Dance Mogul Magazine · From the Archive · Exclusive Interview
Silva Dance Company: Capoeira, Memory and Modern Dance
Founder Leandro Santos Silva on the ideas behind his spring 2016 show and Memória, a work that ties Brazilian tradition to the future. Our 2016 Q&A in full, every photo, and the company’s New York story.
Originally published April 13, 2016 · Updated November 12, 2026 · Dance Mogul Magazine
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File // At a Glance
Company — Silva Dance Company, New York City
Founders — Leandro Santos Silva (Mestre Alegria) and Janete Silva, both from Bahia, Brazil
Style — Silva Technique: capoeira, Afro-Brazilian dance, and modern and contemporary dance
Roots — Both founders danced with DanceBrazil, the New York company founded by Mestre Jelon Vieira
Home stages — Harlem School of the Arts, Dixon Place and other New York venues
2016 works — A piece on society and behavior, and Memória (Memory)
25
Photos from DMM’s 2016 coverage
4th
Annual NYC spring show, March 2015
9
Years Leandro toured with DanceBrazil
3
Art forms fused in Silva Technique
Where Capoeira Meets the Concert Stage
Capoeira was created by enslaved Africans in Brazil: a martial art disguised as dance, carried by drums, song and the swaying step called the ginga. Leandro Santos Silva grew up with it in Bahia. In New York he built a company around a question: what happens when that tradition meets modern and contemporary concert dance?
The answer is Silva Technique, and the Silva Dance Company he founded with Janete Silva. In 2016, Dance Mogul Magazine covered the company’s spring show and spoke with Leandro about his inspiration, the work it takes to self-produce a show, and Memória, a piece about tradition passing through generations. That interview is below in full, with every photo and an update on the company since.
The 2016 Interview: Leandro Santos Silva
From the DMM Archive · April 13, 2016
Dance Mogul: What has been the inspiration for your current work?
Leandro Santos Silva: I’m always inspired in many things, our days every day, people’s behavior, community, my culture, everything that I can send a message or make people feel something or thinking about something.
Dance Mogul: What was it like to prepare for the performance?
Leandro Santos Silva: It’s very intense, because we do everything on our own, working on the music, costumes, choreography, I always feel we don’t have time enough for everything. But when you do all that work with love, it’s worth it.
Dance Mogul: What message did you want the audience to take away from the performance?
Leandro Santos Silva: In the first one I was talking about our society, who we are and who we will become with our society, behavior, and attitudes. On the second one (Memória) Memory, it weaves tradition, religion, art, and music through generations connecting us back to the beginning and laying the foundation for the future.
Dance Mogul: Do you have any other plans for 2016?
Leandro Santos Silva: Yes many more things coming, the company will be performing in the Bahamas in June and we have been invited to an international Dance festival in South Africa where many great dance companies will perform too.
Dance Mogul: Is there anyone you would like to thank for helping you with the production?
Leandro Santos Silva: It’s a lot of people who have helped in many different ways but I don’t want to leave anyone out so I just wanted to thank everyone who’s helped and support our love for the Art and passion for life and especially my beautiful dancers.
Reproduced from Dance Mogul Magazine’s April 13, 2016 exclusive with light grammar fixes. Plans described were current in 2016.
When you do all that work with love, it’s worth it.
— Leandro Santos Silva to Dance Mogul Magazine, 2016
Photo Gallery: Silva Dance Company, 2016
Every photo from DMM’s original coverage is kept here at full size.
20 Photos · Spring 2016
Silva Dance Company in New York. From DMM’s 2016 coverage.
Who Are Leandro and Janete Silva?
Leandro Santos Silva (Mestre Alegria)
Leandro Santos Silva was born in Salvador, Bahia, and began capoeira as a child under Mestre Jelon Vieira, the founder of DanceBrazil. His bios at Peridance, Ailey Extension and Steps on Broadway trace a long performing career: about nine years touring with DanceBrazil, then work with Brazarte Dance Company in Miami, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance in Denver, Orquestra Popular da Bahia and Ballethnic Dance Company in Atlanta.
He has served as director and choreographer for the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, as an assistant choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance Canada, and as an artist in residence with Philadanco. In capoeira he is known as Alegria. Ailey Extension now lists him as Mestre Alegria. Mestre is capoeira’s title for a master teacher.
Janete Silva
Janete Silva, also from Salvador, is the company’s co-founder, assistant director and rehearsal director, according to her Ailey Extension biography. She has danced with Balé Folclórico da Bahia, DanceBrazil, Viver Brazil and Ballethnic Dance Company, appeared as a dancer on Ivete Sangalo’s concert DVDs, and performed in Carnegie Hall’s Musical Explorers in 2014. She teaches Afro-Brazilian dance in New York.
What Is Silva Technique?
Silva Technique is Leandro’s own fusion of Brazilian contemporary dance with a strong base in capoeira movement and modern dance. Capoeira gives it the ginga, the acrobatics and the call-and-response with live rhythm. Modern and contemporary training give it line, floor work and choreographic structure. The company’s audition calls ask for exactly that mix: strong modern and contemporary technique, African dance, capoeira and partnering.
