|  First
of all it`s helpful to know that parade in Portuguese
is Desfile. Now, this is a contest and it`s for bragging
rights for the whole year as judges rate the performances
of Samba schools which spend up to 8 months in
preparing for the big parade. There is a special group
of Samba schools composed of 14 schools.
Then
there`s an A group, a B group, and also Mirins, groups
composed of younger samba school members. Each year
the winners from group A and group B are promoted
to the special group and the two schools receiving
the worst scores in the special group are demoted.
The parades in the Sambadromo begin on Friday with
the Mirins parade and the B group, followed by the
A group on Saturday, and 7 schools of the special
group on Sunday followed by the last 7 schools of
the special group on Monday. There are more Mirins
parades on Tuesday and then the judging of the parades
is on Wednesday afternoon to determine the winners
who will parade again on Saturday in the champions
parade.
 The
gates of the Sambodromo open at 6 in the evening.
The parades begin around 7 and last through the night
past dawn till about 7 in the morning. The members
of the schools
meet on Avenida Presidente Vargas before entering
the parade route and that`s the best place and time
for you to take pictures since people are usually
already trashed, besides, during the parade and soon
after the parade there is so much chaos and such big
crowds that it`ll be more difficult.
Each school, composed of up to 6000 costumed people,
has between 65 and 80 minutes to get the whole school
through the 700-meter long parade route, which has
a capacity for 60,000 onlookers. The school includes
5 to 9 allegorical floats which tell the story of
that year`s theme, ranging from political or historical
themes to light hearted ones. A school's drum section
can have as many as 400 percussionists. You'll know
which school it is by paying attention to the first
float, abre alas, with the their theme and the school's
name on it.
The school is judged on energy, enthusiasm, and organization
such as, not having any gaps between the floats throughout
the parade route. The quality of the floats and costumes,
the theme, the samba song, and how it all comes together
is also judged. Various details involving the performances
of special groups of the school are very important
too, such as the Front Commission, right after the
first float, responsible for presenting the school
usually with a clever choreographed routine. Bahianas
are twirling older ladies in the school wearing large
African style dresses. The Flag Bearer and Mestre
Sala, the two principle representatives of the school,
and the Old Guard, the oldest members of the school
are also main attractions to pay attention to.
Be
prepared for a lot of eye candy! It`ll probably be
the most colorful experience you`ve ever had and I`m
quite sure you`ve never seen so many feathers before.
The most beautiful and famous women in Rio are big
attractions at the parade, each one trying to out
do the others, as well as up and coming stars of the
future trying to appear on TV and get noticed. There
are also professional Sambistas, called Passistas,
that really put on a show dancing their way through
the parade. Be there to cheer them on or buy a costume
and !
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