Bale Folclorico

I've been hearing about this show for weeks. It's probably one of the big tourist shows to go to here, seeing as they have a performance nearly every night of the week and it always sells out (a deceptive idea because the the theatre is quite small). But Bale Folclorico is definitely a show that displays the richest aspects of Afro-Brazilian artistic expression - samba, percussion, dance, capoeira, candomble, elaborate and colorful dress. That's why it was worth it, and even though it was short and expensive, I would actually see it again.

There are about 5 different "scenes" or dance routines if you can think of it that way. It opens with a group of drummers, percussionists and two female singers lined up against the back wall, all dressed in attire reminiscent of West African fabrics and style - the women with large head wraps and crisp dresses and the men shirtless with cloth over one shoulder. The women sang very traditional Afro-Brazilian songs throughout, with many Yoruba lyrics, enough to make it difficult to understand. What also made it difficult to understand was the style of singing - there were lots of sustained notes and wails that stretched out words. Yet there was an unmistakable constant, powerful call-and-response between the singers and the drummers/percussionists. The dancers came out dressed as orixas for the first dance, set to a song paying tribute to the different gods. Each took her turn in the center, dancing in a possessed sort of way. The bodies moved smoothly and with resolve to the beat, but this was mixed with a lack of control, wild screams and crashing into others on stage. Each orixa had a different color and the customary wide ballroom gown looking ensemble on, representing the different theme of each orixa.  I tried to remember which was which...

The next scene was a much more choreographed scene in terms of dance, a more traditional samba really. The third scene was the craziest though. This one guy came out with three bowls of fire, one large one on his head and two smaller ones in each hand. He began a slow dance to drumbeat, balancing the fire with his body. Then he began moving very quickly as the beat picked up pace, his eyes occasionally rollin back into his head. He then put the bowls of coal and fire down and stepped on the fire! He not only stepped on it, he stood there and danced on it for 5 seconds each time. He then took out these two sticks and set one end of each on fire. He began his vigorous dance again, only this time he was rubbing the fire on his body!! He continually ran the fiery side of the stick up both arms and down his torso. It hurt to just look at that to be honest. Of course it wasn't done - he swallowed fire too! Repeatedly! I was impressed...The next was another samba, except this time there was a good amount of sword and stick fighting involved - the dancers weren't wearing much clothing for this scene, definitely an effort to claim the popularized, stereotyped way of African dress (men with small cloth to cover only their private parts and the women with short skirts and only their breasts covered).

The last set saw all the dancers come out, with the men doing some crazy crazy acrobatics. They were flipping all over the place, front and backflips. They then did a roda - meaning they formed a circle so people could play capoeira. Again it was amazing. It made my friend David (from Capoeira class) and I feel very inadequate - kinda like stepping onto a basketball court for the first time and taking some shots, then watching Kobe Bryant practice. Anyway, it was an awesome awesome show, and I highly recommend it!