ENCANTADO

Lia Rodrigues turns the stage into the magically florid world of the “encantados”, beings that according to indigenous belief move between heaven and earth, sand dune and rock, human and animal, and animate the world through mystical powers.

Encantado means ‘enchanted’. Lia Rodrigues and her Companhia de Danças tell us what this feels like, and bring all manner of beings together in a breath-taking choreography. 

Hundreds of colorfully patterned blankets from the markets of Rio de Janeiro clothe and transform the dancers’ naked bodies. Movement wanders from one body to the next. Water becomes centipede becomes mushroom. Everything is “encantado”.

The performance is spurred on by the music of the indigenous Guarani Mbya people, a huge crescendo of repeated rhythms that is sung on the streets of Brazil as a sign of resistance. The dance is a powerful demonstration of diversity and love of life, and a protest against the destruction of indigenous territory.