From Argentinian tango to Brazilian batuque and Mexican danzón, every corner of Latin America pulses with the powerful rhythms of dance. But these vibrant dances are more than delightful entertainment — they're embedded deep in the souls of Latin American people, as Brazilian conductor Alexandra Arrieche explained in a recent video call.

 

"Dance walks side by side with music in Latin America," Arrieche says. "It's part of how we express our soul when we're happy and when we're sad. In Brazil, all folk music is dance music: sambas, choros, batuques. It's part of our cultural expression."

 

To showcase the breadth of Latin American dance traditions, Arrieche curated tonight's program as what she called a "playlist concert" — a collection of short works, or movements from larger works, that harkens back to the festive, laid-back atmosphere of concerts in Mozart's day. That approach to programming is a perfect fit for the Britt Festival, where we can recline on the lawn, wine in hand, as we absorb this incredible music. Or as Arrieche puts it: "Just have a big party and enjoy the excitement!"

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Beginning in Brazil: Fernández & Villa-Lobos

 

Oftentimes in classical music, a work begins with a slow introduction before diving into the meat of the music. But that's an idea Arrieche is only too happy to flip on its head: "We don't start slow in Latin America. We like to start things with a bang."

 

That bang takes the form of Batuque by Oscar Lorenzo Fernández, an important fixture in early 20th-century classical music in Brazil. Alongside colleague Heitor Villa-Lobos, Fernández aimed to create a pan-Brazilian musical language that reflected the country's melting pot culture, marrying indigenous music with African idioms that migrated to Brazil via the slave trade and European classical traditions. 

 

The insistent energy of Fernández's Batuque — a popular dance during Afro-Brazilian Christmas celebrations — hardly wanes, the persistent chugging figure in the strings driving the music forward as blazing brass and thunderous drums dominate the orchestra. After Fernández's work reaches its jubilant conclusion, we hear the opening strains of Villa-Lobos's Prelude — the first movement of his Bach-inspired Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 — which transports us to a meditative realm. Its melancholy melody slowly blossoms in the strings, the music heaving with emotion as it builds to a climax of operatic intensity that's worlds away from Fernández's dance. 

 

"These works show the two sides of Brazilian music," Arrieche says. "It's not only upbeat. We have beautiful lyrical music as well, which, in my opinion, is much more rich, but often gets overshadowed."

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Márquez's Mexico

 

Like Brazil's batuque, the Mexican danzón has a country-hopping history — beginning as a salon dance in Cuba before crossing the Gulf of Mexico to Veracruz and Mexico City. The danzón's journey across borders is familiar to Arrieche, whose upbringing in Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, exposed her to the ways Latin culture is interwoven across neighboring countries: "We don't have many divisions between the southern part of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay — it's all basically the same culture. As we hear in the danzón, this music travels a lot!"

 

Although Márquez began his series of danzóns using electronics and avant-garde compositional techniques, his Danzón No. 9 — dedicated to the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel — showcases the orchestra's explosive power. But the music continues to enchant during quieter moments, especially in the gently seductive theme that emerges in the woodwinds. Close your eyes and you'll swear you can feel warm breezes wafting through the streets of Mexico City, its mighty palm trees swaying against the starlit sky.

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Malambos and the rebirth of tango: Ginastera & Piazzolla

 

Like Fernández and Villa-Lobos in Brazil, Alberto Ginastera merged the music of local cultures with European symphonic traditions in his quest to identify a distinctive sound for Argentine classical music. In the Estancia Dances, Ginastera takes us to the heart of the country's prairie lands, where a city boy falls for the daughter of a cattle rancher. Although he feels like a fish out of water in the land of the gauchos — Argentina's strapping cowboys — the boy eventually wins the girl's love after defeating the gauchos in a dance competition, where he dances the malambo to victory.

 

Also breathing new life into Argentinian music was Ginastera's student Astor Piazzolla, who modernized the country's prized tango tradition. By introducing elements of jazz and European dance music, Piazzolla pioneered nuevo tango (new tango), taking what was once snobbishly considered a low-class dance form and making it a worldwide sensation — a symbol of freedom and emotional expression that became a fixture in not only Argentinian social clubs but also concert halls around the world.

 

"What I want people to feel in this music isn't just the experimentalism and energy, but all the emotions," Arrieche says. "Latin American music, in general, is very emotional, but especially when you go to the tango, everything moves to the extreme. I want people to experience the freedom to feel music in different ways."

 

In that regard, tonight's program is more than a survey of Latin American dance. To Arrieche, it's "an invitation to enjoy a symphonic world with no boundaries, where the audience can feel free to express themselves." That's a radical idea in classical music today, where concert halls have become solemn settings for music. That's why Arrieche has made it her mission to show audiences how their self-expression plays a pivotal part in the concert experience.

 

"If you've never performed before, you think you're on the receiving end of the music, but the people on stage are also the receiver. It's a circle: You give energy to me and I give energy to you. That's why we do what we do."

 

So as you take in the orchestra's performance tonight and feel the insatiable energy of Latin America coursing through your veins, give in to the excitement — sway to the music, clap whenever you feel moved, and celebrate the wonders of live music. As Arrieche reminds us: "It's a party!"