She directs one of the most prestigious dance companies in Latin America and which makes its debut Thursday September 17th for three nights at the Colón Theatre. The Rio de Janeiro-born Deborah Colker founded her Companhia de Dança more than two decades ago and which has gone on to tour the four continents with performances on the most important stages of the world. Colker has developed projects for her native Brazil and in the mid-1990s, choreographed Mangueira, Rio’s oldest Afro-Brazilian samba school as part of its Carnival parade. “I love and respect the samba and adore Carnival, but it’s not my world,” she told the New York Times during the presentation of her Companhia in Manhattan.
In 2001, the dance company received an Olivier Award for “Velox” and in 2009, Colker was asked to write, direct and choreograph “OVO” for Canada’s Cirque du Soleil commemorating the group’s 25th anniversary.
Now it’s the turn for “Tatyana” at the Teatro Colón and a work inspired in Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin. Tatyana is set as a two-part performance to the music of Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Pushkin’s heroine interacts with her desires, thoughts, and a psychological transformation take place with the four main characters in this most athletic rendition of a 19th century literary masterpiece.
The music sets the mood for a timeless journey into the heart of duels, disturbances, and plenty of play with dimensions. A review in the Guardian describes the energetic experience of seeing Colker’s dance company on stage as “exhilarating, breath-taking stuff, the kind of adrenaline rush that you associate with the moments when the line between sport and art disappears and you’re left with a moment of sheer physical beauty.”
The tickets are available at the Teatre Colon’s box office for $ 20,000 or online at www.tuboleta.com. Doors open at 7:30 pm.
Teatro Colón. Calle 10 No.5-32
