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Can tourists parade at Rio Carnival?

The answer is yes. But how?

For a few years now, samba schools have understood the desire of tourists to take part in the biggest open-air party in the world: the Carnival! But you should know that the parade in the mythical avenue called Sambodromo is actually a competition between samba schools. So getting tourists to parade is no easy feat. Most schools have created an “Ala”, that is to say a category, which is called “Commercial Ala” dedicated to tourists. It’s to parade on the ground with not a very sexy but rather funny costumes among the thousands of members of the school. However, if you dream of parading on a float or in popular place with a very beautiful costume, it is also possible!

Alessandra, a former dance teacher and choreographer, created her specialized travel agency, in order to help tourists to get  positions previously dedicated only to Brazilian. Thus, for about ten days you will take samba lessons, you will learn to sing the  samba song and all the tricks necessary to be able to parade.

If you want to fulfill a dream, get in touch with Allez Samba Rio or check out our immersion trip to the Rio carnival.

Here is some important information about the carnival and how the samba schools organize themselves to parade at the Sambodromo.

What is the Sambodromo? How do samba schools parade? What is the organization of the parade? What are the different groups? What does an ‘ala’ mean? A muse? A drum queen? A Bandeira door? 

There are plenty of hot springs. Everything has a very precise organization within the samba schools and within the Sambodromo. The carnival parades at the Sambodromo only date back to the 80s, before it happened in the streets of Rio. The organization of the carnival was very spontaneous. Samba schools like Mangueira, Portela, we say traditional schools date from the beginning of the 20th century. The schools represented neighborhoods in fact. So there was already the Ala of the ‘passistas’, the ‘alas’ of the Baianas, so some‘alas’, that is to say, category or group within these schools were already present even during the street parade which was very popular.

 The parades at the Sambodromo started from the 80s, when the mayor of the time decided to build the Sambodromo, to dedicate an entire avenue to the parade. Therefore from the 80s, with the construction of the Sambodromo everything changed. Squares have been built all along the avenue to be able to attend. The parade became paid. The samba schools therefore had an order to respect, a timing to respect, categories to respect. For what? Because it’s a competition between samba schools and the stakes are very high! Like prizes, the first, the second, the third prize... But and above all, the last schools come down in category. so we have the special group with the 12 best schools. Then we have group A with the 13 schools which come just after the 12 best, and then we have, the schools of group B, which will parade in another avenue called Intendant Magalhães, who is at the “suburbio”. Therefore in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. 

Here we are going to focus on the parade at the Sambodromo. First of all the “Comissão de Frente”. 

• The “Comissão de Frente” will open the parade. They are professional dancers, who will perform impressive choreography, often done by renowned Brazilian choreographers. You will see it goes very very quickly. The choreography will be repeated all along the avenue, since the parade lasts 60 minutes and you can find the same choreography about 4 to 5 times throughout the parade.
• Then we have the ‘Mestre salaand the Porta Bandeira’. They will carry the school flag and they will also perform a choreography, which will be judged by the judges.
• We have the ‘Velha Guarda’. Generally, they sometimes walk before the “Comissão de Frente”, or just after the “Comissão de Frente”. The ‘Velha Guarda’ will carry all the tradition and symbolism of the samba school. Special group schools are often very old. They carry with them a knowledge, a culture. Because you have to know that the samba, the carnival, is an internationally recognized Brazilian cultural heritage since 1970.
• Then we have the ‘ala’ das ‘Baianas’. Have you already seen? They are often, well dressed with a very wide skirts, only frames underneath, which turn turn and turn… and they spend their parade turning in one direction and turning in the other way. These choreographies are precise.The alas of the Baianas are not rated! But they still have an important weight in this parade. The Baianas also come from the Afro-Brazilian religion of ‘Umbanda’ or ‘Candomble’. The Baianas who were the priestesses or who are the priestesses in the ‘terreiros’, therefore in the “lands” of these religions and who were brought to the sambodromo within the samba schools. For what? Because samba was born in the ‘terreiros’.
• Everything is connected! Each samba school can have one to 10 “alas” and in each “ala” we will have for example a float which will represent the theme of the school.
• On the float we have “Destaques” so it’s the important and imposing costumes that will also tell the story of this theme chosen by the samba school. These are of course very popular places, since mise en avant, which means ‘destaque’, ie put forward.
• A very important ‘ala’ is the’ala’ of the “passistas”. It can be women or men who dance the samba step throughout the parade. They dance it wonderfully well! Normally, so most of them come from the communities, come from the samba school and will perform during and throughout the parade and it will be really great! It’s super impressive!
• The ‘Bateria’ what is the ‘Bateria’? We can translate by drums, so they are rhythm percussion instruments, which will be assembled to play the music of the samba school. It will also have the harmony sung by singers with very powerful voices. You can have three or four singers at the same time because even with the sound system, it’s impressive!
•  Then “the Muses”. The Muses are often women who are famous, it can be artists, singers, dancers, or it can be models who will bring their brand to the samba school, who sometimes, sorry but I must say, don’t samba very well, who should take samba lessons, but there you go!
• There is also the drum queen. She will precede the drums. They usually come from samba schools. They are chosen within the community, ie from the samba school, they usually dance very well!

If you want to parade, it is possible! Anyone can parade! I have been working with the Rio carnival for 15 years now, parading, taking people to parade with me in samba schools. we need to be able to respect the schools’ request: to know how to sing well the samba ‘enredo’ and how to move during the parade. And why it’s important? Because that counts points for the samba school.

 It’s all about having energy, being in the harmony of the samba school. All this is very important to be able to parade. So schools don’t trust everyone, that’s why it’s important! If you want to know more. If you have specific questions about samba, carnival or any theme in there, you can contact me!