- Title: Rio's Portela crowned winner at Carnival's samba school parade
- Date: 1st March 2017
- Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (MARCH 1, 2017) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MEMBERS OF SAMBA SCHOOLS THAT COMPETED AT CARNIVAL GATHERED TO HEAR RESULTS PODIUM WITH OFFICIALS FROM RIO CARNIVAL 2017 GATHERED MEMBERS OF PORTELA CHEERING AS RESULTS ARE ANNOUNCED WOMAN FROM PORTELA PRAYING PORTELA MEMBERS LISTENING MEMBERS OF PORTELA CHEERING AS RESULTS ARE ANNOU
- Embargoed: 15th March 2017 23:29
- Keywords: Portela samba school Rio Carnival 2017 champion
- Location: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
- City: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001664QDS3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Rio de Janeiro's oldest samba group Portela was crowned the winner of the Carnival samba school parade in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday (March 01), ending a more than three-year winning drought for Rio's premier samba school.
The judging panel gave Portela 269.9 points for its efforts in the parade, just pipping runner up Mocidade Independente to the post.
The theme for Portela's samba entry was water, and the float in the parade featured a section that was inspired by the 2015 collapse of a damn that ruined the Doce River.
Bianca Monteiro from the Portela Samba School told media a lot of dedication went into the 2017 entry.
"It's great. I'm speechless from all the excitement. I want to thank God and "amis orishas" ("gods of the seas"). We worked well, with a lot of love and dedication and it turned out well," she said.
Portela is one of Rio's most awarded samba schools, with more than 21 titles under its belt including seven consecutive championships.
But after losing in recent years to the city's newer samba competitors, Portela was glad to be back on top.
"Viva Portela family, viva to all in the world who believed in us, viva to all in the world who believed in us," declared Portela President, Luis Carlos Magalhanes.
The winner from the samba parade is traditionally declared on Ash Wednesday, a partial holiday in Brazil. Many Rio residents stay away from work completely to watch the televised awards ceremony for the best samba school.
The city is still teeming with hundreds of thousands of tourists who came to watch the parades and take part in raucous street processions. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None