Viver Brasil to Present REZAS E FOLHAS (PRAYERS AND LEAVES) At Sierra Madre Playhouse

The celebrated Afro-Brazilian dance company Viver Brasil will return to Sierra Madre Playhouse with two performances of Rezas e Folhas (Prayers and Leaves), a genre-defying ritualistic work by choreographer and company Co-Artistic Director Vera Passos. The evening-length piece, featuring live musical accompaniment, will be performed Friday, October 17 and Saturday, October 18, 2025, at 7:30 pm.

Rooted in the sacred traditions of Candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian religious complex, this contemporary work embraces the power of dance to reimagine a life-affirming future grounded in Black and Indigenous traditions. The performance uplifts the ancestral knowledge of Orixá, divine nature spirits, and Caboclo practices, centering Afro-Brazilian herbalism as a response to ecological and spiritual crises. With bold movement, ritual storytelling, and live music, Rezas e Folhas channels the wisdom of the earth and invites audiences into a shared space of healing, memory, and transformation.

Choreographer Vera Passos, originally from Salvador, Bahia, is a pioneering performer, teacher, and artist acclaimed for her deep connection to Afro-Brazilian dance and music. A master of Orixá and Caboclo dances, Passos draws on her heritage to honor the sacred rhythms and stories of her ancestors while creating forward-looking works of contemporary dance. Her artistic and pedagogical practice reflects a teaching passed down from her elders: our bodies are divine mirrors of the natural world.

Rezas e Folhas was developed with the support of The LA County Performing Arts Recovery Grant administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation, The New England Foundation for the Arts: National Dance Project, and The National Endowment for the Arts.

Viver Brasil, founded in Los Angeles in 1997 by Co-Artistic Directors Linda Yudin and Luiz Badaró, is recognized for its culturally rooted and aesthetically bold Afro-Brazilian dance theater. The company integrates ancestral practices, street styles, and live music in works that address issues of racial and social inequity while envisioning a reimagined, inclusive future. In 2022, Vera Passos joined as Co-Artistic Director, further expanding the company’s creative reach.

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