Brazil club dances. Brazilian football players and dancers
Brazil is a Latin American country known for a number of dances that have gained immense popularity internationally.
As we know, dance is a form of non-verbal communication that serves to express human experience, and which has evolved over time into an art form.
Brazil is home to many popular dances that contain elements of African, Portuguese and European dance forms. Samba, Carimbo, Capoeira, Furro or Forro and Lundu are some of the famous dances of Brazil. Today we will talk about the origin and evolution of these dances.
Brazilian dances are dominated by components of African and Portuguese cultural heritage. As in other Latin American countries that used slave labor, in Brazil plantations became the basis of the colonial economy.
Considering that slaves were brought mainly from Africa, the influence on music and dance of African traditions was very strong. The elite layer of the population, and accordingly, cultural traditions remained Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism was the official religion.
Brazilian samba
Brazil's national dance, samba, originated among African slaves in the state of Bahia. Samba da Roda (samba ring) is similar to Puerto Rican bomba and Cuban rumba, and necessarily uses a circular arrangement of dancers, musicians and spectators. Dancers, as a rule, enter the circle one at a time. The basic samba step is fast, the weight in the dance movements is quickly transferred from one foot to the other to the main rhythm of the percussion instruments in 2/4 tempo. Most of the dancer's movements are focused on the legs, while the upper body remains relatively relaxed.
After slavery ended in 1888, sugar cane workers migrated to the cities. Many of them settled in the hills surrounding Rio de Janeiro. It was in these favelas (slums) that carnival samba was born. Over time, escolas de samba (samba schools) began to emerge here, which functioned as community clubs.
Carnival in Brazil is an explosive release of energy, during which music and dancing reign supreme in the streets. Samba gained nationwide popularity through radio and the recording industry in the 1940s. Among the many variations of samba that emerged in the 20th century, notable ones are horinho, bossa nova, gafieira, samba de salon, samba enredo, samba de mulattas, samba reggae and pegod.
Besides the world-famous and popular samba throughout Brazil, many parts of the country have their own styles of carnival music and dance, such as frevo (a very fast, athletic dance with some movements similar to those used in Russian folk dances), maracatus in the state of Pernambuco, as well as Afox and Bloc Afro in El Salvador.
Candomle religious dance
The oldest of the Afoxé style Afro-Brazilian groups, Filhos de Gandhy was founded back in 1940 to promote themes of brotherhood, peace and tolerance in an environment where discrimination was rife. The group's drumming and dance moves were inspired by Candomblé religious dance and healing rituals. Beginning in the 1970s, their endeavors were supported by many groups of black Brazilians, collectively referred to as blocos afros. Their musical themes, costumes, and dance choreography were inspired by African themes, and their dance routines were characterized by active movement of the torso and arms.
The Brazilian Candomlé religion, which is based on African traditions, and related other religious practices throughout the country use dance as a central element of worship. Candomblé is an adaptation of the Yoruba spiritual system from West Africa and is also similar to Cuban Santeria.
Central to the dance is the worship of the orishas, or deities who are believed to control the forces of nature. Candomblé dancers, mostly women, move counterclockwise and sing the praises of the Orishas while three men try to summon the deities through drumming to participate in the festival. During the ritual, the dancers gradually fall into a state of possession. It is worth noting that these dance rituals of possession by orisha deities are not allowed outside of religious celebrations.
Capoeira
In addition to samba and candomblé, capoeira, a mixture of martial art and dance believed to be of African origin, is very popular in the country. After capoeira ceased to be a form of self-defense disguised as entertainment, this dance, full of acrobatic movements, became the hallmark of Brazilian folk dance groups.
Capoeira is also another of the most popular Afro-Brazilian dances in the country. Historians believe that the dance originated from martial arts. It was also created in Brazil by African slaves, mainly from Angola. However, there is much debate regarding the origins of this dance. Some historians believe that the dance is directly derived from African martial styles, while others believe that it is a purely Brazilian dance, influenced by both Brazilian and African dance forms.
