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Dancing, not combat: Nego Gato.
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Real
Fierce Cats
By
Mae G. Banner
Nego Gato
The
Egg, May 12
A
stunning display of capoeira whipped the audience into a frenzy
at the climax of Nego Gato’s concert, From Africa to Brazil,
last Friday (May 12) at the Egg. Five men performed in shifting
pairs, like tag teams, launching powerful kicks to their partners’
heads or evading the blows by flipping out of range.
Capoeira is a martial art disguised as dance—a necessary subterfuge
for the men brought from the Congo to work as slaves in colonial
Brazil. Acrobatic in the extreme, it looks like a combination
of breakdancing and kick-boxing. The handstands and head spins,
the series of traveling flips (sometimes not even touching
the ground) and the hieroglyphic shapes of jutting arms and
legs look artful and dangerous at the same time, while the
ferocious, swinging kicks look like they could whack off an
opponent’s head.
No fear, though. Partners worked so smoothly together that
the potentially fatal blows never landed, but sliced the air
a whisker’s width from their target. Capoeira is entanglement
without touching.
The taller men seemed to move in slow motion, especially when
they executed full-body flips. Shorter men could move faster,
allowing for rapid-fire sets of flips that showed their strength
and agility.
Capoeira is accompanied by the music of the berimbau, which
enslaved Afro- Brazilians added to complete the deception.
The instrument is remarkable in its simplicity. It’s a stringed
gourd that is hit, not bowed with a small stick. Sometimes,
a small gourd rattle hangs from its neck. The sound is an
evocative buzz that provides melody and rhythm at one stroke.
The berimbau, the lute-like kora (originally from West Africa)
and an array of drums accompanied the program, which was arranged
by Nego Gato’s founder and artistic director Jose Sena as
a timeline from African religious dance to modern street samba.
Sena, aka Nego Gato (black cat), is from Salvador in the province
of Bahia. As a performer and choreographer, he honors tradition,
but he also banters casually with his fellow drummers and
reaches out to the audience, asking us to clap in rhythm or
to pick up the African or Portuguese words of a song.
After a brief samba overture, company members appeared, one
by one, in the shape of the orixas, the god-like forces of
nature. Each orixa wore the color and head-dress of a deity
and carried a symbol of that force’s domain. Oxum, who represents
fresh water, beauty and femininity, wore a silvery satin gown
and carried two paddles that she swung as she traveled the
stage. She knelt, facing forward, arched her back and bent
way back as if possessed, letting her arms trace sinuous shapes
in the air.
Ogum, ruler of war, metal and technology, was in royal blue
with a Roman helmet and a stylized sword. He circled and jumped,
demonstrating his power and skill. Yansa, in fiery red, danced
demonically fast, whipping her straw whisk and constantly
changing direction as mistress of the storm winds. Finally,
there was Shango, ruler of justice, possessor of fire, who
danced to increasingly agitated drumming.
All 10 members of the company took part in a mime-like dance
depicting the fishermen of Bahia. The fishing dance seemed
to be an old history, preserved in the dancers’ bodies. So,
too, was the maculele, a martial dance that celebrates the
harvesting of sugar cane. It looked improvised and casual,
but the dancers and drummers were clearly listening and responding
to each other, adding ever more complicated rhythmic layers.
Fode Sissoko, a guest artist from Senegal, played a beautiful
interlude on the kora. Singer Sylvana Marquina, from Argentina,
introduced the final samba, all glitter and hip-swaying. In
keeping with Nego Gato’s interactive style, dancers began
moving into the aisles and enticing willing audience members
to join them onstage. In no time, the stage filled with people
of all ages, all of them shimmying in their own ways to the
samba beat. It’s a fact that everybody looks great under stage
light.
To make the evening complete, we all stood up, waved our arms
and swung our hips, succumbing to the urge to merge with the
dancers. The feeling of common joy was palpable and the audience
went home energized.
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