The Rio Carnival is a celebration of beauty, music and life. It is a parade of thousands of performers in costumes, dancing to the rhythm of Brazilian music. The ever favorite remains the tough competition between Brazil’s Sambha schools.
Estacao Primeira de Mangueira, Unidos da Viradouro and Unidos da Vila Isabel were audience favourites in the parade that started Sunday night and continued into the early hours of Monday.
What were the amazing Floats like this year?
• A huge chess board: About 300 people climbed up this 40-metre-long float representing a huge chess board, and then came down, in the middle of the parade, totally in sync, without losing step. This was the awesome Viradouro float.
• 3-D representation of the work Abaporu: This was made by Brazilian modernt artist Tarsila do Amaral. It was the float of the traditional Mangueira group, who dyed the stage in its characteristic green and pink and encouraged the audience to join its over 4,000 members to sing the words ‘Come to the rhythm of Mangueira, come to dance the samba, my language has the gift to transform.
• Lizard: This was the previous years’s champions float, it was more than15 metres long and changed colour as the parade went on, totally mesmerizing the audience. Unidos da Vila Isabel told the story ‘Metamorphosis: From the natural kingdom to the popular court of Carnival. Life’s transformations.
• Others: Imperio Serrano worked with the theme ‘Being different is normal,’ while Mocidade Independiente spoke of the evolution of Brazilian crafts in several regions. Estacio de Sa told the story of the fruit ’sapoti,’ at the origin of chewing gum.
I for one think that the Viradouro, chess board float and the Unidos da Vila’s lizard will have a close competition, but we will know for sure when the results are out on Wednesday. Meanwhile the revelers carry on enjoying at the world’s greatest party.
Source: M&C
