An Uneven Dance With Dazzling Parts

In “Desafio,” the new evening length piece by Dance Brazil’s choreographer, Jelon Vieira, the curtain rises on 12 dancers huddled in neardarkness. Cool, iridescent dappled light falls in patches on the dancers’ undulating, rippling muscles. Through the murk one can make out the magnificent sculpted bodies, bare except for swimsuit-like swaths of orange-toned spandex. A live Brazilian band play the inescapable rhythm with traditional instruments; the dancers stamp their feet in time. Then, off to the left, the lights go up on a burst of capoeira.The first stage picture of “Desafio” is a microcosm of the whole – dazzlingly energetic, but disorienting. There is too much going on; the eye can’t take it all in at once. In “Desafio,” Mr. Vieira is the kind of cook who dumps everything into the pot – samba, modern, capoeira, street dance, and ballet – without keeping track of the proportions.The individual ingredients are very fine, however. DanceBrazil’s sleek, liquid-jointed dancers are a pleasure to watch – from their sultry samba hip circles to their thrilling, impossible horizontal leaps. There are some incredible one-foot balance poses and extensions in “Desafio,” and dancers take off from a prone push-up position with startling verve. The company’s trademark capoeira movements are woven through the piece: Its aggressive martial-arts kicks and feints, its handstands and cartwheels, and its liquid, swaying lunges with both feet planted, hands up in self-defense. The dancers’ high-to-low movement has great snap, and there is a nice contrast between their hard, flattened arms and soft, luxuriant hips.But in the end, the parts of “Desafio” are more enjoyable than their sum. Too often in the tableaux, one finds two or more groups of dancers competing for attention. Entrances and exits need more finesse. On the whole, “Desafio” needs editing.Mr. Vieira’s press materials note that “Desafio,” which means “Challenge,” was intended as “an exploration of the challenges of the human experience from birth, including gender, race, social class, communication in relationships, and the daily challenge of keeping up with society’s demands.” If that sounds like a lot for one dance, it is. “Desafio” can’t get out from under its formal ambitions. Even the titles of its two halves (“Struggle” and “Overcome”) seem to weigh it down with narrative baggage.There were nonetheless some keen, clear moments in “Struggle.” At one point, the drumbeats chase a man like a swarm of bees; in a frenzy, he swats them away from his ears and head. Later, a girl leaps backwards in the air, tucking her knees up near her chin, and, is caught by a man in mid-air and effortlessly bounced over his shoulders. There is a man who raises one leg up, up to his shoulder, until the weight of it tips him over. And there is a breathtaking moment near the end when the group rushes out in a stampede, hot on the heels of a lone dancer.What Mr. Vieira has attempted in “Desafio” (as in “Retratos de Bahia,” the 2005 piece playing on alternating nights during the company’s Joyce season) is difficult. Merging a modern dance sensibility with a localized traditional dance form is not for the faint of heart. (For this reason, many an overseas company tours with the concert dance equivalent of one of those “traditional” variety shows put on for tourists by hotels.) For “Desafio,” for instance, Mr. Vieira used original contemporary music (with traditional instruments and samples) by the Brazilian composer Tote Gira. The danger of this approach is that one may not satisfy either camp – the progressives or the traditionalists.Mr. Vieira, who studied with Alvin Ailey as a young man and divides his time between New York and Brazil, would seem a good candidate for his chosen project. He has tremendous dancers – strong, silkily coordinated, and hyper alert. And he possesses a dazzlingly eclectic dance vocabulary. Now, if only he could put the elements together more effectively.Until March 12 (175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, 212-242-0800).

An Uneven Dance With Dazzling Parts

An Uneven Dance With Dazzling Parts

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