Balé de Rua at Barbican

Popping-in?

Our studio is filled with light and music.
There are multiple meeting rooms, a well stocked kitchen, and an indoor garden (with fishpond). Talk to us about access needs, environmental factors and any accommodations we might make to enhance your visit. Pop-in for tea and stay to use a spare desk for as long as you need.

11 Greenwich Centre Business Park,
53 Norman Road, Greenwich
London SE10 9QF

Cog is a Certified B Corporation

020 8269 1800 [email protected]

Get in touch

We’d love to hear from you. Use whichever medium works best for you.

11 Greenwich Centre Business Park,
53 Norman Road, Greenwich
London SE10 9QF

Cog is a Certified B Corporation

020 8269 1800 [email protected]

Balé de Rua at Barbican

Wed 27th May 2009

Michael Smith

After a spectacular run at Edinburgh, Balé de Rua were in London with their show that told the tales of slavery and the performance art that emerges from dispossession.

Typifying the eclectic, high-energy of Brazilian culture, Balé de Rua mix hip-hop, African dance and capoeira with samba and ballet.

The sixteen performers (with just one woman) create scenes of exuberant street-life to an infectious percussive backdrop that touches on all of the cultural touchstones of Brazil’s rich and disturbing history.

I have so few benchmarks by which to measure the quality of contemporary dance, and so small a lexicon to explain it.

I can tell you that, like so many Brazilian cultural events, the place was buzzing. At the start, the seats were filled with a mix of those in their notional finery and those in their national strips.

By the end, the seats weren’t filled by anyone; the room was up and dancing.

It was an astonishing, exhausting spectacle from beginning to end.

And, in fear of being reductive, if watching fit men in pants is your thing, then this is definitely the show for you.