The Ballet Concreto was part of a series of contemporary dance events inspired by Surrealist, realist, and neoclassical themes that were choreographed by Gilberto Mota and staged in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1958. The artist Lygia Pape (1927–2004) was instrumental in the creation of the Ballet Concreto and contributed to the production’s scenery; the poet Reynaldo Jardim contributed his poem Alvo-Ôlho. The event’s experimental scenery, which included brightly colored geometric forms, moved around the stage to the distinctive rhythm of electronic music or recited poems. At the time Jardim was the editor-in-chief of the Suplemento Dominical do Jornal do Brasil, a Sunday supplement that reported on concrete art in the 1950s. There was a programmatic quality about concrete art in Brazil that influenced the visual arts, literature, music, industrial design and—as this document confirms—theatrical productions of a “concrete” nature. In his essay Jardim discusses the “constructive” ideology that underpins the Ballet Concreto, and explores the concept of “concrete theater.” The author defends the autonomous and progressive nature of constructive art, but also draws the reader’s attention to its concerns regarding “machines.” It should be noted that, the following year (1959), Pape and Jardim produced a Ballet Neoconcreto. That production coincided with the launch of the “Manifesto Neoconcreto,” which they both signed [see (doc. no. 1110328)], and their participation in the I Exposição Neoconcreta.
[As complementary reading on the subject of the I Exposição Neoconcreta exhibition, see the following articles in the ICAA digital archive: by Ferreira Gullar “I — O Grupo de São Paulo: I Exposição Nacional de Arte Concreta” (doc. no. 1087166), and “I Exposição Nacional de Arte Concreta: 2 — O grupo do Rio” (doc. no. 1090217); by Waldemar Cordeiro “Teoria e prática do concretismo carioca” (doc. no. 1087287); and by Mário Pedrosa “Paulistas e cariocas” (doc. no. 1085056)].