Captivating audiences with his mastery of capoeira, Jelon Vieira, Artistic Director of DanceBrazil, bases his aesthetic on this art form and works with capoeiristas who have learned their technique in the urban setting of Bahia, Brazil. “What matters here above all,” says The New York Times about Vieira’s choreography, “is the gorgeously full physicality of movement, allied to music.” The spirited Joyce program includes Malungos, a new piece named for a slang word used among enslaved Africans traveling on ships to Brazil that indicated their commitment to each other. A similar sense of friendship and unity that exists within capoeira communities is a model, Vieira believes, for addressing social concerns in Brazil today.