Bale Folclorico da Bahia.

BALE FOLCLORICO DA BAHIA JONES HALL, HOUSTON, TX SEPTEMBER 24, 2004

Watching Bale Folclorico da Bahia's program "Brazilian Rhapsody" is a bit like viewing a videotape on fast-forward with the color button turned to "hallucinogenic." Every dance, no matter how quietly it begins, soon churns into a joyful melee as sleek brown bodies slice the air, their elaborate costumes flying. But it's live, all right. By the high-gear Samba Reggae finale, Brazil's only professional folk dance troupe is beside you in the aisles, whipping the concert hall into a dance club.

About half of "Brazilian Rhapsody" reprises Bale Folclorico's "Carnaval 2000" tour. Brazil's heady stew of African, Portuguese, and indigenous influences makes for spirited dances, no matter how you shake them. While some carry a folk-tale thread, they're more about sharing a sense of feisty, flirtatious, and infectious exuberance.

Choreographer Amelia Conrado's Boi-Bumba, Xaxado, and Maracatu are new and eye-popping, technically fierce and more structurally complex than the troupe's older works (several of which are by company co-founder Walson Botelho). The folk tale behind Boi-Bumba isn't clear, but the magnificent costumes (a riot of peacock feathers and other exotic plumage), Amazonian folk music, and swirling movement make for potent magic.

Maracatu, a kaleidoscopic stunner, depicts a procession in which African slaves crowned their own kings, mocking their Portuguese rulers. The tribe of eight indigenous protectors with huge pom-pom head pieces provides the show's most memorable imagery. Xaxado, looking like a relative of Mexican ranch folklorico, brims with shifting lines, running, big arm swings, and rear-back-and-blow-past-the-nose kicks.

"Rhapsody" sails for two hours with no intermission. Through every mile-high jete, every wild-looking but utterly controlled aerial spin, the dancers keep gaining steam.

In their signature Capoeira, the men spring across the stage in body flips as fast as they kick. They show a fearless attack, too, in the knife-clanging Maculele. The women jump just as high as the men and give Samba de Roda and Axifere their fun, sassy character. A sensational onstage music ensemble, dominated by percussionists and two dynamic singers in gold caftans and headdresses, make the music as vivid as the dancing.

FOR MORE INFORMATION www.balefolcloricodabahia.com.br/eng