Created in 1992, 21 is a watershed moment in the history of Grupo Corpo. After working for a decade with pre-existing musical themes, with this ballet, the Minas Gerais-based dance company not only returned to working with specially composed soundtracks – as had happened in its early days with the successful Maria, Maria and Último Trem, both with original music by Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant – but also adopted this criterion as a rule. The decision provided Rodrigo Pederneiras with the opportunity to begin building the extensive choreographic vocabulary, with notably Brazilian inflections, that would become a trademark of the group's creations. From the web of rhythmic and timbral combinations surrounding the number 21, contained in the geometric scores created by Marco Antônio Guimarães – artistic director of Uakti Oficina Instrumental and the mastermind behind the unusual instruments that give it a unique sound – Rodrigo Pederneiras creates a choreographic writing whose pulse, or impulse, is one of mathematical perspiration. Divided into three movements, the most vigorous and intriguing of the ballets presented by Grupo Corpo up to the early 1990s reproduces, through multiple repetitions of movement, the descending scale from 21 to 1; it sketches eight small choreographic haikus; and explodes at the end, in a colorful and contagious dance reminiscent of popular festivities and rural celebrations. The contained force in the tension between the red color of the flat background light and the yellow of the dancers' tights sets the tone for the first part of the ballet, while a gigantic patchwork quilt, displaying vibrantly colored prints, foreshadows the explosion of the ballet's final moment, when the costumes, always form-fitting, allude to the patchwork of the set.