Grupo Corpo
Alhambra Theatre, Bradford/Touring
4 Stars

THERE’S something strangely meditative about Grupo Corpo’s mass ensemble as it gently undulates across the stage during Sem Mim (2011), which focuses on a group of women who lament the loss of their lovers.

Creating shifting geometric formations, with their brightly pattered bodysuits contrasting with the darkened stage and suspended silvery net, they take the traditional formality of ballet and combine it with sensual Latin hip movements.

That tension between precision and rubber-limbed languor has marked the output of the Brazilian company for almost four decades.
Built around the three Pederneiras brothers — artistic director Paulo, choreographer Rodrigo and technical director Pedro — they’ve specialised in combining classical technique with a contemporary rereading of popular Brazilian dance forms.

Here it’s realised in Sem Mim, based on a 13th-century Portuguese song cycle, with the 22 dancers alternately moving as one or divided into male and female groups.

Rippling the length of their spines and making small, bouncing steps that erupt into scissor-like leaps, they express both freedom and formal constraint with an almost spiritual choreography.

The piece sweeps the audience along with an ease that the programme’s companion work Parabelo (1997) doesn’t quite achieve.
Based on traditional rhythms and melodies from rural Brazil, large sections feel repetitive as it moves from group to solo and back again.

Yet there are engaging elements, with striking images of monolithic heads on the backdrop and rhythmic music gradually giving way to a wall of peeling family photographs and joyful, accordion-driven folk music.

At this point the stage bursts into life with a blaze of brightly coloured costumes and street dancing, creating a carnivalesque feel to the piece’s closing minutes.

It’s impossible not to respond to this outburst of physical joy, which ensures the programme ends on a high.

Tours until November 5, details: www.grupocorpo.com