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Published: July 20th 2008
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Oh, friends, you have GOT to check this out! My good friend Mark, who I met the very first time I came to Brasil, is starting a new music and dance group called Six Mo’ with five other Brasilian guys: Anjo, Kassius, Cello, Kimus, Logullo and Vaan Loo (Mark). Jokingly, they are calling themselves the new Boy Band Brasileiro. Except that they are all men (not boys), professionals in their field (dancers, singers, performers) and are developing everything themselves! One guy wrote the lyrics, another did the music, Mark did the choreography…and they are fantastic! Check out their myspace site and listen to the three songs that have already been mixed:
Six Mo’ There is also a video on the site.
Laura and I had the privilege today of watching a rehearsal. One of the guys was missing, I think he had another meeting, so it was more like Five Mo’. Wilker, colleague of Mark’s from his dance company, Bombelêla (more on that below) conducted a freestyle hip hop workshop with them. So cool! Just us two girls and their amazing producer/manager/vocal trainer Amélia watching. Imagine this: six adorable Brasilian guys, amazing dancers all, hip hop and bass pumping
from the speakers, for an hour and a half! Daaaaaaaaaaamn! Seriously, though, these guys are going to be a big thing. The lyrics are great, the rhythm is there, the choreography is beautiful, and they are all incredible performers with stage presence.
Sorry if I sound super enthusiastic…wouldn’t you be?
So, about Mark: I met him the very first time I came to Brasil, in 2005. One of the people I went to meet was Jeferson Sooma at Artemisia. At that time Artemisia and Ashoka shared an office, and I think that my visit coincided with the inauguration of new Ashoka fellows. Or, there were a few visiting fellows from other parts of Brasil. Either way, I went to chat with Jeferson, and after our meeting ended up hanging out with this group of five or so young social entrepreneurs. Bárbara was a girl from Argentina working with a women’s health and empowerment group in Florianópolis; Luis was setting up a youth-run newspaper and radio in greater São Paulo; and Mark has his dance company called Bombelêla, which has two facets: the professional hip-hop dance company, and the social venture dance company which works with children, physically and
mentally handicapped individuals and the elderly. In practice they are inextricably linked. Super legal! So that day back in 2005 they let me tag along to visit a project called Aprendiz, which I’ll post about another day, and then we all went out for food, then to a samba party somewhere in the north zone of São Paulo, and then for pizza in the middle of the night, and I think I got home around 4:30 the next morning.
Bombelêla is sweet, check out the new website:
Bombelêla Here’s the lowdown on the Bombelêla’s “artistic inclusion” programs, stolen (with permission) from the website. Bombelêla started in 2000 when Bombelêla created a partnership with Fórmula Academia, a gym network here in São Paulo. The Incubadança groups, as the umbrella is known, had their first performance at the Teatro Municipal in São Paulo in 2001. In 2004 Bombelêla earned support and recognition from Artemisia, a social entrepreneurship network in Brasil. In 2007, Bombelêla launched a cycle of 12 workshops conducted by the biggest names in Brasilian dance, including: African traditional and contemporary dance, Ballet, Hip Hop, Tango, Samba-Rock, Ballroom, Salsa and Caribbean rhythms. Currently Bombelêla is working on getting its
own space.
Incubadança: With the purpose of making dance accessible to different types of people in a qualitative, organic and pedagogical way, Mark Van Loo created the program Incubadança, a network of eight groups that grew out of an experience of Dança Inclusiva / Inclusive Dance with physically handicapped individuals, in 2000.
FunKids: Created in 2000 with the idea of promoting artistic and social inclusion for kids between 8-12 years of age, public school students and residents of the neighborhood of Bela Vista, in the center of São Paulo.
Streeteen: A group oriented toward youth between 13 and 15 years of age and includes 20 dancers. Streeteen is located in the same place as FunKids, in the center of São Paulo.
Yellow: A group oriented toward youth age 15-17 who live in the neighborhood of Freguesia do Ó, in the northern zone of São Paulo. This project takes place at the headquarters of the Escola de Samba Rosas de Ouro, our partner since 2000. José Wilker Ramos is responsible for the coordination of the group Yellow.
Os Funktásticos: Created in 2004, Os Funktásticos is
a Bombelêla group devoted to dance competitions. The group brings together professional dancers from the Incubadança groups who co-author the choreography, which mixes diverse techniques of Street Dance and Theatrical / Classical Dance. The group is composed of 12 dancers and the rehearsals take place in the north zone of São Paulo.
Perfeito: The first group created in the Incubadança network, Perfeito is composed of dancers with physical handicaps (wheelchair users and those who walk) that dance together with dancers without handicaps, in complete physical and artistic harmony, interpreting diverse styles of choreography, always with high energy. The group consists of 12 dancers that train at the Fórmula Academia in São Paulo.
Abieié: Created in 2006 by the choreographer Irineu Nogueira, Abieié is a Contemporary Negra Dance Company that develops experimental and creative work based one of the fundamental roots of Brazilian culture: Africa. Uniting body and ancestors, valorizing diversity and bringing to the front corporal wisdom so present in Brazilian everyday culture, Abieié recaptures and reinvents these expressions. The group is composed of 12 dancers and the music direction is the responsibility of percussionist Maurício Alves. Abieié meets at the Espaço Cultura Sala Crisantempo, located in the
neighborhood of Vila Madalena in São Paulo.
Master Funk: The second group created by Mark Van Loo within the Incubadança project, Master Funk dares to get those of “melhor idade” (elderly, but with a joking overtone) involved in Street Dance. With a group composed of 12 dancers, the group already charmed audiences in diverse events and dance festivals, demonstrated in a real and effective way how “showy” life after 50 can be.
3B: Bombelêla Black is Beautiful: The most recent group created within the Incubadança network, 3B brings together professors and dancers of African descent that specialize in Samba Rock, Gafieira, Samba no Pé and Salsa. The main objective is to bring together talents that promote with quality and beauty the magnitude of Brasilian and Caribbean artistic culture.
New Groups: Kônsonus and Visivo
After seven successful years together with the group Perfeito, Mark Van Loo began researching the creation of another new Incubadança group, Kônsonus, a project oriented toward making Street Dance accessible to deaf or hearing-imparied individuals. Soon, Kônsonus will be shining on the stage together with the rest of the Bombelêla groups.
Visivo is one more important challenge in the goal of diversifying the
network of groups in Incubadança. The idea now is to make it possible for blind or visually-impaired individuals to learn Street Dance and discover yet another opportunity for artistic, social and economic inclusion. Still in the research phase, the project will be launched soon and will include a team of 12 dancers.
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