last minute fashion news

It seems that our very own team of revellers in Marlborough were totally spot on the last fashion trend in Rio Carnival 2012. As you can see in this picture, Rio de Janeiro City Mayor is wearing the exact same colourful accessory they graced our eyes with last Tuesday.

Dawn, Lisa, Michelle and Susie, thanks to you, flower necklaces are the must have of the season!

the right man for the job

Meet King Momo .

Legend suggests that King Momo was expelled from the Olympus to conveniently come and settle down in Rio, the City of Carnival and since then, the Rio Carnival only officially opens with the delivery of the key of the city to King Momo. When King Momo samba-s,
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.
King Momo is chosen after a heated contest , engaging a dozen of participants. Queen and 1st and 2nd princesses of the Carnival who surround him on the picture, are also chosen at that ceremony but on rather different criteria one can safely say. Because as Legend also has it, King Momo should be as big as a house and Milton Junior, who weighs in at 160 kilograms (352 pounds) and stands 1.84 meters (six feet three inches) does everything he can to be legendary. As well as having a nutritionist telling him
what to eat, he has Marco Santos, director of the prestigious Beija-Flor samba school, as his personal trainer.
King Momo doesn't just have to move well, he also has to look good, and again Junior is
taking no chances : in addition to exercise and diet, he has indulged himself with a reflexotherapy massage, some deep skin cleaning and, for his feet, a spot of podology.
It seems that this very serious preparation is working well since Milton Junior has
opened his 4th carnival this year. The rest of the year, Milton Junior is a bank manager leaving a quiet life so he can rest from his strenuous royal responsibilities of leading the crowds in five days of wild partying and frantic samba dancing and all stress induced : “ I have to be very
well prepared, I can take no chances, an ingrowing toenail could ruin my
Carnival," revealed Junior in an interview...We shiver at this thought....

Carnival is a serious matter

Carnival is celebrated around the world but arguably nowhere as in Brazil and especially in Rio.

The country stops doing anything else or about ,

....very conveniently it’s half term there too.

Party is everywhere : beaches, streets and of course parades.

In Rio, the grand Carnival parade is not a simple parade, but a competition among the city samba schools. The best schools (picture here of one of the "alas" i.e wings of the Beija Flor School) get to present themselves along the Sambadrome with thousands of participants split into sections of dancers, musicians and floats and each school is judged for the choice of music, lyrics, themes, choreography and costumes.
Each Samba School represents a different neighborhood or a social club.
The preparation starts as early as March or April of the previous year. Each Samba School mobilizes thousands of supporters to create the various aspects of the School's show. A theme is chosen, the music is written, costumes are created, floats are built, while the "carnavalesco" (the carnival designer) sets the choreography. By December, rehearsals begin and by Christmas, the sambas are recorded and released to record shops.
When the parading day at the Sambadrome finally comes, schools must present their long awaited show within a strict span of time: between 65 to 85 minutes. They will be judged by more than 40 judges spread along the avenue who allocate points according to specific criteria.

It has been estimated that this year's festival attracted 850,000 visitors to the Rio de Janeiro state and contributed $628 million to its economy -- a 12 percent increase over last year. Brazil's government puts the tourism income for the whole country at $3.2 billion ...It's kind of Olympics category kind of revenue....

MARDI- GRAS

By the Catholic Calendar, Carnival is always celebrated seven Sundays before the Sunday of Easter. As this varies from March 22nd to April 25th, the Carnival dates also move. It stops on the following Tuesday "mardi" ( gras is for fat in French... of course every time food is involved it has to be French) , and then it's Ash Wednesday and then Lent. It seems that in the UK all we have left from Carnival is Pancake Day. I won't comment, pancakes are lovely and try tossing them with feathers on your head anyway.....
Actually, Carnival in Rio gets started after the city mayor hands the key to Rei Momo (king Momo),the lord of Misrule and Revelry, a ceremony usually held on Friday evening. Once King Momo has danced his first samba steps, then there is no stopping for four days.
In 2012 Carnival started on Friday 17th February and ended following uesday 21st.
Some say that in fact Carnival really starts when the Parade Order is decided, by a big raffles and some other rules about winner last year ,somewhere in June or July.
And some to add that Carnival starts in fact end of March when all the samba schools have had a couple of weeks rest and are eager to work on the next one...

Now, let’s not be prejudiced here and go thinking that Rio is a big party all year long, sometimes people have to stop and go to the beach...
Oh and so you are ready for 2013, dates are February 8th until February 12th.

Song of the week

The special song this week is called "Vai Passar" by Chico Buarque de Holanda (1984).

Some brasilian ladies have declared that they would not be able to stand in the same room as him without fainting...

True enough it's a lot of awesomeness for a single man. Talented composer, singer, writer, director... and footballer, dedicated family man , it is said that you can spot him regularly strolling with grandchildren in pushchair on Leblon beach sidewalk in Rio where he comes from, and relentless fighter for human rights in dark dictature times.

"Vai passar"not only manages to be a fantastic song really representative of the samba rythm used during the carnival . It was also a very subtle denunciation of the regimes of the past which disgraced themselves in slave trade, and of the dictature in power when he wrote this song in the 80s . As often in Brazil , answer to hardship was the creation of Carnival and of this fantastic song.

Under this link song and english translation and a few images I leave at your appreciation ....

http://youtu.be/_g1WbhEte9Q

RIO carnival Special week

This week having to get over the fact that once again Rio Carnival is happening without me, I have decided to take you for a little trip to my favorite city and music and to the biggest show on earth. We will be dancing more brasilian songs in our class and a new one I have especially put together for the occasion.

And you will learn a lot about samba and songs and Rio on this very blog!

Themed week

We are back on tomorrow Tuesday 21st February with a very very special class for the week, a Rio Carnival special. This week let's try to grasp a few sparkles of the biggest show on Earth, as they say. No need for airplane tickets, no need for a glitter and feather costume...(hmmm that said if you really want to wear yours , who am I to spoil your fun), it will be here in Marlborough, every Zumba , reg and easy classes, for Toning you get to shake a bit more your maracas sticks! Ta bom ?