Ask Rodrigo Pederneiras, choreographer for the Brazilian dance troupe “Grupo Corpo,” how things have changed since the company’s first Ann Arbor visit in 2002, and he responds with a movement metaphor that’s utterly fitting for a company whose name, translated, means “Body Group.”

“Since then I think we’re following our way,” he wrote in an e-mail from Brazil, “which means, we keep walking forward.”

Walking, though, is too polite a participle to capture the heat and light Grupo Corpo generates with dancers and dances that blend ballet technique with the excitement of Brazilian rhythms and forms and the explorations of modern dance. In this company that is a family affair — Rodrigo’s brother, Paulo, is the company’s artistic director and other brothers and relatives participate, too — Rodrigo says the goal is “creating something new each time and, in a certain way, making stronger our style.”

When the company makes its return visit to Ann Arbor, offering two identical Power Center shows Friday and Saturday under University Musical Society auspices, it’s with a duo of dances, Parabelo” (1997) and “Ímã” (2009) that share Brazilian scores (“Parabelo” uses music by Tom Zé and Zé Miguel Wisnik; “Ima” is set to music by +2: Moreno, Domenico, Kassin) but tread very different choreographic terrain.

Rodrigo Pederneiras answered questions about the dances and the company via e-mail as the company prepared for its Ann Arbor visit and U.S. tour.

Q. What was the inspiration for the two works on the Ann Arbor programs, and what do the titles mean or refer to? A. A parabelo is a sort of old gun that was used in the beginning of the last century. This piece was created in 1997 and was inspired in a region of the northeast of Brazil — where the sun is so strong that it kills like a gun. But on the other hand, it is a place of a very rich culture. Ímã means magnet — and the idea behind this piece is the attraction and repulsion between the parts and the whole.

Q. Did the music come first in each case? A. The music always comes before. So the first step is to decide and invite the composer. Then we work together in the music. When it is ready, I start choreographing.

Q. How are the two dances different from each other or alike? A. Beside the distance in the time between the two works, the biggest difference is in the music. “Parabelo” has a very strong regional reference (the rhythm, the dance), and “Ima” is much more contemporary, without this kind of reference.

Q. What is the training of the dancers in the company? What is company class like? A. They have ballet class every day. All the dancers in the company have a very strong classical background.

Q. What interests you right now choreographically with the company? A. My biggest interest is to go on developing our own style, which I think is the greatest thing in Grupo Corpo.