Created to celebrate Grupo Corpo's 40th anniversary in 2015, Dança Sinfônica (Symphonic Dance) is structured around the memorialist theme proposed by artistic director Paulo Pederneiras. Author of anthological soundtracks such as 21 (1992) and Bach (1996), in the first symphonic work specifically created for the Minas Gerais dance company, Marco Antônio Guimarães blends original pieces and evocative musical passages from ballets that have marked Corpo's recent history into a sophisticated narrative. The set of themes, masterfully written for the 90-piece Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra and interconnected by ingenious musical bridges performed by the Uakti group, allows Rodrigo Pederneiras to revisit the best notations of an entire vocabulary he had left behind and also to process, with the experience accumulated over decades of practicing detachment from form, a kind of synthesis of a choreographic writing constructed over more than 40 years of residency with the company.

Sifted from the private collections of professionals who collaborated with or exerted some kind of influence on the trajectory of Grupo Corpo over these 40 years – from dancers and ballet masters to technicians and stagehands – more than a thousand informal photographic snapshots make up the 8m x 16m scenographic panel that sets the scene for the show.

In contrast to the everyday nature of the situations depicted, curtains and burgundy velvet tights cover the legs of the theater and dress the dancers, lending a discreet air of solemnity to the performance.