Performer of the main role in the ballet “Pássaro de Fogo”, by the company Dance Theatre of Harlemin the 2000s, the Brazilian dancer Bethania Nascimento F. Gomes returns to the stage this week as a tribute to the production’s re-premiere.
The performance will be on Thursday (16), in New York, United States, when the company opens the season with its Afro-Caribbean version of the Russian ballet.
In almost all versions of the production “The Firebird”, the red feather of the mythical bird symbolizes the light that triumphs, just like Bethania, one of the ten interpreters of the role in 40 years of Dance Theater of Harlem. She was the only Brazilian and foreigner in the role. In an interview with Agência Brasil, Bethany states that it didn’t take a magic feather, but effort and resilience to occupy the position.
With the production, Bethania traveled to more than 20 countries, passing through Australia, New Zealand, China, among others, and was promoted to the company’s first ballerina, an achievement that opened doors for black Brazilian women in international classical ballet.
Bethany celebrates the recognition on stage that made her famous and through which she built her international career. “This event is a way to celebrate our history, as black women, there is a lot of invisibility”, she protests.
But without taking your eyes off the absence of black and brown dancers on Brazilian stages.
“When you get to the Municipal Theaterin Brazil, to watch a ballet, what do you see?”, he asks, about the overrepresentation of white dancers. “How can a country where the majority [da população] Are you of African descent, are black women not represented? That’s my point”, he criticizes, citing the lack of opportunities.
With a career marked by episodes of , in Rio de Janeiro, Bethania still sees international recognition as a way of paving the way.
“I went through a lot of racism, injustice, I was unable to pursue a career in my country, when racism wasn’t even a crime,” he said. Racism was typified in 1989, in the Caó Law.
After two decades at Dance of Harlem, Bethania now works as a coach and choreographer in several international companies, in addition to dedicating herself to the legacy of her mother, the black Brazilian intellectual and author Maria Beatriz Nascimento.
Dance trajectory
Bethany He started ballet at the age of nine, on a doctor’s recommendation. But she felt out of place because she was the only black person. To stay, she had the support of her mother, Maria Beatriz Nascimento, who showed her magazines of black dancers.
At the company in New York, Bethania entered as an apprentice and left as a prima ballerina at the Dance Theater of Harlem.
“Looking back, I see that this role, as a bird, also helped me get out of grief, let’s say, because it saves”, he commented on the difficulty he had in dealing with the death of his mother, victim of a femicide in 1995.
She highlights that, in the company’s version, the bird is not a phoenix, but a tropical bird that reconnected her with nature and Brazilian fauna. The experience on paper also reveres his orixá, Iansã, he analyzed.
“The bird is a heroine who brings life after the ashes, it is rebirth and resilience.”
As a young woman, Bethania was a student of Consuelo Rios, at the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, another black dancer who became a teacher at important companies in Rio. But, because of daily racist attacks, Bethania gave up her position. Years before, Consuelo herself had not managed to join the Municipal corps de ballet for the same reason.
Afrofuturist ballet
A Dance Theatre of Harlemwhich designed Bethania, was founded in 1969 by African-American dancer Arthur Mitchell and choreographer and writer Karel Shook, at the height of the movement in defense of black civil rights in the United States.
In the afrofuturist production of “Pássaro de Fogo”, the choreography is by John Taras and the sets and costumes are by multiartista Geoffrey Holder. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Holder printed colors for Igor Stravinsky’s tale and connected the plot with the African diaspora.
“This is an iconic version for the entire African diaspora community, both African-American and Brazilian, since the territory is an important part of our narratives,” said the artist.
She refers to the phenomenon of forced immigration of Africans, during transatlantic trafficking, which still reverberates in social and racial inequalities.
