By Rodrigo Brandao

When Jelon Vieira decided to create the dance company today known as Dancebrazil, back in 1977, he named it Os Capoeiristas da Bahia (a capoeirista is anyone who practices Capoeira).

More than a direct reference to the company’s members, who were Capoeira practitioners from Brazil, the name revealed Mr. Vieira’s intention on drawing from Brazilian culture (and the African influence) to influence his work. (In 2005, 91 million Brazilians were included in the black or brown categories.)

Eventually, the group dropped its original name and adopted the more approachable title DanceBrazil. And as the company continued to pursue its place as a standalone and one-of-a-kind dance institution (a goal that’s famously difficult and expensive), Mr.Vieira was lucky enough to count with the organizational and artistic support of famed choreographer Alvin Ailey. Ailey joined DanceBrazil’s board of directors in 1980 and helped focus the company’s objectives and develop its artistic identity.

For those who might not know the name, Alvin Ailey Jr. (1931 – 1989) was an African-American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in the New York Theater. Ailey is largely credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance – and his choreographic masterpiece Revelations is commonly referred to as the most well-known modern dance performance in the world.

Thirty years later, Jelon is commonly referred to as one of the first Brazilians to actively promote and teach Capoeira culture in New York City. And more importantly, Mr. Vieira’s DanceBrazil is now considered to be at the forefront of a diaspora-informed dance genre that only grows in popularity and importance. More so nowadays, says Vieira, when the effects of globalization make it even harder to preserve and teach traditional third-world cultures to other generations.

“Very often, I see first-generation African immigrants traveling to Brazil in order to find the real African culture that has disappeared in their homeland,” said Jelon Vieira, in an exclusive phone interview while on tour with his company. “Our work at DanceBrazil is inspired by Afro-Brazilian roots, and by the history of Capoeira, but we’ve chosen to present that in a very contemporary form.”

Today, DanceBrazil moved its base to Salvador, the capital of Bahia state. It is there that Jelon spends most of his time, develops his annual choreography, selects and trains his company’s dancers, and gets the necessary community support to continue making his project both socially and artistically relevant.

“I don’t like changing the dancers too often, because a dance company needs a certain harmony and familiarity among its members. But today, there are literally two or three generation of dancers who stared their careers with DanceBrazil.”

Jelon continues: “Also, I like working with teenagers who have a lot of talent and yet, can use a little bit of support and good advise. My work doesn’t replace a family -- and as a matter of fact, I need my students to have a good family life. But once I start working with someone, I always try to push them to work harder, and I try to steer them in the right direction.”

For more information on DanceBrazil, and its upcoming stateside performances, visit the company’s website at www.dancebrazil.org.

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