"Bridging Worlds"

Orts Theatre Of Dance

READERS' PICK: The well-established Orts Theatre of Dance consistently puts on the most inventive season of all the local modern-dance companies. Though the troupe regularly draws on its well-stocked repertory of works created by artistic director Anne Bunker, each year Orts tries something startlingly new. This year it was capoeira, an African-Brazilian martial arts form originated by slaves in the Brazilian jungle centuries ago, and now winning practitioners in the urban U.S. For their Thanksgiving weekend concert, the Orts dancers teamed up with local capoeiristas who train with master Dondi Marble. Their collaborative piece "Breaking Ground" brought the down-to-earth martial arts moves into a perfect marriage with the modern dance carried out in the air on the Orts trapezes. All of this was played out to haunting Portuguese chants and live music on homemade instruments.