South America, 2014: Carnival in Rio

1 March 2014

We arrived at the Sambadrome about 9 pm, which is apparently early for visitors since the stands were mostly empty. The Sambadrome is actually a section of a street, I think about half a mile long where stadium seats, box seats and other types of seating have been built for the large number of viewers. There are usually 8-9 Samba Schools that perform per night for 4 nights before Ash Wednesday. Each school has several floats and hundreds of performers and they each try to tell a story through their music, costumes, dancing and floats. Samba schools are in leagues like hockey leagues, there are 14 of them and only the top 3 leagues perform at the Sambadrome. If a school places at the top of its league it moves up to the bottom of the next highest league and, if they place last then they move down to the top of the next lowest league. Each school has its fans and we saw lots of people waving flags for the school they were supporting that night.

We were here on Saturday night, which is before the big competition starts, but I would not have known the difference. Each school’s parade had the same basic format; fireworks at the beginning of the parade to signal its start, two people who are elaborately dressed start the parade down the street performing their unique dance, then one or two groups, each group dressed identically in a style promoting the theme expressed by the Samba song, then a series of floats with more groups mixed in. Somewhere along the way is a woman, highly dressed (or you could consider it undressed) performing a special Samba dance. In the middle, there is a large truck holding a pile of megawatt speakers and mixers which amplified the band (all percussion) that preceded it. The school parade ended with more groups, I would guess there were 300-500 people per school. During the entire parade, each school takes about 50 minutes to an hour to complete. The Samba School songs written specifically for this year are played and sung throughout the parade. All highly repetitive and rhythmic, it was very difficult to not sway to the music. I would think it would be very hard not to come out happy – the music is so infectious.

The people were amazing – both the ones in the parade and the others in the stands. Everyone was having a good time, but I saw no rudeness even though I am sure there was a lot of drinking going on. And of course, I did not know the language, so who knows what was being said.

One thing I really liked about the parades was that almost all ages were represented. The large percentage, of course, were in the 20-mid 30 range, but we saw many very old folks and a few young dancers, about 7 years old. They also supported handicapped folks; we saw one blind person singing and dancing with an aide next to her. We also saw folks in wheelchairs singing and doing their own dance as part of the groups. And each of the Samba Schools we saw had a “grandma” group comprised of older women wearing colorful outfits and dancing and singing their hearts out.

We got a program which described each school and its story for the year so we could sort of follow along, but not knowing the language was a disadvantage. It would have been more fun to be singing along, I think. Watching the people in the crowd singing along was a hoot. There were a couple of young men in the box next to us that would get “happy feet” every now and then. I really enjoyed watching them just put it all out there.

By the time, the 2^nd school had passed through, all the stands were full and the party was in full swing. We had the best view of everything. Our box was on the street level. We shared it with a young couple from Australia. It was fun to visit with them and to share our experiences.

We made it through 4 of the schools, and then pooped out about 2:30 am. The parades actually continue through early morning, it would have been interesting to see what condition people were in, but I was too tired, it had been a long day.

This was an experience I had been looking forward to for the better part of a year and it did not disappoint. I loved everything about it – the dancing, music, floats and the crowds. This, indeed, has been the highlight of this trip. Someday, I want to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans to compare.

The first float in this samba school. Quite a bit of gold and glitz.

One of the groups within the samba school. The costumes ranged from fair basic to pretty ornate – I suspect it was a function of the richness of the school.

The floats were quite ornate and each held between 20 and 50 or more people. We found it interesting that hardly any of them were powered; they had 15 or so strong guys pushing the float from behind, all the while enjoying their bit of samba.

A view of the viewers’ area from our level. We had great close-up views with very few obstructions.

This group’s costumes were a bit more elaborate.

Sometimes the groups were pairs of men and women doing, what I would call traditional samba.

Each school has its colors, this school is blue and white.

This couple started the parade for their samba school.

A beautiful fast dance.

This is obviously a more affluent school.

I swear this guy had only one tooth left in his head, but he was out there dancing his heart out.

The dancing couple that start a samba school’s parade carry the samba school’s flag.

I often found myself wondering what these people did for a living, were they teachers, bankers, grocers during their regular lives and once a year, do they get to become the wild and crazy people they thought they were underneath all those layers of respectability.

Some of the crowds up in the stadium seats cheering on their particular school.

European sensibilities prevailed with the school, all the performers on the float were topless.

The bands were a hoot. They were playing on instruments I have never seen before.

This truck carried a huge number of mega speakers to amplify the band and singers. The name of the school is on the side. The people in the striped shirts are school helpers for the parade.

This are the only dancers I saw in stilts.

People of all ways of life and shapes participated. They sure were having a great time.

Every now and then, we saw one of these, what looked like an urban rescue person, walking all the parade route. Never did figure out why they were carrying big ropes, perhaps to repel up into the high stadium rises or the floats? Some of the floats were easily 3 stories high.

Another band.

Some of the reserved premium seating. When you got a ticket in this area, you shared your room with 12-15 other folks. Food and drink were provided, but there really wasn’t enough room to have 15 folks watch the parade with no obstruction.