Cia de Dança do Pantanal (Pantanal Dance Company) opened selection for 2 spots and more than 30 candidates from various regions of the country applied
RODOLFO CÉSAR
The tutor’s eyes are attentive to every movement: turn, pirouette, arm and leg position and facial expression. The tutor’s body is also part of the process, because he not only observes, but performs the steps.
Exercise, more exercise, for 7 hours a day, over at least five days a week. The entrance exam for anyone who wants to join a dance company is made of effort, besides study and practice, and involves overcoming challenges.
The Cia. de Dança do Pantanal opened a selection process and 30 candidates from Brazil built up hope of filling the two open spots.
The chance to go to Corumbá and join the only regular dance company that exists between Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul is a prospect that more than a dozen dancers long for, envisioning the national and international performances on the 2022 calendar.
To get through all the stages, the candidate must be dedicated. The candidate/spot ratio shows how much effort applicants must put in to be selected.
For the Cia. de Dança do Pantanal, competition stands at 15 candidates per spot. This number is similar to competition for other selections at renowned institutions as well, such as USP (University of São Paulo), in the case of performing arts, with competition of 18 candidates per spot; however, much higher than selections such as music, also at USP, with competition of 5.4 candidates per spot.
The difference is that for the Cia. do Pantanal, whoever is selected joins a select group of dance professionals, who also develop, in Corumbá, training as performer-creators.
Taking part in such a demanding selection process initially involves filling out an application form, submitting prior material, dance performances, and a résumé.
All of this goes through a selection round, and then a new screening happens. The second stage involves a higher level of difficulty, because it is the summons to undergo 35 hours of evaluation, which is taking place during this first week of March, at the headquarters of the Instituto Moinho Cultural (Moinho Cultural Institute), in Corumbá.
Of the 30 candidates who tried for the two spots, only five ended up being selected to go through the examiners’ scrutiny, among them dancers from Rio Grande do Norte, São Paulo, the Federal District and Campo Grande.
Besides the test, this stage guarantees an important moment for a dancer seeking to establish themselves, since they will go through a week of classes, something that costs more than R$ 10 thousand and would be difficult for many to access in a workshop of this level.
Selection
The selection of the Cia. de Dança do Pantanal is being carried out under the watchful eyes of professionals who work in Corumbá, within the Moinho Cultural, as well as with the support of the expertise of those from outside the city.
One of these external evaluators is choreographer Chico Neller, who has more than 40 years dedicated to dance and to titles won in Joinville (SC), besides being a national reference.
Beatriz de Almeida is another leading figure of national dance who is part of this year’s group of evaluators for the Cia. do Pantanal.
The dancer, who was with the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theater), the Stuttgart Ballet (Germany) and the Zurich Ballet (Switzerland), is the dance godmother of the Moinho Cultural project and has a professional and affectionate relationship with the Cia.
Members of the house also complete the group of tutors. Two of them are the Cubans Rolando Candia and Mayda Riveiro. He is conductor and director of the Cia. de Dança do Pantanal, with more than 40 years of experience in the world of ballet, and has passed through the Incolballet in Cali (Colombia), the Ballet Clásico y Moderno Municipal de Asunción (Paraguay), besides the Escola Municipal de Bailado de Ourinhos (SP). She is also a conductor, with decades of experience in the world of music, and a choreographer.
Another link forming this selection group is Wellington Julio, from Viçosa, Minas Gerais, a dancer who has traveled across Brazil, highly dedicated to contemporary dance, and who was the choreographer for some of the Cia. de Dança do Pantanal’s works, among them the performance of “Dança em Trânsito” (“Dance in Transit”), staged in Rio de Janeiro and with a tour scheduled this year for France, in the month of September.
“We, at the Cia. de Dança do Pantanal, are moving toward a new level. We were born in 2017 and are entering our fifth year.
The Cia. is a product that came out of the Moinho Cultural, and we have very good expectations for 2022. That’s why we’re holding this selection process, which is evaluating not only new members, but even the dancers who already belong to the group”, acknowledged artistic director Márcia Rolon.
Wellington Julio, who started with the Cia. in 2019, was emphatic in mentioning that the group’s growth was great in two years, even with the Covid-19 pandemic and the suspension of events – during this period, 62 creations were made by the Cia.’s members, precisely because of the requirement that they train as performer-creators.
Promising future
The choreographer envisions a promising future in a few years’ time. “What we have achieved since I arrived here, because of this structure that exists, the union of everyone, the support that is given, is a differentiator.
That’s why I’m quite certain that in five years, the Cia. de Dança do Pantanal will be at a level that no other Cia. from inland Brazil will match, and national recognition will be greater”.
With his more than 40 years of experience in dance, Chico Neller reaffirmed Wellington Julio’s opinion. “In the last nine, eight years, what we’ve seen is companies closing across Brazil. Dancers who want to grow need to leave the country.
The Cia. de Dança do Pantanal took the opposite path, it is structured, growing. Those who dance want to come here to stand out”.
As dance godmother of the Moinho Cultural, Beatriz de Almeida pointed out that cities outside the hub of state capitals have the potential to become a reference in dance, and Corumbá has built that reality.
“In the big city, where there is access to many things, dance is already a difficult path. People might think it would be even more complicated inland. However, it is inland that possibilities exist. Young people have fewer places to go, so they come to dance. It’s fantastic to see what’s happening here in Corumbá. We have a company with identity, with unity”.
Schedule
The final selection of those who will make up the 10 members of the Cia. de Dança do Pantanal should only come out this week.
There is still a possibility that two new spots will be created. A 19-year-old dancer from Campo Grande, the youngest to be selected for this decisive stage, felt unwell and was suspected of having Covid-19, so she may still undergo evaluation until Tuesday, should she receive confirmation that she tested negative.
All participants were required to present a negative test for Covid-19.
“Brazil has an immense cultural wealth. José Martí [19th-century Cuban politician and revolutionary] said: ‘To be cultured is to be free.’ This shows how necessary it is to have a perspective on culture, to value history, the identity of a place.
Art does this, and we are living a part of that appreciation here. This project is a beam of light for these new professionals”, summarized Rolando Candia.
Besides the dance professionals, two internship spots for the Cia. are being contested by young people who live in Corumbá and Ladário and belong to the Moinho Cultural project. The Cia. de Dança do Pantanal seeks to maintain a proportion of between 50% and 60% of members who live in the border region between Brazil and Bolivia.