Some experts have even suggested that the word "capoeira" comes from the word "Capao", a Portuguese term that means castrated rooster. The dance style is also similar to a fight between two roosters. Although there are significant differences of opinion regarding the origins of the dance and its name, the undeniable fact is that the dance steps in capoeira have close similarities to the martial arts. Participants, as a rule, form a circle, and then take turns in pairs to go to the center and arrange a half-dancing, half-fighting competition.
Carimbo and Lambada
Karimbo is the name of both the dance and the large drums that accompany it. In the Tupi language this word means "drum". Carimbo is a folk dance from the state of Pará in Brazil, in which African, Portuguese and European traditions are intertwined.
This is a sensual dance in which a woman tries to embrace her dance partner with her skirt. Sometimes a woman throws a handkerchief on the floor for her male partner to pick up with his mouth. After the dance was influenced by modern rhythms, the carimbo made significant contributions to the development of another dance form, the Lambada. In Portuguese, lambada means "strong blow".
Another meaning of the word in Brazilian Portuguese is the undulating motion of a ship. The dance is also characterized by the undulating movements of the dancers' bodies. Lambada became popular around the world in the 1980s.
Forro is a Brazilian music and dance style that combines regional Brazilian rhythms and dances with European, African and indigenous folklore. One of the melodies for forro has a history of more than 200 years; it became traditional for the Brazilian people even before the popularization of samba.
The Forro culture originated in the northeast, spreading further to the south of the country. As a result, forro began to be danced throughout Brazil. But the victorious march of the dance did not stop there - it began to spread throughout the world. It is generally accepted that the word “Forro” originates from the English language from “for all” (for everyone). This term originated in the early twentieth century, during the construction of the Great Western Railway in Brazil. British engineers living in Pernambuco began holding parties open to any public, hence the name "for everyone." Over time, the Brazilians remade the English phrase into “Forro”. Another version of the same story is not about British engineers, but about Americans who had a military base in Brazil during World War II.
Another historical study proves that the term comes from the African word "forrobod", which means party. Forro as a musical genre can be considered a derivative of Baio. Initially, the name Forro was used only to designate the place where the dances were held. Only later did forro become a separate musical style.
Forro is a very sensual dance, the closeness of the partners is felt literally in every step. In rural areas, forro dance to get to know their future partner better. What is worth noting is that hip movements are very important in dance. Forró is danced with one hand holding the partner's hand and the other hand placed on the partner's thigh or waist.
Lundu
Although this dance form was most popular in the 1600s and 1700s, it is still practiced today. Typically, Lundu dance is accompanied by playing guitar, piano and drums, and often includes playing along with castanets.
Samba Gafieira
Gafieira are dance halls that were frequented by the working class in Brazil in the past. Some gafieira have become clubs that are now part of the excursion program in Rio de Janeiro.
Samba de Gafieira is a couples dance that combines elements of carnival samba, salsa, Argentine tango, maniche (Brazilian tango) and some acrobatic elements. It is sometimes called Brazilian tango. Samba de Gafieira is suitable for all ages, and even though this dance has been known in Brazil for decades, it continues to attract young people with its cheerfulness and enormous scope for creativity. What is noteworthy is that this dance can be performed to various Latin rhythms.
Samba de gafieira originated in the 1940s in the gafieiras (worker's dance halls) of Rio de Janeiro. Since its creation, samba de gafieira has changed quite a lot. Today samba de gafieira is a modern dance with a Brazilian "mentality". It is worth noting that in Brazil, samba de gafieira is considered a ballroom dance, although it differs from the generally accepted sports international samba.
At the world famous Brazilian carnival they dance not ballroom samba. Here samba de gafieira is performed, as well as “samba no pe”. The difference between these dances is that samba no pe is a Brazilian folk dance that is danced literally on the street, samba de gafieira is known all over the world and is often taught in dance schools.
In Brazil, samba de gafieira is danced to samba music, bossa nova music, chorinho, pagoda and other Brazilian tunes. However, this dance is also performed to non-Brazilian music. Perhaps this is why samba de gafieira has gained popularity outside its homeland.
