Redcat Presents 'Grupo de Rua' At the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater 1/19/2010

REDCAT (the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) presents the Los Angeles premiere of Grupo de Rua's H3 , the latest work by choreographer Bruno Beltrão and his nine-member, all-male movement powerhouse. As part of Grupo de Rua's debut U.S. tour, H3 opens its limited engagement at REDCAT on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 and runs through Saturday, January 23, 2010. Curtain for all performances is 8:30 pm.

H3 opens a new physics-defyingchapter in Grupo de Rua's ongoing project to deploy hip-hop as a vibrant dance theater form for our time. Called "Raw 21st-century expression..." and "Extraordinarily brilliant" by The Guardian, Grupo de Rua, under the artistic direction of Bruno Beltrão, has been winning accolades and touring internationally since 2002, making the worlds of both contemporary dance and hip-hop stand up and take notice.

The Flying Inkpot (Singapore) attested to a particularly masculine flavor in H3, "These boys were dancing in a way I can honestly say I had never seen before. Like street warriors going to battle, they hurtled around the space at breakneck speed, defying the conventions of any form of dance."

In H3, Beltrão and company--all recruited from the lively street dance scene in Rio--elaborate on a churning, crossover movement style that brings in elements of krumping, popping and breakdance. The performers collide and balance against each other creating a fresh new fusion of hip-hop and contemporary dance. Dispensing with heavy beats and macho posturning, the Brazilian hip-hop phenomenon wire the black mirrored stage to pick up the screech and slide of the dancers' shoes which become sampled sound in a minimalist, almost meditative interpretation of hip-hop where the movement itself becomes its own pulsating rhythm.

Watch a clip from Grupo de Rua's H3 here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_rWQSMqu-g&NR=1

The U.S. tour begins in Hanover, NH at the Hopkins Center (January 7) and proceeds to Columbus at the Wexner (January 10), La Jolla at ArtPower (January 14), Irvine at the Barclay (January 16), Los Angeles at REDCAT (January 19-23), Santa Barbara at UCSB (January 26), Seattle at On the Boards (January 28-31), Portland with White Bird (February 3-7), Austin at Texas Performing Arts (February 9), Minneapolis at the Walker (February 11-13), Knoxville with University of Tennessee (February 16) and Burlington at The Flynn (February 18) before culminating in NYC at Dance Theater Workshop (February 20-23).

The performances at REDCAT are funded in part by the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with leading funding from The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and additional funding from The Ford Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation. Additional support generously provided by The George and MaryLou Boone Fund for Artistic Advancement, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Bruno Beltrão was born in Niterói, near Rio de Janeiro, in 1979. In 1993 he began his first street dance lessons, in Niterói, with the Israeli teacher Yoram Szabo. From 1995 on, he engaged in a research to get thoroughly acquainted with this dance style, still quite unheard of in Brazil.

In 1996 he created the company, Grupo de Rua de Niterói, with his partner Rodrigo Bernardi. During its first two years, the company was devoted to competitive dance festivals and special appearances in several events and TV shows. In 2000 GRN participated in the international tour of "Metrópole" with the Midnight Circus, from the French director Pierrot Bidon. This was also the year when Beltrão enrolled in the dance university.

In 2001 the duet "Do Popping ao Pop ou Vice-Versa" premiered at the festival "Duos de Dansa no SESC", in Rio de Janeiro. With this piece Beltrao made his official debut in the contemporary dance scene in Rio. It was also a turning point on the choreographer's career - the first step to set street dance free from sheer virtuosity and from the patterned reproduction of choreographic structures that are inherent to this dance form. Since then his research is oriented by the exchange between hip hop and the reflexive and inventive environment of contemporary dance. At the end of the year Beltrão assumed the sole direction of Grupo de Rua when his partner Rodrigo left the company to develop his own projects.

Grupo de Rua started touring internationally in 2002, with presentations at Rencotres Choreographiques de Seine-Saint-Denis, MC93 in Paris and the festival "Dansas na Cidade" in Lisbon. In 2003, the company was invited by the French choreographer Jérame Bel to perform at Klapstuk Festival in Belgium. In the same year, the company performed at Springdance (Utrecht), Ile Danse (Ajaccio), Tanz im August (Berlin) Internationales Tanzfest (Hanover), Yokohama Dance Summit (Japan), Hebbel Theater (Berlin) and Opkomst (Utrecht). The company has also performed at La Ferme du Buisson (Noisiel), Kunsten Festival des Arts (Brussels), Ruhrfestspiele (Recklinghausen), Tanztage (Bern), CSS Theater (Udine), Rencontres de la Villete (Paris), Kampnagel (Hamburg) and at the Festival Breakin'Walls (Amsterdam).

Besides his creative work as a choreographer, Beltrão also works in many other different spheres to promote street dance, whether working as a curator or taking part on social programs. He has also written the essay Breakdance: Fissão e a Reação em cadeia for the book Lições de Dança 2, published by Beltrão's university, UniverCidade.

In 2002, Beltrão was selected Upcoming Choreographer of the Year and the company is considered "one of the most creative of the new generation" by O GLOBO (second largest Brazilian newspaper). BATTETANZ YEARBOOK selected him Upcoming Choreographer of the Year in 2005.

Opened by CalArts in 2003, REDCAT introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT is the newest partner in an international network of adventurous art and performance centers, which together are playing a vital role in the evolution of contemporary culture. REDCAT is a center for experimentation, discovery and lively civic discourse. For more information, visit www.redcat.org.

 

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