xThe Dance Centre presents Discover Dance!
Aché Brasil

Date and Venue Thursday May 14, 2015 at 12 noon | Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St

Reviewer Ed Farolan

The dance and music of Brazil was brought to the stage at The Dance Centre’s Discover Dance with a 45-minute performance by Vancouver’s Aché Brasil. The company is known for shows which explore the culture, traditions and rhythms of Brazil through music, dance and martial arts, including the acrobatics of capoeira.

This company has been in existence for quite some time, and it's a family affair, as we found out during the 15-minute Q&A session. The father leads the troupe, then there's the daughter and the niece. Another member was probably the son-in-law, and lo and behold, a Canadian who introduced himself as "Dan from BC's rainforest" was the outsider in this family.

As always, Discover Dance is educational. We learned all kinds of instruments, mostly percussion, but then there's one that's called "berimbao",a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, roriginally from Africa. Audience participation (almost a full house) was also involved and we were asked to clap and dance. But we only clapped. No one wanted to go up and dance, although I noticed some were dancing in their seats.

This was another enjoyable noon hour fromThe Dance Centre’s Discover Dance series.

© 2015 Ed Farolan