Historic serie 21 | Gira

GIRA
[2017]
choreography: Rodrigo Pederneiras
music: Metá Metá
set design: Paulo Pederneiras
costume design: Freusa Zechmeister
lighting: Paulo Pederneiras and Gabriel Pederneiras

The rites of ‘Umbanda’ – one of the most widely practiced Brazil-born religions, which resulted from a combination of ‘Candomblé’ with Catholicism and Kardecism – serve as the great source of inspiration for the aesthetic scene design of Gira.
‘Exu’, the most human of the ‘Orixás’ – without whom, in religions of African origin, the ritual simply won’t happen – is the main poetic imagery which evokes the eleven musical themes especially created by Metá Metá, for Gira.
First and foremost, the artistic creators of Grupo Corpo had to delve into the universe of Afro-Brazilian religions in preparation for the theme proposed by Metá Metá. However, the performance is far from being a mimetic representation of these syncretic rituals. Instead, the choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras re(constructs) the powerful glossary of gestures and movement he accessed as he experienced rites of  ‘Camdomblé’ as well as ‘Umbanda’, particularly  ‘Exu’ ceremonies (giras de Exu).
Paulo Pederneiras conceived the stage design as an installation or a non-setting, in which he covers the bodies of the dancers off stage with the same black tulle as the three walls of the black box, turning them into the ether and this way creating an eerie atmosphere of endlessness.
As for the costumes, Freusa Zechmeister adopts the same language for the whole cast, both female and male dancers: naked torso and the other half of the body in white skirts of primitive cutting and raw linen.