I danced in Carnival!

Words cannot express my night, it was overwhelmingly surreal to march down the center of the Sambodramo with thousands of other sequined, feathered dancers for Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

Thanks to last minute vacancies, me and 5 friends who are here with me from NYC, donned ornate, feathered costumes and danced down the center of the arena with the Beja Flor (hummingbird) samba school as we serenaded the crowd. The floats were larger than life and way over the top… No doubt a culmination of years of competition and evolution. I could hardly believe my reality as we made our way past thousands of hyped-up spectators. The energy was so tangible, it surrounded me and carried me into a state of sheer bliss. I kept looking at my friends dancing next to me and shouting to them, “Is this really happening?!"  It took us one hour to dance from one end of the arena to the other.  It felt like moments! It went so quickly… but I shall never forget it.

                                             My friend Brad and I in our feather bling before showtime/

The mestre-sala (The master of the Room)and porta-bandeira (she who carries the flag).

The porta-bandeira bears the flag of their samba school and the mestre-sala marches at her side drawing attention to both her and the flag.  The competition is intense. Their choreography is regulated in a set of rules. The slightest mistake like a slip, or drop of a hat will result in docked points.

                                               Giant robotic chicken float.  Well done!

                          The Unidos da Tijuca samba school, 1st. place.

                                    Me with new wings after making a trade with the local kids.

After the finale tons of kids run around collecting costumes from dancers who no longer need them. They turn around and sell the costumes to tourists for next to nothing. We traded our costumes with other dancers and ended up with a great mix of colorful wings and hats to take back to NYC.

Carnival was over and we paraded onto the metro in full costume as the sun began to rise. Hundreds of tired, colorful people piled onto the train and it took off, whisking us back to reality.

Did that really happen?!

Tomorrow we start prepping four new boats to paint. These four boats will be a collaboration between me and my talented friend Maxine Nienow.  They are the largest boats in the harbor. Photos to come!