Government of Sergipe

The traditional folk ballet “Um que de negritude”, which is based at the Atheneu Sergipense Center of Excellence and is led by professor Clélia Ferreira Ramos, after participating in the Austro-Brazilian Festival in Vienna, returns to the Sergipe stages with the new show ‘Agbara -Obinrin – The strength of women’. The performance takes place on November 15th and 16th, at 7pm, at the Tobias Barreto theater, in Aracaju. Tickets can be downloaded within the space limit on the dance and theater group’s official website.

Professor Clélia Ferreira explains that, upon completing 16 years of anti-racism, achievements, recognition, struggles and resistance of ‘Um que de negritude’, bringing to light the life and work of Beatriz Nascimento from Sergipe in the month in which she enters the book of Heroes of the Fatherland and in the year in which Law 10,639 turns 20, it has an inexplicable meaning for ballet.

“We will bring to the show a representation of Beatriz’s daughter, Bethânia Nascimento, the first black dancer to reach the highest position in an international company, as well as showing, through dance and popular culture, the story of Beatriz and her relationship with ‘the Quilombo’ as a process of cultural identity in which the stronghold itself is a space in which large groups of popular cultures emerge”, he explains.

In Agbara-Obinrin, the director of the show says that it will also bring to the public the identification of Beatriz Nascimento and her relationship with African-based religion, as well as her references to black people as social individuals, the black body, African diaspora, image recovery of the enslaved and why they have an inferior social situation.

Clélia Ferreira reiterates that the dance group does not work with tickets, but a contribution through the official website through draws and, as access is limited, public schools that already have transport and want to take students will be able to sign up for the regional education board, for a special session on November 16th, from 2 to 4 pm.

Fight history

Composed of students and former students from the Atheneu Sergipense Center of Excellence, ‘Umqué de negritude’ was launched in 2007 with the aim of spreading Afro-Brazilian and indigenous culture through dance, promoting reflections on intolerance and racial prejudice .

Currently, the project has been in existence for 16 years and has a total of one hundred members divided between corps de ballet, production and theater. In 2022, the dance group filled the Tobias Barreto Theater in two sessions with the show ‘AYÒ – 15 years recording history in education’, as part of the group’s 15th anniversary celebrations. In 2023, the folk ballet was invited to represent the country at the 11th edition of the Brazilian Cultural Festival, which took place at the Weltmuseum Wien, in the Austrian capital. The invitation came from the Austro-Brazilian Society of Education and Culture.

The group has already won the trophy at the Santo Amaro das Brotas (SE) Cultural Meeting, as well as other awards, and was nominated to represent Brazil at an African Culture meeting in Senegal. The project is the result of an original idea by professor Clélia Ferreira Ramos and is based on the mandatory teaching of African History in Brazilian schools, supported by law no. 10.639/03, promulgated by the federal government, and law no. 5.497/04 of the Government of Sergipe.

‘Um que de negritude’ aims to develop, with students from the state education network, an immersion in the history of Africa, not only in the theoretical field, but also in the practical field, through the most varied interpretations of African culture. Over the years, the group transcended its pedagogical base and today is a representative of Afro culture for the entire Sergipe community.

Access the invitation.