Warriors Of Brazil Interview
Written by Claire Renton
Dance In Preview
Electric, powerful and stunning, ‘Warriors Of Brazil’ will be gracing our shores later this month with a display of Brazilian culture, music and dance.
These performers are skilled in the art of capoeira - a fusion of martial arts, dance and music first created by slaves. Four hundred years later, it remains just as potent at helping young Brazilians escape from lives in the favellas, or slums, that they live in that hold little or no opportunity to escape from.
Toby Gough, director and creator of ‘Warriors Of Brazil’, first began the project as an alternative for young Brazilians to the gang violence and crime they’re constantly surrounded with.
“It was always a conscious decision to create a project that would change people’s lives. I hadn’t originally intended to take it on a tour of this scale. It was just intended to be a carnival workshop project, but it has changed a lot of people’s lives, this whole project. And I think coming to Australia has been a huge event for them and for the community.”
Surrounded by the talent of these inexperienced performers, Toby, an Edinburgh native, made the decision to put together a performance to take to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
“Edinburgh does thrive on seeing the different ways theatre can be used around the world. The fact that it became very successful in Edinburgh and was picked up by an international commercial producer is a testament to the energy, talent and skill of these guys.
“They’re not professional performers, it’s the first time they’ve toured apart from Edinburgh. It’s definitely their first time in proper, huge theatres. So, it’s definitely been a huge achievement for them and it’s something that they can give back to their community. And the proceeds from the show will go back into continuing the project back in Brazil.”
These self-funded projects are the only kind of outreach Brazilians in the favellas have access to, and have created a generation of artists with a huge community focus.
“The musicians in ‘Warriors’ are all amazing. All these people are coming out of projects or teaching and running them back in Brazil. The artists have a huge consciousness about putting back into society. If you ask them what their dreams are; I was asking them the other day, they all want to be there to help teach young people in the favellas. That seems to be what a lot of artists in Brazil do.
“These guys are all very heavily involved in transforming the communities in which they’ve grown up in, which I think is admirable and hugely beneficial. Brazil has pretty much given up on government involvement in the arts in their communities. It’s kind of cool that we can make a commercial theatre project that’s touring the world telling stories of what’s going on because a lot of that work doesn’t get heard about.”
As Toby explains, the performers’ stories completely highlight the amazing transformation ‘Warriors’ has had in their lives.
“The show has given people a real alternative lifestyle to that style of life that is there for everyone in the favellas. Our lead singer, Paloma, she’s come from a very poor family. She lives in a tiny house with her and four of her sisters sharing the same bed. She’d bought a ticket to Rio de Janero to work in a shoe factory and two days before she left I was able to offer her a part in the project. Two days later she would have been on a bus to Rio and had a completely different life.
“One of our other guys in the show went on a talent show because he can do 38 somersaults on the spot in 30 seconds. He won $15, 000, but as soon as the gangsters in his favellas found out they wanted the cash. He hasn’t been back since and now he performs with us.”
Far from distancing himself from dangerous situations, Toby knows all too well the violent environment these performers live in. During the Bosnian war, he snuck into Sarajevo through a sewerage pipe to help direct an opera with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra.
“At that stage there were a lot of organisations in Edinburgh who were trying to keep the concept of Bosnia as a country and as a democracy alive. I was asked to come in and help direct the opera there. I’ve never been shot at in Brazil, but I was shot at in Sarajevo plenty of times!”
‘Warriors Of Brazil’ performs at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC, January 28-30.
