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Viver Brasil Dance Company
Afro-Brazilian dance
Viver Brasil Dance Company was co-founded in 1997 by Linda Yudin and Luiz Badaró, and is an award-winning dance company firmly rooted in the traditional and contemporary forms and techniques of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The company specializes in bringing to life the beautiful and complex stories of the orixa, African sacred energies that are the engine of Afro-Brazilian culture, in addition to presenting jubilant samba, contemporary Afro-Brazilian dance, and carnival.
Based in Los Angeles, the company is committed to increasing awareness of the rich history of Afro-Brazilian dance and music through performances and residencies in scores of elementary and high schools, through school assemblies, interactive dance and music workshops, and professional development opportunities for classroom teachers.
In 2002, as a participant in ACTA’s Traditional Arts Development Program, Viver Brasil Dance Company invited Raimundo Bispo dos Santos, aka Mestre King, Brazil’s pre-eminent authority on traditional Afro-Brazilian dance and music, to conduct a series of traditional Afro-Brazilian dance and music workshops for the company. The series of intensive classes deepened the dancers’ knowledge of the music and dance and honed their skills in presenting the dance and musical components of traditional repertoire.