The Ballets Russes as stimulus for Uirapuru, (1917), a ballet by Villa-Lobos and Volúsia

Abstract

Using a choreomusical perspective and the indiciary paradigm by Carlo Ginzburg, this article presents some of the influences by Brazilian modernist movement and by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on the ballet Uirapuru (1917). This ballet was composed by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos and featured by the dancer Eros Volúsia. This work suggests that the Ballets Russes could be a common modernist reference for both artists and that this dance company had influenced Villa-Lobos to write music for ballets. They also helped for the development of a concert dance practice in Brazil. Although some authors from the musical area consider that Villa-Lobos had composed Uirapuru between 1920 and 1930, some evidence found by dance researchers suggest that Uirapuru could had been conceived in 1917. However, its debut as a ballet was only in 1943, when legitimate Brazilian dancers could be found to perform this, such as the dancer Eros Volúsia.