If anyone thinks that samba is difficult to dance, they should get acquainted with frevo. All movements in this dance require long rehearsals, as well as great strength, endurance and flexibility. The dance was inspired by the movements of Capoeira (Brazilian martial art) and has over 120 different movements. Examples of common movements in this dance include jumping, coordinated fast leg movements, leg curls, and tumbling. It is not so easy to try to dance the frevo yourself... But there are people who are able to dance the frevo with perfection, they are called passishta. They wear bright clothes and when they dance they use small umbrellas.
Frevo is the collective name for several music and dance styles originating from the Brazilian northeastern state of Pernambuco. All of these styles are traditionally associated with carnival. In Pernambuco for more than a hundred years, frevo dance is the most common and popular style. There are many frevo clubs here, with exciting competitions between members to determine the best of the best. The appearance and development of frevo had a great influence on the march, capoeira (a popular national martial art) and the Brazilian dance “matchich”, popular in Europe and America at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.
Frevo is one of the most vibrant and carefree dances of Brazilian folklore. It is so infectious that when dancers perform on the streets, almost no passerby can remain indifferent. In Recife, which has a tradition of street carnivals (in addition to the famous carnival that takes place 40 days before Easter), the frevo carnival attracts huge crowds of people from all social classes.
Frevo is full of surprises and improvisation. This dance allows the performer to use all their creativity, inventive spirit and skill. This dance also requires remarkable strength, endurance and flexibility. Movements in different types of frevo range from the simplest to the most incredible, with elements of acrobatics. Sometimes passishta perform such incredible tricks that one can’t help but wonder whether the dancers’ bodies obey the laws of physics. What’s incredible is that Frevo has up to 120 steps in its arsenal.
Many people believe that Frevo music was born before the dance of the same name. In the mid-nineteenth century, Brazilian army regiments stationed in Recife began the tradition of holding parades during Carnival. These processions were characterized by a clear rhythm, energetic music and a fast dance style. Since Carnival was originally associated with religion, the regimental military brass bands "Banda" performed mainly religious music, but the "Banda" repertoire included traditional marches and polkas. During the carnival, the "blocs" (a group of dancers arranged in a rectangle) competed against each other, and the orchestra played faster and faster, louder and louder. Within the framework of these “blocs,” armed participants appeared at that time and began performing capoeira.
During the carnival, capoeirista fighters marched, as a rule, in the vanguard of the “blocs”. The purpose of such a formation was to intimidate rivals and protect the main attribute of the “bloc” - the flag. Presumably, it was then that capoeiristas began to use the umbrella as an element of protection. There were frequent cases of clashes between “blocs” - competitors, after which many participants were injured or even died. To end the wave of violence, police began harassing and arresting participants during the carnival. To counter police harassment, men dressed in the stylized costumes of their clubs. Over time, the movements and strikes of capoeira, accompanied by march-style music, evolved into “passages” (as the basic steps of the frevo are called). And all the attributes of a warlike dance with weapons turned into symbolic elements of frevo. Thus, the usually black umbrella, shabby, torn after numerous clashes with rival capoeiristas, became smaller and today is an ornament that highlights the dance and is one of the main symbols of the carnival in the state of Pernambuco.
Bossa Nova
Bossa Nova was first heard in small clubs and cafes overlooking the beach of Rio de Janeiro in 1958. In the homeland of this dance, Brazil, the name “Bossa Nova” means “new wave” or “new direction.”
Fashionable in the late 50s in Brazil, the word “bossa” meant approximately what the word “trick” now means - something special, unusual. This is how this unusual style appeared, in which sultry samba was mixed with jazz, which was very popular at that time.
Bossa Nova music was created by young Brazilian musicians who tried to find something new in an old theme. The musicians Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa are mentioned as the creators of the new style. Several years passed, and in the early 60s, due to the popularity of the tune, several attempts were made to make a dance to it. But, as practice has shown, the music that captivated the country was more suitable for listening than for dancing. Several versions of the dance that emerged spontaneously by 1963 never became popular. A survey was conducted among young people in 1963, which showed that everyone liked the music, but almost no one liked the dance. As most people explained it, “the dance turned out to be too fast for slow dancing, and at the same time, too slow for fast dancing.”
