Paulista Dance Company Tiptoeing Abroad

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – With more than 500 domestic and international awards, the Companhia Paulista de Dança (Paulista Dance Company) will perform in the USA and Israel in 2020.

With dancers performing in Europe and North America, the company premiered the play Le Corsaire, in São Paulo. The Rio Times team was at the premiere looking for the secrets of such success. Follow here the interview and all the details.

Le Corsaire

The current show of the Cia Paulista de Dança is a rereading of the play “Le Corsaire”, which premiered in the first half of last December. The story of pirates and princesses stretches for more than an hour, and the audience’s attention is never drawn away.

“Everything is very beautiful, well-thought-out, the choreographies harmonized with the story, the wonderful performance of dancers who also played good actors with their revealing facial expressions, overflowing passion in what they did. I congratulate everyone, including the production, and the scenographers, who did a wonderful and delicate work. I loved the costumes, particularly the chorus line with the flowers of various colors in one of the last scenes at the end…an exciting show, all the awards they have won were well-deserved”, says tango teacher, Ana Szerman, who attended the premiere.

Here are some excerpts from the show:

The prima ballerina of the Companhia Paulista de Dança, Larissa Luna (25) began ballet at the age of 3 and at 10 was already performing in festivals and shows. Graduated from the dance technical course since 2011, she has already traveled the world. In Brazil she was part of the São Paulo Companhia de Dança (“São Paulo Dance Company”) and is now with the Companhia Paulista de Dança.

The Companhia Paulista has already won over 500 prizes in festivals, considering trophies in the world’s most prestigious stages. “We can risk saying that we are the most awarded company in Brazil. The great secret is to work every day, and to love what you do wholeheartedly, here is our life, there are no weekends, there are no holidays, we work hard every day with great love” says Larissa Luna.

The success has been demonstrated in the “export of dancers”, as invitations to work come from every corner of the world.

Erico Montes Nunes is at the Royal Ballet;
Johnny Almeida is in Florida, USA;
Elivelton Tomazi  is at the Houston Ballet, Boston;
Isabella Bellotti Fargnolli  is at Hamburg Ballett, Germany; among others.

At the Companhia Paulista de Dança Adriana Assaf, two to three choreographies are produced per year. “Invitations for performances abroad for 2020 have already been received. At first United States and Israel”.

“Most of the Company’s choreographies are signed by the renowned dancer Marcos Silva” says Larissa, as she praises her partner. It was with Marcos Silva that she won the prize for best dancer, when he also won the prize for best dancer at the Joinville Dance Festival, the largest festival in the world according to the Guinness Book.

Standing ovation for 6,000 people

“Here in Brazil, my apex was at the Joinville Dance Festival in 2016 when I won the prize for best dancer. When I saw that full audience, with six thousand seats taken, standing applauding me, it was very touching, I can’t explain it, it was something surreal, I was very emotional, and it was my greatest moment of joy for the audience,” recalls Larissa Luna.

Watch the performance here:

On the parents’ path

The school was opened in 2004 by Larissa’s parents, Robson Luna and Adriana Assaf. “My mother had this dream of having a ballet school, and in its first year we went to the Joinville Dance Festival and won awards in the senior group”.

Over 500 awards

“The secret really is in the hard work,” says Luna. The more than 500 awards are a reflection of many hours of training. The school’s flagship is classical ballet, but students also experience jazz and contemporary, in addition to tap dance, which is an optional subject.

They welcome students from the age of four, who can stay until adulthood. Adriana Assaf’s dance school today has approximately 300 students. “I think it’s the largest in the country, and certainly the largest in São Paulo. I believe it is the most awarded in the country, considering international and national festivals” says Larissa Luna.

The academic background is also outstanding. In addition to teaching dance, the school provides a technical course: “We are the only school accredited by the Ministry of Education offering the technical course in dance. The course is three years long and students come out as professional dancers, choreographers, and registered teachers in the Ministry of Labor”.

Larissa Luna is still at the school as a teacher and has recently entered the higher education course in nutrition. “I want to focus on nutrition for dancers because I think it’s a very deprived area, and the girls suffer very much. My personal fulfillment will be to help on that end, too”.