Hot describes not only the record-breaking temperatures we have had this summer, but also the sultry dancers of the Brasil Tropical Carnival.
After attracting animated crowds on the streets of Taichung last weekend, the group is bringing its dance extravaganza to indoor venues in Kaoshiung and Taipei this weekend before spreading the festive atmosphere to other parts of Taiwan.
Even before its samba dancers took to the streets of Taichung, however, their performances caused a heated debate over whether roughly one third of the program, in which dancers go topless, should make it a restricted show.
Although all performance arts programs showing topless performers are still categorized as "restricted," the Ministry of Education has announced that an audience under 18 years of age may attend Brasil Tropical Carnival in the company of an adult.
"The Brasil Tropical dancers do not bare their breasts for the sake of nakedness but as one of the many costumes they wear to represent the spirit of the dance," said Hsu Bo-yun (許博
Brasil Tropical Carnival boasts an
extravagant line-up of 10 musicians, 19 singers and 27 dancers, who share over 400 sets of eye-catching costumes. Most of the performers started performing in the annual Samba Parade competition and various carnivals around Brazil. With the group, they have toured the world extensively, especially in Western Europe.
Edvaldo Carneiro, who founded the troupe over 30 years ago, used to enter the capoeira dance competition in Salvador, the capital of Bahia state, and won the top prize, or camisa, which became Carneiro's nickname. Originating in Africa, the manly dance requires power, quickness and acrobatic skills.
With a group of other capoeira enthusiasts, Carneiro has tried to create a song and dance show encompassing the different traditions in various parts of Brazil. Teaming up with rising choreographic talent Domingos Campos (a winner in the South American choreographer category of the Latin American Dance Festival), Carneiro gave birth to Brasil Tropical Carnival.
The most prominent part of the group's repertoire is the religion-influenced dances of Bahia and Salvador. The Afro-Brazilian ritual of candomble, in which Bahians pay tribute to the gods with a mysterious show of fervent drumming, singing and dancing.
The first half of the show will dramatize the young Edvaldo Carneiro's acquaintance with like-minded dancers on the streets of Salvador and go on to showcase the macumba dance, a religious ritual dance among African Brazilians. The timbalada and tamancos dance styles will also be showcased.
Male dancers will then stage a choreographed capoeira "fight" dance, at the climax of which female dancers ease the belligerent atmosphere with a seductive form of samba.
The history of black slavery will be dramatized in "Fim de Semana," which opens the second half of the show with gleeful miners drumming with hammers and spades. "Fantasias" will be the wildest part of the show, where dancers in extravagant costumes will relive the carnivals in different Brazilian cities.
Costumes are a major attraction of the show. Many of the 400 costumes are decked with real plumes from rare species indigenous to Brazil.
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