SÃO PAULO DANCE COMPANY: A BALANCE SHEET
In just five years of existence, São Paulo Companhia de Dança has produced 27 or 29 choreographies, the result of work conducted with wisdom and caution. Just yesterday, she successfully faced Forsythe’s challenger In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, which, in a way being the prototype of the successful integration of classical and contemporary dance, situates the company’s possibilities well. They are just over 40 dancers, but all perfectly able to dedicate themselves with mastery to both expressions. Today, for the first time, the company incorporates a great action ballet in its repertoire, and it is no small feat: Romeo and Juliet with music by Prokofiev. This new production is exemplary. It is due to the young [Italian] choreographer Giovanni Di Palma, who, it seems to me, is little known in France, despite having danced at the Nice Opera, the Dresden Ballet and the Leipzig. […] But, as of now, we must affirm that, besides São Paulo Dance Company, there is probably no one in Brazil that is a better showcase for classical dance and, at the same time, contemporary dance. It will never be too much to affirm the merit worthy of admiration of Inês Bogéa, the director, who guides her troupes with a firm hand and builds a particularly rich and judicious repertoire for them. This brilliant result, obtained in five years, is particularly admirable, coming from this small woman, with such a fragile appearance that we would see her, more easily, dancing the role of Giselle.