To kick off the 29th season of Denison University’s Vail Series, Brazilian Capoeira Angola will be presented at 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, in Swasey Chapel (200 Chapel Drive). Described as “a fight for dancers, a dance for gladiators … a perfect mixture of strength and rhythm, poetry and agility,” this event promises music and singing that commands dancers’ movements with a spirit of competition and a strong sense of beauty.

In a step outside the traditional form of Vail Series productions, the Brazilian Capoeira Angola performance is part of a collaborative program between the Vail Series and the Denison University Department of Dance, which is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its World Dance Program.

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines music, martial arts, and dance. It was developed by Africans in Brazil centuries ago. Capoeira dance has many schools; the Angola version incorporates looser movements, theatricality and a central focus on the balance between the fight and the dance.

This event features Cabello Rolim, the Brazilian educator, Capoeira artist, percussionist, performer and instrument maker; and Tisza Coelho, a native of Rio de Janiero, who performed with Grupo Senzala for 10 years then moved to Europe to perform and teach with the Tupi Nago ensemble, Grupo Senzala de Paris and Grupo Senzala de Amsterdam. Coelho has given performances and master classes in France, Holland, Germany, Finland, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia and New Zealand.

Rolim has taught and performed around the world. A student of Brazilian ethnomusicologist Emilia Biancardi and master drummer Jorge Alabe, Rolim first performed capoeira and music in Sao Paulo in the 1980s. Now a professional capoerista with 28 years’ experience, Rolim keeps the traditions of his ancestors alive by dedicating his life’s work to the study and performance of the rhythms, instruments, songs, and dances of Afro-Brazilian culture.

Rolim and Coelho first met in New York City in 1990s, where they both became disciples of great master Joao Grande at his capoeira angola center in Manhattan. Together, Rolim and Coelho have performed with a wide variety of ensembles over the last 15 years. They also have given master classes at Yale and North Carolina universities, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as at many other cultural centers, museums and schools. In 2001, they returned to Bahia, Brazil, where they established the Ouro Verde Cultural Fazenda, a capoeira and dance retreat in a Brazilian rainforest. They return to New York several times each year as official ambassadors of Brazilian music for the Carnegie Hall Foundation.

For this performance, which will feature both dancers and musicians and will incorporate several specific dances and percussion instruments indigenous to this art form, Rolim and Coelho will be joined by jazz and world percussionist and composer Café da Silva; senior dancer and teacher of traditional Afro-Brazilian dance Rita Silva; capoeira master and performer Glauber Fernandes; contra mestre of capoeira, musician and performer Denis Chiaramonte; and capoeira senior dancer Gracy Ferreguetti.

Tickets to the general public are $15.00 and will be available as space allows. For more information about tickets, call the Vail Series ticket line at 740-587-6557.

Subsequent Vail programs scheduled for the 2008-2009 season include the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra with the Harlem Quartet at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 10, the Brooklyn Rider Quartet at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 28, and soprano Renée Fleming at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14. All performances will take place in Swasey Chapel. For further information regarding the Vail Series at Denison, visit the Web site at vailseries.org