Bradesco writes Brazilian dances into sheet music for the first time — Dancebook Brasil

Brazilian dances have been passed from body to body for generations and had never been formally recorded, while European ballets have used dance notation for over a century. Bradesco, a bank that supports cultural territories such as Carnival, the Parintins festival and the Acampamento Farroupilha, wanted to reinforce its commitment to national culture with a genuinely lasting act.

Give Brazil's oral dance traditions ballet's written language — Benesh notation — so samba, frevo, toada and chula can be preserved, taught and archived.

Created by agency Lovely with choreographer Carlinhos de Jesus and choreologist Johanna Classe, a team of dancers and specialists translated samba, frevo, toada and chula into Benesh movement notation — the international system used by ballet companies. The scores became a luxury limited-edition book pairing them with photography by Mauricio Nahas and essays on each dance, mirrored by a digital edition and process videos on Bradesco's social channels. Special copies were placed in major dance archives, including the Royal Academy of Dance in London.

The project produced the first written records of those dances in history, putting Brazilian culture in formal international choreographic archives alongside classical ballet scores. At Cannes Lions 2026 it won a Gold Lion in Design (Books) and a Bronze in Industry Craft (Art Direction), and reached four shortlists across the two categories.

Dances have been written down around the world for more than a century — but Brazil's own dance traditions never had been. In April 2026, Bradesco launched Dancebook Brasil with choreographer Carlinhos de Jesus to close that gap: for the first time, rhythms such as samba, frevo, toada and chula were translated into choreographic scores using the Benesh method, the international dance notation widely used by European ballet companies.

The translation was carried out by a team of dancers and specialists under Carlinhos de Jesus, with the technical and curatorial work of choreologist Johanna Classe — a rare profession, since few people worldwide can write Benesh notation. Agency Lovely turned the scores into a physical book and a digital edition, with photography by Mauricio Nahas and in-depth texts on each dance, its cultural context and choreographic character. Even the layout was designed so the text appears to dance across the pages.

The dances chosen connect directly to cultural territories Bradesco supports, such as Carnival, the Parintins festival and the Acampamento Farroupilha. With a special print run, the book was placed in important dance archives worldwide, including the Royal Academy of Dance in London, so Brazilian dance now sits in formal circuits of registration and preservation alongside classical ballet scores.

Carlinhos de Jesus called the book the respect and visibility dance had been seeking: 'What always lived in the body now comes to exist on paper.' The work won a Gold Lion in Design (Books) and a Bronze in Industry Craft (Art Direction) at Cannes Lions 2026, with four shortlists overall.

Benesh notation is the universal written language of dance, so the scores make Brazilian traditions readable, teachable and archivable anywhere in the world.

Recording dances that were never recorded is a permanent contribution, not a transient campaign — the book outlives any media cycle.

The choice of samba, frevo, toada and chula tied the project to festivals and communities the bank already supports.

A bank expressing itself through cultural preservation reframed corporate sponsorship as custodianship of national heritage.

Choose the format of permanence: by recording fleeting oral traditions in the notation system of classical ballet, a bank's cultural sponsorship produced an archive that will outlive the campaign.

The limited-edition book entered collections at leading dance institutions, including the Royal Academy of Dance, and Bradesco released process videos and individual notated choreographies — samba, frevo, boi-bumbá and chula — on its verified YouTube channel. Bradesco marketing executive José Maurício Lilla said the Cannes recognition reinforced the power of Brazilian culture and the need to fund projects that spread and value it.