Organization

Shango Music and Dance is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and provide access to the expression, appreciation, and understanding of Brazilian, African and Cuban music and dance. Shango engages in community music and dance classes, educational residencies, community performing arts groups, and professional stage performances, both locally and nationally. This dance company, named by a Portuguese phrase meaning "catching fire," is a culture and arts organization that has been cultivated in Salt Lake City through the vigor and charisma of its directors, dancer Lorin Hansen and her husband and musical director Mason Aeschbacher. In performance, they offer a dazzling fusion of capoeira (an afro-brazilian martial art), fire dancing, carnival samba and Brazilian Orixa dance accompanied by Brazilian and Afro-Brazilian music. All of these genres are presented in staged in dramatic colors, invoking original dance in earth and sky settings. Reviews of Samba Fogo's recent (May 2012) appearance may be found here http://www.slugmag.com/articles/3541/Samba-Fogo-presents-Pegando-Fogo-0503-Rose-Wagner.html and here http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment/54050024-81/fire-fogo-dance-performance.html.csp .