BRAZIL: Top samba schools put finishing touches to their costumes and floats ahead of this year's annual Carnival

Record ID: 860022

  • Title: BRAZIL: Top samba schools put finishing touches to their costumes and floats ahead of this year's annual Carnival
  • Date: 31st January 2005
  • Summary: (L!1) RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SCHOOLS IN SAMBADROME (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 15th February 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • City:
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA31EWKBPZ672WZN4YQOHO4T16Z
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  • Story Text: Brazil's top samba schools put finishing touches on their costumes and floats ahead of this year's annual Carnival.
    With three days to go before Rio de Janeiro's pre-Lenten partying known as Carnival, Brazilians made a mad dash to add the finishing touches on the colourful costumes and floats that draw worldwide attention.
    Carnival participants were putting the finishing touches onto flamboyant costumes and elaborate floats, and honing their dance routines and the custom-written samba songs known as enredos.
    Each school has a theme based on an aspect of Brazilian history or life, expounded in fantastic allegorical displays of singing and dancing. Paulo Menezes is the owner of a workshop working on one of the Carnival floats and he says he tries to create a visual representation of the theme.
    "To me, the function of the Carnival is to take culture to those who are watching," he said. "So I look a lot and when I think of Carnival, I think of that: of telling a story that people watching will understand. And that it (the story) be a seed so that they (the people watching) will think about and look for more information about what they're reading and seeing."
    Floats for the 14 main samba schools have as many as 4,000 participants and is marked on a number of points including music, costumes and enthusiasm.
    The schools are based in local communities and function like social clubs, with members working all year to plan their presentation.
    As many as 60,000 people are expected to pack the Sambadrome on Sunday (February 6) and Monday (February 7) to watch the country's top samba schools compete.
    The winner of the float competition will be announced February 8.
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