Stanford LIVE presents Grupo Corpo
2014-01-31
Memorial Auditorium
551 Serra Mall, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
7:30 PM, Friday, January 31, 2014
[7:37 PM lights down, announcements by Wiley H]
Sem Mim by Rodrigo Pederneiras, music by Carlos Núñez & José Miguel Wisnik
Ímã by Rodrigo Pederneiras, music by +2 (Moreno, Domenico & Kassin)
Just as the music starts out kinda slow and minimal (drums and low brass moans), the stage lights fade up slowly to reveal the corps, dressed in black stretch pants and white t-shirts (women) or topless (the men, mostly hunks, and all sporting six pack abs), crab crawling in pairs across the stage, pausing every few beats for a strange humpty jump. Eye catching to say the least! After a few minutes, the music has transformed to a sunny Sam's, and the dancers are flitting about in more traditional fashion. As the piece wears on, the women begin to change, reappearing in fluorescent colored t-shirts that trend to match the lighting scheme. It's quite a pretty effect. Mostly the dances occur in mixed gender pairs, but sometimes a same sex pair crosses, and other times a brief solo occurs or a larger single gender ensemble. Further on, the men now sort colored ts, contrasting with the women.At times the music is a little shrill or over trebled; makes me think it's being played from an mp3 as I find it slightly fatiguing to the ear. My favorite bit is the vast quality of aerial tricks. Ting decries them as mere acrobatics, but I like em!