From November 18 through December 12, 2020, Viver Brasil has been hosting a series of twice weekly Instagram lives on Wednesdays and Sundays where viewers can enjoy interviews and performances that give an inside look into the company. Viver Brasil will celebrate this most transformative year on December 12, 2020 with a showing of incredible works created by the company dancers and special guest artists on Facebook Live.
Founded in 1997 under the artistic direction of Linda Yudin and Luiz Badaró, Viver Brasil is based in Los Angeles while continuously acting as a living bridge between its home here in LA and its sister city, Salvador, Bahia. The company’s performances have captured the imagination of audiences nationally and internationally with a blend of Afro-Brazilian dance theater, exuberant physicality, power, and passion drawn from orixá movement and rhythms of samba, forró, dança afro, and bloco afro styles.
Viver Brasil – Dancer/Associate Artistic Director Vera Passos – Photo courtesy of the company
“We have produced thirteen premieres since 2003, including Yabas/Queens, which toured throughout New Mexico and the West Coast with National Dance Project Touring support; Xirê/Celebrations; The Gift on the Water; Mo Ife: Love Stories; and Feet on the Ground featuring Alaafia, which toured throughout the U.S. with National Dance Project Production support; Peace Transcends, which in 2015 culminated the inaugural Aratani World Series in Los Angeles, in collaboration with Ford on the Road Series; and twelve successful seasons at the John Anson Ford Theatre.” – Viver Brasil website
Over the years Viver Brasil has worked with numerous wonderful choreographers such as Luiz Badaró, Rosangela Silvestre, Vera Passos, Shelby Williams-Gonzalez and Marina Magalhães. The list of collaborators continues with composers Jose Ricardo Sousa and Kahlil Cummings; filmmakers Cari Ann Shim Sham* and Paula Walker; and Bahian cultural consultant elder, Nancy de Souza e Silva, aka Dona Cici of the Pierre Verger Foundation.
Viver Brasil, “Avanina”, Samad Guerra – Photo by Jorge Vismara
As with many dance organizations, Covid-19 has hit Viver Brasil hard and needs your help. As a press release stated:
“When COVID-19 came, Viver Brasil took a very deep breath and began reimagining how we could quickly pivot to an online presence with our programs. With the generosity of our funders who encouraged us to rethink our projects, we created a diverse number of programs online, which allowed our artists in Los Angeles and Salvador, Bahia an opportunity to continue to work and learn how to manage the world of Zoom, Instagram and more!
With your support and enthusiastic attendance, we managed to create vibrant programming, train our dancers and musicians, and strengthen our social media presence. We created a worldwide online presence and welcomed you all to our Viver Brasil familia.
Even with all of our efforts, COVID 19 brought a 65% loss of income. And now, we are asking you to continue your support so that we may thrive in 2021!
Please consider a generous donation which will assist us in keeping our doors open. We thank you in advance so that we can meet our fundraising goal of $15,000 before December 31st!”
To join in on the celebration on Saturday, December 12, 2020 on Facebook, click HERE.
To learn more about Viver Brasil and to make a donation, click HERE.
To follow Viver Brisil on Instagram, click HERE.
By Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Bianca Cor da Pele by Gia Trovela – Courtesy of the company.
