Music: Jóhann Jóhannsson and Wim Mertens
Costume: Fábio Namatame

Bordin’s first creation for a Brazilian company, Petrichor – name that refers to the smell of rain-soaked earth – had as its starting point the music of Jóhann Jóhannsson and Wim Mertens, which, according to Bordin, allows a glimpse of choreographic creation. “When I hear Mertens, I begin to imagine the light, the costume, the footsteps.” The characteristics of Brazilian dancers were another source of inspiration for the creator. “The work developed in dialogue with the cast. Each brought a color, a strong, striking character, quite different from what I imagined. And that turned out to be the most rewarding part of this choreography.

Choreography: Mario Galizzi, from the original by Marius Petipa (1818-1910) and Lev Ivanov (1834-1901)
Music: Piotr I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Lightning: Wagner Freire
Costume design: Tânia Agra
Wigs: Emi Perucas
Accessories design: Robson Rui
Choreography Assistant: Sabrina Streiff

The second act of the iconic ballet shows the meeting of Prince Siegfried and Princess Odete in the woods. From midnight to dawn, she is the princess of the night, a magical and delicate creature whom the prince wishes to love and protect. During the day, the queen of the swans: fragile, frightened and at the same time brave and protective of her group. This play marks the history of art and enchants all generations for its theme and the connection between dance and music. The wizard Rothbart is a nobleman and a bird. The prince who goes hunting with his friends has the elegance of the nobility.