Company Timeline
CULTURE = the scene · CAREER = the work · TEACHING = passing it on · DMM = our coverage
Mar 31, 2012 · CAREER
A Little Beat of Me at the Harlem School of the Arts.
Dec 1, 2012 · CULTURE
The company performs Elements at Cumbe’s first performance showcase.
Mar 2, 2013 · CAREER
Caminho: The Path at the Harlem School of the Arts, with a special performance by Aubrey Lynch II.
Jun 2014 · CAREER
Two Companies, One Heart with Jazz Roots Dance Company at Dixon Place.
Mar 21, 2015 · CAREER
Sociedade Alternativa (Alternative Society), the company’s fourth annual New York spring performance.
Spring 2016 · CAREER
The spring show featuring Memória.
Apr 13, 2016 · DMM
Dance Mogul Magazine publishes this exclusive Q&A and photo gallery.
Oct 2016 · TEACHING
The company holds auditions for a new project built on Silva Technique.
Fall 2017 · TEACHING
Leandro teaches open-level capoeira at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn.
Silva Dance Company Today
Leandro and Janete Silva remain active teachers in New York. Ailey Extension lists Leandro as Mestre Alegria, teaching capoeira, and Janete as an instructor in African-Brazilian dance. Both also appear on the faculty pages of Steps on Broadway. Dixon Place has presented the company’s Curumim, a work Leandro made about Brazil’s indigenous peoples and the roots of identity. In the Tupi Guarani language, curumim means children.
In 2016, Leandro told DMM the company would perform in the Bahamas that June and had been invited to a festival in South Africa. DMM could not confirm those engagements in public records. We also found no current public performance calendar for the company. If you danced with Silva Dance Company or have programs from its shows, we would love to hear from you through our contact page.
Watch: Curumim, choreographed by Leandro Silva, with Janete Silva and members of the company.
Meet the Silvas: Leandro and Janete Silva talk about Brazilian dance and capoeira in a studio interview.
From the company: Nos, a Silva Dance Company work shared by Leandro Silva.
What the Next Generation Should Learn
1. Your culture is a technique. Leandro turned capoeira, the art he grew up with in Bahia, into a training system for concert dancers. What you know from home has value on any stage.
2. Learn from a master, then build your own voice. He trained under Mestre Jelon Vieira and toured with DanceBrazil for years before creating Silva Technique.
3. Self-producing is a skill. “We do everything on our own,” he told DMM: music, costumes, choreography. Independent artists learn production, budgeting and time management by doing.
4. Memory is a foundation. Memória asks dancers to carry tradition forward. Know the history of the movement you perform.
5. Gratitude keeps a company together. He closed his interview by thanking everyone who helped, and especially his dancers.
Why It Matters to DMM
Dance Mogul Magazine documents the people who use dance to carry culture forward and build community, especially artists working outside the spotlight. Silva Dance Company is that story: two Afro-Brazilian artists from Bahia building an independent company in Harlem, teaching capoeira’s history alongside its movement, and creating work about memory and identity. Capoeira grew out of African resistance in Brazil, and its survival is part of the same diaspora story DMM has told since 2010.
Read more on DMM: Lula Washington Dance Theatre at NJPAC, D(n)A Arts’ MADE TO MOVE intensive, Camille A. Brown, and Nasha Thomas and the Ailey legacy. For more legacy stories, visit The Legacy.
Silva Dance Company: Frequently Asked Questions
What is Silva Dance Company?
Silva Dance Company is a New York company founded by Leandro Santos Silva and Janete Silva, both from Bahia, Brazil. Its work fuses capoeira and Afro-Brazilian dance with modern and contemporary dance.
Who is Leandro Santos Silva?
Leandro Santos Silva, known in capoeira as Mestre Alegria, is a Bahia-born dancer, capoeira master teacher and choreographer. He trained under Mestre Jelon Vieira, toured with DanceBrazil, and is the artistic director of Silva Dance Company.
What is Silva Technique?
Silva Technique is Leandro Santos Silva's fusion of Brazilian contemporary dance with a strong emphasis on capoeira movement and modern dance foundations.
What is Memória about?
Leandro Santos Silva told DMM in 2016 that Memória (Memory) weaves tradition, religion, art and music through generations, connecting back to the beginning and laying a foundation for the future.
Where can I take class with Leandro and Janete Silva?
Both are listed as instructors at Ailey Extension and on the faculty pages of Steps on Broadway in New York. Check those schools for current schedules.
The Story Continues
Dance Mogul Magazine will keep following Silva Dance Company and its founders. Bookmark this page and check back for updates.
Sources & Further Viewing
Peridance: Leandro Santos Silva faculty biography
Ailey Extension: Mestre Alegria
Steps on Broadway: Leandro da Silva
Dance.NYC: Sociedade Alternativa, Silva Dance Company (Mar 21, 2015)
Dance.NYC: A Little Beat of Me, Harlem School of the Arts (2012)
© 2026 Dance Mogul Magazine LLC · From the Archive, Updated · A Black-owned dance and empowerment publication since 2010
