The Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
So what is the Carnival Parade about?
The carnival of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo is a huge competition between their "Escolas de Samba" (Samba Schools) to see who´s the best carnival school of 2011. W h a t g o e s o n a t S a m b a d r o m e d u r i n g t h e f o u r d a ys o f C a r n i v a l o f R i o d e J a n e i r o 2 0 1 1 ?
Next Carnival will take place during 3-9 March. The Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro are separated among 6 categories. In each category there are 12 Escolas de Samba. The Special Schools and the A group, are the ones that actually parade during the 4 days of Carnival at the Sambadrome of Rio de Janeiro, (Group A, the first two days, and the Special Group in the last two days). The Escolas of Samba of other groups parade in other locations of the city in shows that are also worth watching during summer See more
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The Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
How does a Samba School win?
A group of 50 judges analyze the Escolas of Samba of Rio de Janeiro in up to 10 aspects to decide who gets the glory of winning the carnival and who gets thrown off the Special Group, so the preparation, competition, and climax is intense. The Winners and runners up will parade at the Winners Parade, the weekend after (11-13 March 011)
See Champions
Parade
Where can I watch the Events?
You can buy tickets with us for specific Sectors of the public audience. These sectors are either in VIP Boxes or on the arena. See Tickets Can I parade at the Sambadrome during rehearsals or Carnival?
Yes, you can actually parade in costume with an official Samba School.
See How
During summer, the Samba Schools rehearse all around the City of Rio.
See Rehearsals
Champions Parade Also
known as the Champion's Parade, the Winners' Parade takes place on the Saturday following Carnival held again in the Sambadrome. The winner and 5 runners-up from the Special Group make part of the Winners' Parade the Saturday after Carnival, March 12 this year. If you spent your carnival on a resort near Rio, in Salvador or are arriving in Rio right after Carnival, go and watch the Winners' Parade. Because there is no competition, some say it's the funniest, lightest parade on Carnival, with people dancing the samba celebrating to be among the bests 5 schools, in a natural swing, dancing the true and beautiful samba.
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The Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
Special Group Sunday 6th March 1st São Clemente 2nd Imperatriz Leopoldinense 3rd Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel 4th Unidos da Tijuca 6th Mangueira 51st Vila Isabel
Monday 7th March 1st União da Ilha 2nd Salgueiro 3rd Portela 4th Grande Rio 5th Porto da Pedra 6th Beija-Flor
Group A Saturday 5th March Alegria da Zona Sul 1st nd Renascer de Jacarepaguá 2 rd Viradouro 3 th Santa Cruz 4 th Império da Tijuca 5 6th Inocentes de Belford Roxo 7th Cubango 8th Estácio de Sá 9th Império Serrano 10th Rocinha 11th Caprichosos de Pilares Samba School Divisions and Characters Carnival King (King Momo) "Momo" is the name of the god of mockery in the Greek mythology, and according to Carnival tradition, King Momo should be jolly and as big as a house. Legend suggests that he was expulsed from the Olympus to come and settle down in Rio, the City of Carnival. The Rio Carnival officially opens with the delivery of the key of the city to King Momo. When King Momo sambas, everything and everyone - sequins, feathers, flesh and all people around should also samba with him. He opens all major Carnival events including the Samba Parades.
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The Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
Queen and Princesses of Carnival The Queen of Carnival is chosen by a contest based on her beauty, self-assurance, sociability, ease of expression, congeniality and samba abilities but all in all she must have the "carnival spirit". The 2nd and the 3rd place candidates in the contest are named the Princesses of Carnival.
Carnival Designer (Carnavalesco) He is responsible for the artistic work of designing, producing and directing the school's parade. Sometimes they chose and write the schools' theme of the year, too. They design every costume and float, choose and supervise the purchasing of materials, administer the construction and manufacturing of floats, costumes, and
The Flag Bearer and her Escort She is carrying and presenting the school's flag, as the symbol of the School, while the couple is dancing down the Avenue. He is there to protect her (originally he had a knife to make sure that the other schools are not damaging the flag, making them lose the competition). Their dance is the most elaborate and elegant. The schools have more than a
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accessories. They can earn a lot of money in a top school. The names of the top carnival designers are as well known in Rio as the names of top film directors. They have their own idiosyncratic style, some being known for being very futuristic (Salgueiro), baroque/rococo (Imperatriz, Mangueira), or have a special preference for a particular topic (like Beija-Flor´s for anything native BrazilianIndian).
responsible for the costumes (production and sales) and coordination of all the wing´s members' parade. Vanguard Commission This is the opening wing of a school. A group of 12-15 dancers with a highly choreographed routine, who parade at the front of the school, "introducing" it to the crowd. Their costumes do not have to reflect the school´s theme. Originally they were only well-dressed men. Recently they have become a spectacle on their own with splendid choreography. A float is part of this wing, too carrying the School's symbols along with some celebrities wearing the most elaborate costumes.
