Street Dance Orixas (2013)

From the streets of Salvador to a surreal windswept sand island and back again, seven street dancers from Bahia, Brazil incarnate powerful orixas (deities from the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomble) through a hybrid of breakdancing, popping, and parkour movements. Street Dance Orixas is a dance film that explores the intangible connections between Afro-Brazilian dance traditions and contemporary hip hop dance forms through rhythm, movement, stories, and colors. The orixas manifest their divine qualities through alleyway acrobatics, sidewalk airflares, train station arm swings, and cobblestone footwork- each orixa in a location linked to his or her tradition. When the orixas finally unite in the dance cypher (circle), they are unstoppable.