A fearless performance by Brazil’s finest dance group brought a delighted crowd to their feet as culture and movement collided over a global soundscape.

In their first tour of the UK and Ireland, the troupe showcases exceptional skill with an exploration of collective identities.

As the curtains are drawn before a packed Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, a huddle of bodies with arms raised and fingertips flickering with energy is centre-stage.

Accompanied only by an angled shaft of cold light and the sound of breath, the group moves as one.

From the opening scene the 14 dancers grab my attention and, for three increasingly exciting and enticing acts, it was theirs to keep.

Often, the performers’ bodies act collectively - like petals of a flower unfurling or a hundred parts of a great machine precisely moving with one purpose.

Over the course of the experience, they convey sensuality and violence, longing and belonging.

But just as one form emerges, another takes its place as paired and solo performances spin off the group or dominate the stage from the top of a new scene.

Under the artistic direction of Inês Bogéa, the company displays a veritable feast of talent, combining classic ballet with Latin American grooves.

The 90-minute show flies by. And as it does the music and dancing grows evermore complex and colourful.

The first score, entitled Anthem, was created by Spain’s Goyo Montero, resident choreographer with Cuba’s Acosta Danza.

Beginning with ambient, atmospheric sounds, its music layers chants and drones to evoke life cycles and collective identities.

The show’s program notes that Anthem is “inspired by songs that become hymns – anthems – for an individual, a group, a generation or a nation.”

Act two’s ‘Gnawa’ score brings several stunning couples and solo routines in which Alex Akapohi and Ammanda Rosa especially move with detailed elegance.

This second section of the show is set to ritualistic music of North Africa created by composers Hassan Hakmoun, Adam Rudolph, Juan Alberto Arteche, Javier Paxariño, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Velez and Kusur e Sarkissian.

By act three I am well and truly entranced.

Daring and flirtatious, the experience’s finale, entitled Agora, comes courtesy of Brazilian choreographer Cassi Abranches, with an exhilarating musical score that blends Afro-Brazilian percussion with cries of electric guitars and rock vocals.

Solos by Nielson Souza, Thamiris Prata and Yoshi Suzuki are icing on top of an all-around phenomenal show.

It is not often in life that I find myself marvelling at the artistic majesty and expert manipulation of human bodies in motion.

It is easy to forget just how exciting and beautiful dance can be, the São Paulo Dance Company is a vivid reminder.