Wolverhampton Grand Theatre has joined a prestigious group of UK Theatres in Dance Consortium, who together present world class dance in their cities with a shared passion for engaging people with the best contemporary dance from across the world.

Dance Consortium presents the UK and Irish premiere of São Paulo Dance Company, one of Brazil’s finest dance companies making its highly anticipated debut in spring 2024 with three boldly contemporary works. São Paulo Dance Company will perform at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 March.

São Paulo Dance Company is at the forefront of the South American contemporary dance scene. The company’s virtuoso dancers pair a ferocious contemporary technique with the rhythmic physicality of Latin American dance. Next spring sees the company’s UK and Irish debut with a rich and varied programme of work from three choreographers rooted in Latin American or Spanish culture.

Since its founding by Brazil’s state government in 2008, São Paulo Dance Company has been under the leadership of its charismatic artistic director, Inês Bogéa.  A dancer, film-maker and writer, Bogéa is widely credited with having built a superb classically-trained company which has produced over 100 dance works, almost 50 of them original commissions, and performed to more than 900,000 people in 18 different countries.

For this first UK and Irish tour, the company is presenting a thrilling programme of three boldly contemporary works, two from 2019 created especially for them and a much-loved revival from 2009.

The epic and emotionally-charged Anthem was created in 2019 by Spain’s Goyo Montero, resident choreographer with Cuba’s Acosta Danza, for an ensemble of 14 dancers.  Anthem reflects on life-cycles and collective identities, inspired by songs that become hymns - anthems - for an individual, a group, a generation or a nation.  Montero’s frequent collaborator Owen Belton provides a unifying and uplifting soundscore.

Nacho Duato, artistic director of Berlin State Ballet, created the sensually harmonious Gnawa in 2005 and restaged it on São Paulo Dance Company in 2009. He draws on the Mediterranean colours and flavours of Valencia for a dancework powered by the hypnotic, ritualistic music of North Africa created by seven composers - Hassan Hakmoun, Adam Rudolph, Juan Alberto Arteche, Javier Paxariño, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Velez and Kusur e Sarkissian. Duato was inspired by the mystical Islamic fellowship of the Gnawa people, brought to North Africa by the Berber as slaves.

Brazilian choreographer Cassi Abranches’ colourful and flirtatious Agora provides an exhilarating finale. Created in 2019, this is the third commission for the company from Abranches, a former dancer with iconic Brazilian company, Grupo Corpo. Exploring time and rhythm, she sculpts the movement of each dancer’s body to the percussive beats and bass grooves of Sebastian Piracés’ score, mixing drums and Afro-Brazilian percussion with rock music and vocals.

São Paulo Dance Company director Inês Bogéa says: “In 1994, I had the pleasure to tour British theatres as a dancer with Grupo Corpo. It was a very intense time, full of art and exchange of experiences.  30 years later, as São Paulo Dance Company’s artistic director, I am thrilled to be back, with the company performing in wonderful theatres around the UK and in Ireland. I thank Dance Consortium and everyone who is making this tour possible. We hope our art opens an expressive, intense, and enjoyable channel of communication with the audiences that await us”.

Tickets for São Paulo Dance Company go on sale at 10am on Friday 29 September at grandtheatre.co.uk.