Bowing to a buoyant spirit

The thunderous percussion sounds are so intense that the floor vibrates under a dozen gyrating bodies drenched in sweat. If the walls weren’t blanketed with mirrors, and the lights weren’t so classroom-like, one might mistake the scene for a rave -- or a heavy metal concert. In truth, it’s Viver Brasil Dance Company, a local troupe of 22 dancers, singers and musicians amid a feverish rehearsal at Dance Arts Academy on La Brea.

Founded in 1997 by co-directors Linda Yudin and Luiz Badaro -- who also plays drums, sings and choreographs -- Viver Brasil is running through its new show, “Bahia: Land of Magic,” a 90-minute, two-part program that the company will perform when it makes its Ford Amphitheatre debut Saturday. If the members’ exuberance could be bottled, Viver Brasil’s would be the drink of choice for many.

That buoyancy has its roots in Bahia, a city on the east coast of Brazil with a large Afro-Brazilian population. Bahia is also home to Candomble, an Africa-based religion re-created and augmented by slaves who were brought to Brazil from various ethnic groups and geographical areas in Africa.

“Candomble,” Yudin says, “drives much of the choreography and music of Viver Brasil, and the rhythms and dances are based on orixa, or deity, myths.” Indeed, the Candomble chants and jubilant dances, with their accompanying rhythms -- six men rock on a dizzying array of traditional and ceremonial Brazilian drums, cymbals, triangles and gourds -- can transport performers and audiences alike.

Yudin, 46, although originally from Danville, Ill., has always had an interest in Africa-based dance cultures. After earning a master’s in ethnic dance from UCLA in 1984 (she teaches Afro-Brazilian dance at Santa Monica College), she made her way to Bahia on a research project. There, in 1996, she met Badaro through a mutual teacher.

Back in Los Angeles, the two connected professionally when Badaro became artist in residence for the now-defunct Cheremoya Escola de Samba (Cheremoya Samba School), a group Yudin co-directed. The two became personal partners when they began Viver Brasil, which won a Lester Horton award in 2000 for outstanding achievement in company performance -- non-Western dance. And while Yudin is not a Candomble practitioner (nor are any of the company members save for singer Vania Amaral), she has explored the faith for some time.

“My master teacher says I know more than many Bahians do, and I’m humbled by that,” she says.

“As for it being ‘white magic,’ ” the petite Yudin adds, “in Portuguese it’s called magia branca, and it’s what I believe to be a very positive, cosmic energy. It inspires us to choreograph, because the stories are so wonderful.”

Those stories, which make up the first act of Viver Brasil’s program, include the tales of Ogum, the deity of iron (a powerful, aggressive war dance) and Oxum, the goddess of rivers danced by Dani Lunn, who is garbed in gold and moves with liquid grace.

The dancers, whose ages range from 17 to 40 and whose precision rivals a well-oiled ballet corps’, clearly love their work -- and their costumes, nearly 200 of them. Designed mostly by Badaro, they are a riot of colors, spangles, laces and satins.

On this day, a bespectacled Badaro, 51, wears shorts and a bright yellow T-shirt and sports a dreadlocks ponytail. Along with guest artist Rosangela Silvestre, he is responsible for most of the company’s fierce footwork.

A Bahian native, Badaro began dancing professionally at 18 and directed his own troupe for 24 years. He has also taught, and many of his students have started their own companies.

“Candomble,” he explains through Yudin, who translates, “serves as the launching pad for most of my choreography.”

Amaral, the Candomble follower, has sung with Viver Brasil for the last three years, and Badaro says he also seeks her advice about repertory.

“She’s a very experienced person because she’s a priestess,” he says. “There’s a lot of conversation about particular material -- songs within the tradition that aren’t appropriate in a secular setting.”

Also talking through a translator, Amaral, 40, insists she doesn’t bring her religion onto the stage, however.

“I just bring the energy of the religion to show the audience,” she says. “I try to represent it, but as a show.”

That energy can also be felt in the second half of the troupe’s program, “Celebrations,” which, besides featuring capoeira -- a high-speed, acrobatic mix of dance and martial arts -- gets jiggy with an elaborate samba suite. Yudin says that the number of such carnival dances exploded in the ‘70s, when the black consciousness movement was underway, but that they can be traced back further.

“In the ‘40s and ‘50s,” she says, “when folkloric shows were popular and being developed, the government was appropriating Afro-Brazilian culture as a way to define this racial democracy in Brazil. Those dances and the music really talk about creating a black political strength in Brazil, about being a part of this larger cultural mix.

“The dances are about self-determination,” she adds. “They’re very physical, very passionate, very resilient.”

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‘Bahia: Land of Magic’

Where: John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood

When: Saturday

Price: $12 to $20

Contact: (323) 461-3673