Abambaé – “terra dos homens”: a invenção de uma brasilidade por intermédio da performance cênica do samba de roda

Abstract

The role that art has played on everyday life has enabled a renovation concerning the way of thinking cultural objects and manifestations. The artistic doing enables a new cultural doing that has fixed part of its contribution on the aesthetical dimension. The cultural contribution provided by artistic groups that seek to present different popular and traditional manifestations through scenic performances has been in evidence. This work approaches the corporeity appropriation of the samba de roda from the Recôncavo Baiano carried out by the Abambaé Companhia de Danças Brasileiras in the city of Pelotas/RS. This expression was recognized as part of the Brazilian Non-material Cultural Patrimony in 2004 and later, in 2005, it was considered a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. Focusing on the corporeity and choreographic creation as cultural (re)signification, on the way actors express their feelings through dancing, and through a research based on methods of the anthropology of dancing and ethnomusicology, I sought to understand the technical-expressive elements of this centenary tradition that permeates ritual, religion and sociability, and the process by which they are transformed by the choreographic composition for the scene. From this study, it is possible to perceive the appropriation of the samba de roda and the reinscriptions through the body and the poetic movement employed by the dancers, composing the aesthetic element desired by the group. Concerning the Abambaé, specifically, it was possible to perceive that the company “creatively, invents” a new Brazil through its work. With its own comprehension and aesthetics, the Brazil from the Abambaé is diverse and joyful, and the samba de roda is directly associated with this representation of Brazil that the company seeks to present on a national and mainly international level.