Grupo de Rua de Niteroi
by ALICE BAIN for the Guardian

At the age of 15, even before he knew how to do it himself, Bruno Beltrao decided to teach hip-hop to other kids. He has headed his own company for 10 years and now, at 26, this street-smart, middle-class Brazilian choreographer has a mission to ask questions about the big stuff of contemporary life: love and war, dance and identity - the lot. Appearing for the first time in the UK, his company come prepared to rock the International festival.

published: August 16, 2006

50 walk out of 'dull' dance show
by TIM CORNWELL for the Scotsman

NEARLY 50 people walked out of a major dance show at the Edinburgh International Festival last night, many complaining bitterly that the Brazilian hip-hop performance was dull and irritating.

published: August 23, 2006

Telesquat
by DONALD HUTERA for the Times

From Popping to Pop or Vice-Versa, one of three possible curtain-raisers, was a good indication of what was in store. It featured two bare-chested young men — one a fast, mimetically gifted thug, the other a disaffected body popper — whose precison-cut dancing, mostly executed in silence, came in sudden spurts. This stark, subtle exercise in isolation, tension and slow-dawning consciousness was not standard entertainment. Sitting still as the lights faded, the dancers’ faces betrayed the slightest flickerings of change. My sense is that who they are, not what they do, is what interests Beltrão most.

published: August 17, 2006

Mind out for the flock of tractors
by CLIFFORD BISHOP for the Independent

Beltrao takes hip hop and, literally, breaks it down. Instead of trying to make it faster and flashier, he examines the different styles and their particular techniques to find out exactly how they can make coherent, satisfying narratives. The danger, as you might expect, is that it can all get a little academic.

published: August 20, 2006

Grupo de Rua de Niteroi
by ALICE BAIN for the Guardian

The middle section of this hour-long performance, choreographed by young Brazilian Bruno Beltrao, sets a more monotonous pace that has spectators at best curious, at worst walking out. The performers - solo, two by two, four by four - make their shoes screech like tires as they run in reverse. Steps are improvised, repeated, taking them nowhere recognisable.

published: August 25, 2006

H2
by DONALD HUTERA for the Times

Take away the beat that drives a hip-hop dancer and what’s left? This is one of many questions motivating the work of the Brazilian choreographer Bruno Beltrão.

published: August 25, 2006