Barravento

For Brazilian fishermen, the barravento is a wind that rises suddenly at sea and abruptly changes direction. For devotees of the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé, it also represents state that precedes the entering a trance: it is said that the god prowls around worshippers, seeking to mount them. The worshipper enters a confused state, losing balance, dizzy and seemingly asleep—as if at the whim of wind blowing over. Wind, transitory states, the barravento is a metaphor for change, for transition. Transition refers to both before and after, a temporary moment of transition bringing transformation.

In this creation by choreographer Maria Isabel Rondón, music becomes a character in its own right, the omnipresent sound design evolving throughout the space to lift the bodies, generating its own movement. For nearly an hour without interruption, music is also the barravento that pushes us into its sudden storm, and into the calm that follows.