Bossa Nova continued to remain exclusively music until the popular musician Sacha Distel, who at that time was looking for new tunes to dance, took notice of it. As a result, a dance appeared that combined rumba, samba, merengue, mambo, conga and, surprisingly, a twist. At one time, this couples dance was predicted to be the successor to the twist, but... in the end it never became popular. What is typical for bossa nova is that it is based mainly on improvisation. There are no strict rules in this dance, except for one thing - partners must look into each other's eyes.
And Wikipedia materials
Football is not the only spectacle worth coming to this country for. So, many come to the hot carnival in Rio precisely to see Brazilian dances performed by local beauties. Many believe that twerk (butt dance) was invented in this country. Brazil is a country of girls with curvaceous figures, which it would be a shame not to move.
In fact, reggaeton and dancehall, from which twerk originated, have nothing to do with Brazil - these dances originate from the Antilles. In addition, the dances of Brazil are not only carnival samba and capoeira, but also many other, no less hot trends. After all, the country is large, so dances vary depending on the region, and the mixture of cultures has made itself felt: Africans, Europeans and Indians together created a real phenomenon of South America.
Samba
One of the symbols of the country. They dance it not only at the carnival, but all year round, so we can safely say that it is not just a dance, but a way of life. It is sometimes believed that the sensual swaying of samba hips originated from the fact that slaves danced in shackles: nothing, not even the heaviest chains, could stop their dance. In fact, like many Latin American dances, this one evolved from a mixture of black music and dance with European (especially Portuguese and Spanish) traditions. This style was invented in the 19th century, but since it was one of the symbols of freedom that slaves so craved, samba was banned for many years. Only after the Second World War did dance become one of the symbols of a huge and dynamically developing country.
Relatives of samba are matchish and lambada, which were also popular in our latitudes. But only the first was popular in the 1920s-30s, and the finest hour of the second came in the 1980s-90s. At one time they wanted to include lambada in the Latin American ballroom dance program. Of course, samba from the ballroom dance program is not similar to Brazilian folk dances, but the temperament and confident character have not gone away. There are many styles of samba, they say that a new one is invented for each carnival, but the most popular are the solo “samba no pe”, “samba di roda”, which is danced in a circle and ends with capoeira, as well as the young and temperamental “Ashe samba”: the real one improvisation to African rhythms.
Maculele and capoeira
Dances derived from martial arts, rich in acrobatics. If the first one has already conquered the whole world, then makulele is not very well known yet. Makulele is a Negro-Indian spectacular dance that is performed with sticks or machetes, as well as burning torches. There is a legend that these are just fighting techniques that the locals used to drive out the Portuguese. All his movements are performed in four beats, which can be beaten off with sticks or knives. All this is accompanied by drumming.
There are also elements of capoeira in another dance - frevo. This is a style from the state of Pernambuco, it tells about all the revolutions that took place in this state and about the struggle of its inhabitants for independence. This word is translated as boiling, and is performed at an accelerated pace and with an unusual accessory - an umbrella.
There are also elements of martial arts in other black dances of Brazil: cucumbres and quilombo, which depict battles between runaway slaves and white masters.
Forra
She also comes from Pernambuco, but her roots are hidden in European country dance and polka... This is a couples dance that was invented in the 1930s, and after the war it became popular throughout the vast country. In the fora, or foja, the influence of Antillean dances (salsa, merengue), bolero, calypso and Ashe samba is felt. Fojo is also a style of music played by accordion, triangle and drum. The themes of the songs are varied: work, everyday reality, nostalgia for Africa, love, hope, passion, dreams...
It is interesting that fojo has been danced for a very long time, but it gained all-Brazilian and even worldwide popularity only in the 1990s.
Funk
The style is quite old and its roots are purely Negro. But it only became popular in Brazil in the early 2000s among poor youth from big cities. Of course, during this time funk acquired national Brazilian characteristics, but today it is danced not only in favelas, but also at parties for young people from any social class.