Wing (Ala) They are the building blocks of a school's parade - the school is split into several of them. A group of 20-100 people wearing the same costume and having the same purpose. The costume will illustrate a particular aspect of the school's theme. Every wing has a president who is couple of flag bearers but only the front bearer (in front of the drummer group) is important and can gain scores.
Whirling Ladies (Baianas) Older women are dressed in glitzy variations of the traditional costume of Bahia state, with huge skirts with tubes inserted inside so that they lend themselves for some beautiful whirling. Whirling down the Avenue, they represent the soul of the samba schools, their African roots. There is a minimum number that must parade or the school gets penalty points (at least 80
The Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil in the Special Group). They are old ladies of the community, who have already been with the same School for many years like the samba dancers. This is an absolute honor and the samba school pays for their costumes. They are much respected and often get a round of applause when passing by. Today only women can have this role while in earlier years men dressed in those costumes, too. Some schools (like Beija-Flor, Grande Rio, Salgueiro, etc.) also have wings of little Baianas, young girls in their teens.
Carnival. The group's costumes that reflect the themes are sometimes so big that it's hard to play. There are overhead mikes carried alongside the group and a sound truck with the samba singers. Some are traditional ones, using the same elements for decades (like Mangueira, Portela, Imperio Serrano). In the 80s, Mocidade however brought along some new elements for their drummers in the rhythm they played. Inevitably, other schools (like Viradouro, Grande Rio, Porto da Pedra, Beija-Flor) started to use further innovation incorporating totally new genres (going as far as using funk and. high choreography). It seems to be very successful.
Vocalists
Percussion Band (Bateria) This is the beating heart of the School comprised of 250-350 percussionists, mainly drummers. It lends energy and life to the whole parade. This is a community wing, thus the costumes are paid for by the school. The Head of the Drummer Group chooses who is going to play in the group via continuous auditions at rehearsals many months before
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This is a well-known male lead vocalist who is accompanied by many others. They are usually on top of the sound truck right behind the percussionists or they march along the samba run-way.
Queen of the Drummers This is a beautiful female samba dancer standing in front while introducing the Percussionists to the crowd. She is supposed to motivate and inspire the hundreds of male drummers behind her.
Samba Dancers (Passistas) A small wing of the finest samba dancers of the school is no more than 15-20. It's very hard to dance the samba at Rio´s speed whilst moving forward at near walking pace for 700m (1/2 mile). These samba dancers are a star turn. They are chosen through competition each year and it is certainly high honor to take this role.
Stewards of the Flow (Harmonia) Each float and each wing has a number of dedicated stewards to ensure that the flow is kept up. They will wear the T shirt of their wing or float. There are penalty points if the school takes too long to parade. Points are also lost in the Rio Samba Parade if there are any gaps between or inside the wings.
The Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
Options for taking part: ďƒź Watching from the outside Attending the Samba Schools parades at the Sambadrome, Rio's official parading venue, is a unique experience. Samba Schools are the very essence of Rio's Carnival. And being at the right place at the right time makes the whole difference. That's why it's so important that you buy THE TICKET THAT SUITS YOU BEST. We do our most to help you make this decision with confidence and security. Before BUYING your ticket we suggest you get acquainted with the various options of parades, locations and seats. Through an easy-to-read text filled with self-explanatory illustrations we disclose the major highlights and pitfalls of the various seating spots. We are the only ones on the web to offer this detailed explanation, because we do care for your satisfaction. After all, tickets are hard to get and exchanging them might be a laborious task, or even an impossible one, if too close to the parades dates. So, we consider it our obligation to provide all the information you need to choose your tickets carefully. The first decision you have to make is to which parades to attend. Next we suggest you choose the location on the avenue from which to watch the parades and finally the type of seat that suits you best.
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The Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
ďƒź Dancing on the Parade in costume
Costumes are still available, so let your dream come true! We offer you the unique opportunity of parading with a top School (belonging to the special group or group A) dressed up in a genuine costume! We have partnership with Schools which allow non-members to wear their exclusive costumes and parade with them. Chose how you want to participate, walking exclusively, in a group, on the truck/car or if your physique allows you, parade on the high part of the truck, exclusively and in the center of all!
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The Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
Samba Schools are split into several "wings" (alas, in Portuguese) when they parade along the avenue. In each wing School members wear specific costumes, all of them designed in accordance with the School theme of the year. Therefore costumes change from School to School, from wing to wing and from year to year. But each School is always responsible for the design and manufacturing of its several costumes. We refer to Schools who allow non-members to parade wearing their exclusive costumes as host Schools. As soon as the Schools make their songs available (samba-enredo, in Portuguese) we'll also do so on the site, to help you practice in advance. Enclosed with your costume you'll find further information about the warm up
You can buy your costume through our site and pay for it with PayPal or CreditCard. As soon as the purchase process is concluded, we'll send you an e-mail requesting your measures (waist, collar, etc), preferably in centimeters time prior to the parade. You will have an unforgettable time: we guarantee! All costumes are handmade by local craftspeople who are members of the Schools and take the utmost care and zeal in their confection. Therefore, choose your model carefully: we can only afford to give you a maximum of 48 hours after your purchase to alter or cancel your order.
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