Brazilian ballet dancers conquer foreign scene

03/12/2013 - 03h00

Thiago Soares, Roberta Marquez, Mariana Gomes, Carla Körbes, Marcelo Gomes. The list of Brazilian dancers establishing their careers in renowned foreign dance companies is growing.
Irlan Silva, Vitor Luiz, Daniel Deivison-Oliveira... Is this a special moment for dance in Brazil?

A few weeks ago, Carla Körbes, 31, captured the attention of U.S. critics with her performance in "Romeo and Juliet," when she danced with her hair loose, in a light and self-assured way. She was born in Porto Alegre and has lived in the U.S. since she was 15, and today is the main ballet dancer of Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Peter Rosenwald, a critic who worked for the Wall Street Journal for 17 years and currently living in Brazil, says the Brazilians' energy is their most important feature.

"The best Brazilian ballet dancers are like the best soccer players: they have a lot of energy. You can feel it when they are on stage," he says.

	Stuart Isett/The New York Times
	The brazilian dancer Carla Korbes from the Seattle´s Pacific Northwest Ballet

JUNIOR TEAMS

Aside from the private sector, different social projects have supported Brazilian dancers by helping to open doors for young talented Brazilians.
That is the case of Dançar a Vida, which began 14 years ago, a partner of Rio de Janeiro's private school Petite Danse, and has exported young stars like Mayara Magri, 17, currently at The Royal Ballet, in London, and Letícia Dias, aged 16.

Dias and Adhonay Silva, of Goiânia, participated in Switzerland's 41st Prix de Lausanne, held in February. The annual award, created in 1973, seeks new talents and encourages ballet dancers between the ages of 15 and 18 by granting scholarships. Among the 250 participants from the world over, both Brazilians were among the eight winners.

Nelma Darze, the artistic director of Petite Danse and the coordinator of the Dançar a Vida project, believes Brazilian dancers are in the spotlight. "We constantly receive international invitations," she says. Today, 16 students of her school are dancing in companies around the world. She believes the higher number of selective processes in Brazil is contributing to the dancers' visibility abroad.

Among them is New York's Youth America Grand Prix. It focuses on children and teenagers between 8 and 19 years of age. In Brazil, the competition is held at the Instituto Passo de Arte, in Santo André (SP). "We can see that Brazilian dancers are receiving high-quality training," says Donald Hutera, a dance critic of London's The Times.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO