BRAZIL, PART 12: CARNIVAL EXPERIENCE BEHIND THE SCENES

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Before I start to tell you about our behind the scenes activities, I wanted to announce that Vitor’s book:

is now available for international sales in the U.S. The cost is  450  reales which is  about 74.05 USD, including shipping and handling.  If you would like to grab a copy of the amazing book, message Vitor on Instagram at @vitormarigo and he will send you a Paypal request and soon it will be yours!

Now back to the program – Carnival,  Rio de Janeiro is  the world’s largest and most famous carnival celebration.  The Carnival is a four-day event that starts on Saturday and ends on Fat Tuesday.  There the top 12 samba schools in Brazil compete for the championship at the Sambadrome:

Each school has a unique theme, song, costumes, and choreography. The schools perform for 75 minutes, and judges evaluate the costumes, song, and samba. The champion is announced on Ash Wednesday.

There are other events taking place as well. Street parties, called “blocos”  that include locals and tourists abound  and everyone has a blast singing and dancing to the samba music.   Over 300 “bandas” or groups of musicians, play and march through the blocos.  There is  also the Magic Ball Costume party at the famous Copacabana Hotel

All of this, particularly the samba school compeitition requires a great deal of preparation.  I fact, it takes just about a year.  Within  this tim’s, each school must:

Choose a theme: The school chooses a theme for the year and incorporates it into all other aspects of the parade.

Write a song: The school holds a competition to write a samba song for the year.

Design costumes: The school sews colorful and ornate costumes for the dancers.
Build floats: The school builds floats with special effects to catch the judges’ attention. Some schools use a warehouse complex called Samba Cityto build their floats.
Choreograph dances
Rehearse: The school begins rehearsals in October and increases them in December.
Record sambas: The school records the sambas and releases them to record stores in time for Christmas.
Compete:   For four days the samba schools parade through the Sambadrome  Each group must perform nonstop for a minimum of 70 minutes but no more that 80 minutes – points are taken off if the group falls outside this’d time parameter. To get the attention of the judges, the floats are designed with special effects, like a fire-breathing dragon or a metal eagle that soared along the parade route flapping his wings. Costumes and “attitude” of performers are also judged.
Visiting SambaCity gave us a behind the scenes look at the samba schools’ work.   While we couldn’t  see  the planning for  2025, we did get an up  close look at some of the  sketches, costumes and floats for 2024:
Then the real fun began. We were taken to a dressing area and got to pick out our own headdresses and costumes!!!
Onto the stage bar where we had some delicious Caipirinhas:
Then outside, where we learned a few samba dance steps as well as a drumming lesson:

O Brasil é lindo maravilhoso!
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