Search - Grupo Corpo - Brazilian Dance Theatre on DVD

A "Must Have" Modern Dance DVD!

J. M WILINSKY | teaneck, NJ United States | 01/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From classical to modern, the dancing and choreography here is pure virtuosity. The dancers are technically superb and in perfect physical condition. The Brazilian influence is only very slight and what is very obvious is a solid classical ballet foundation, both in the dancing and the choreography. There is one piece with pairs of men and women, combining elements of ballet, modern, and ballroom, displaping amazing virtuosity. There is also a very complete documentary included."

Dance: OK. Camera Work: Ghastly.

RobtR42 | St. Paul, MN USA | 10/28/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Dancers were skilled; that's evident. Two program features were BACH and O CORPO. I thought the former was tedious; the latter? Oh, I dunno, think Janet Jackson backup choreography. The documentary was chatty and non-informative. But the Crime Against Nature was the camera work. Let's see: twelve dancers on stage and most often only four or five are on camera. Often, dancer facial close-ups are featured. (Why? This is dance, not an audition with headshots.) Music on O CORPO was interesting and inventive, I thought. But, overall, this DVD was a perfect example of How Not To Present Dance. I'd burn it but why waste the fuel?!"

Original music/choreography: Recommended

Madhu Avasarala | Bangalore, India | 06/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For you to calibrate my likes (since likes and dislikes are subjective) I am a lover of classical ballet and I can't stand modern ballet especially if the music is not melodic. For example, I rate as very high "La Bayadere" by POB and "Le Corsaire" by ABT featuring Angel Corella and "Coppelia" by Australian Ballet Theater.

Rest assured that this DVD although is not classical in the strict sense, is so in the sense that the dance movements are flowing, music is melodious (albeit rhythmic sometimes) and movement and music synchronize very well (if not it shouldn't be called dance but gymnastics right?). All in all the DVD is very enjoyable (I watch it once a month without getting bored). There is always tightness in the dance, music , and choreography which shows the attention paid to all aspects of the dance. All elements are original-there is consistency of style which shows that it is not a random production (many modern ballets strike me as such). There is also incredible energy, delight, and joy in the dance. It is a very positive uplifting type of choreography, not the "world is coming to an end" type modern ballet choreography.
The technical production of the DVD is quite reasonable although not top notch. You do need a reasonably high contrast TV/projection system to fully enjoy the DVD since the stage light is not very bright and the dancers wear dark costumes but there is no granularity and movements are not smeared.
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