Mass folk dances
There are also such here, and the favorite accompaniment instruments for them are viols. They are called differently in each region: in Rio - guiba, in Belo Horizonte - cacherete. Dance performances called gyegansas are scenes from the life of sailors, and its movements imitate raising sails and sea battles. Mass folk dances have retained much more Indian features than samba or forro, but there are also dances with purely African names: mara-katu, batukazhyos, candombleu, kbngos and others...
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Dance program performers must meet certain requirements of the entertainment industry:- have a stylish, memorable image that matches the creative direction
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How to evaluate the abilities of Brazilian dancers and dancers and not order a “pig in a poke”?
The entertainment industry market is replete with an abundance of show groups and dance groups performing Brazilian dances. Before choosing specific performers and concluding an agreement, you should carefully analyze information about the team.Getting to know the performers of ethnic South American dances begins with studying their work experience and professional skills. On the pages of the site, information about passionate Latin dance groups worthy of your attention is collected and published.
Each group has its own section describing the history of its creation, repertoire, list of events in which the group took part, and the level of training of the performers. The page also indicates the time spent in the catalog and the number of recommendations from former clients. This is also a kind of assessment of the dancers’ capabilities. This information is supported by photographs and posters from concerts and shows. Be sure to check for videos showing performers in action.
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The Maracana Stadium - emphasis on the last letter - is truly huge. It was built for the 1950 FIFA World Cup and was completed just 2 weeks before the first game. Unfortunately, the Brazilians then lost in the final to their neighbors from Uruguay:
At the entrance, the walls are decorated with photographs of famous Brazilian football players:
And the prints of their feet:
The entire first floor is decorated with photographs of great Brazilian football players and their trophies:
The stadium doesn't seem very big inside:
Box for VIP guests:
Below it there is a lounge:
On one of the walls hangs a carpet from Tajikistan, and the locals have no idea what kind of country it is or where it is located:
I was surprised that in the team locker room there is not even a semblance of lockers - only chairs and hooks:
I really liked the row of baths. Girls can imagine naked players soaking here after the game:
An underground tunnel leads from the locker rooms to the field. Here the teams line up and run onto the field on command. The walls are decorated with photographs of great players and national teams. Countless golden feet of the planet have passed through this corridor:
The “chaser” met us on the field. He performed miracles with the ball, tapping it with his feet, knees, head, shoulders and even heels:
At one point, he threw the ball onto his back and took off his T-shirt without dropping it. And then he put it back in the same position:
The Maracana is not the only stadium in Rio. In addition to football, the famous carnival also takes place here. Every February, life freezes for 3 days. Along one of the streets there are stands that can accommodate a total of 120,000 people!
There are several Samba schools and each of them demonstrates their art during the carnival:
Richer people can rent a whole box for themselves (in the distance, on the right of the frame) and enjoy the carnival while sipping champagne:
Although most Brazilians prefer Cayperinho - a local cocktail very similar to Mojito, only with lime and very sweet:
And in the evening we visited another “most-most” famous samba show in Brazil and the world. Before it started, we were entertained by a Brazilian girl of about 50 years old. In half an hour she didn't drop the ball even once. And the minter from Maracana couldn’t even hold a candle to her. She managed to hit the ball with her head while sitting on the floor.
Then she would stop the ball and it would just lie on her head. At the same time, she managed to get up from her knees with the ball on her head:
The show itself was very colorful. There are 27 states in Brazil and each of them has its own Samba technique. During the presentation they tried to show us all the schools:
The school of combat Samba - Capoeira made the greatest impression on my child. Previously, slaves were forbidden to train martial arts and they came up with this type of samba, covering their training with it. He asked to record everything on video in order to show it to the choreography teacher at school and ask him to teach them to dance the same way:
I really liked the tap dancer:
His partners shook their loin parts with mind-blowing amplitude. For clarity, he placed his motionless hands next to him:
Sometimes I began to doubt - were they women?
