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| Who is who in the Parade |
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King of Carnaval (King Momo)
"Momo" is the name of the god of mockery in the Greek mythology, and according to Carnival tradition, King Momo should be jolly and as big as a house. Legend suggests that he was expulsed from the Olympus to come and settle down in Rio, the City of Carnival. The Rio Carnival officially opens with the delivery of the key of the city to King Momo. When King Momo sambas, everything - sequins, feathers and flesh and all people around should also samba with him. He opens all major Carnival events including the Samba Parades.
Queen and Princesses of Carnival
The Queen of Carnival is chosen by contest based on her beauty, self-assurance, sociability, ease of expression, congeniality and samba abilities but all in all she must have the "carnival spirit". The 2nd and the 3rd place candidates in the Queen of Carnival contest are named the Princesses of Carnival.
Carnival Designer (Carnavalesco)
This is the individual who is responsible for the artistic work of designing, producing and directing the school's parade. Sometimes they chose and write the schools's theme of the year, too. They design every costume and float, chose and supervise the purchasing of materials, supervise the construction and manufacture of floats, costumes and accessories. They can earn a lot of money in a top school. The names of the top carnival designers are as well known as the names of top film directors. They have their own idiosyncratic style, some being known for being very futuristic (Salgueiro), baroque/rococo (Imperatriz , Mangueira), or have a special preference for a particular topic (like Beija-Flor´s preference of their designers' team for anything native Brazilian-Indian).
Wing
They are the building blocks of a school's parade - the school is split into several of them. A group of 20-100 people wearing the same costume and having the same function. The costume will illustrate a particular aspect of the school's theme. Every wing has a president who is responsible for the costumes (production and sales) and co-ordination of all the wing´s members.
Vanguard Commission
This is the opening wing of the school. A group of 12-15 dancers with a highly choreographed routine, who parade at the front of the school, "introducing" it to the crowd. Their costumes do not have to reflect the school´s theme. Originally they were only well-dressed men. Recently they have become a spectacle on their own with artistic choreography.
The Flag Bearer and her Escort
She is carrying and presenting the school's flag, as the symbol of the School, while the couple is dancing down along the Avenue. He is there to protect her (originally he had a knife to make sure that the other schools are not damaging the flag, making them loose the competition). Their dance is the most elaborate and elegant. The schools have more than one couple of flag bearers but only the front one (in front of the drummer group) is important and gains scores.
Swirling Ladies (Baianas)
Older women dressed in glitzy variations of the traditional costume of Bahia state, with huge skirts having tubes inserted inside so that they lend themselves for some beautiful swirling. Swirling along the avenue, they represent the soul of the samba schools, their African roots. There is a minimum number that must parade or the school gets penalty points (at least 80 in the Special Group). They are old ladies of the community, who have already been with the same School for many years like the samba dancers. This is an absolute honor and the samba school pays for their costumes. They are much respected and often get a round of applause when passing by. Today only women can have this role while in earlier years men started to dress in those costumes, too.
Some schools (like Beija-Flor, Grande Rio, Salgueiro, etc) also have wings of little Baianas of young girls in their teens.
Drummer Group (Bateria)
This is the heart of the School. It lends life and energy to the whole parade. A community wing, thus the costumes are paid for by the school. The Head of the Drummer Group chooses who is going to play in the group in some continuous auditions at the rehearsals during many months before Carnival. The group's costumes will reflect the theme and they are sometimes so big that it's hard to play. There are overhead mikes carried alongside the group and a sound truck with the singers.
There are traditional ones, using the same elements for decades (like Mangueira, Portela, Imperio Serrano). In the 80s, Mocidade however bought along some new form for their drummers in the rhythm they played. And so, some other schools (like Viradouro, Grande Rio, Porto da Pedra, Beija-Flor) started to use further innovation using totally new components (going as far as using funk), e.g. high choreography. It seems to be very successful.
Queen of the Drummers
A beautiful female samba dancer in front of and introducing the Drummer Group to the crowd. She is supposed to motivate and inspire the hundreds of male drummers behind her.
Samba Dancers (Passistas)
A small wing of the finest samba dancers of the school - no more than 15 or 20. It's very hard to dance the samba at Rio´s speed whilst moving forward at nearly walking pace for 700m (1/2 mile) - the samba dancers are a star turn. They are chosen through competition each year and is certainly high honor to take that role.
Stewards of the Flow (Harmonia)
Each float and each wing has a number of dedicated stewards to ensure that the flow is kept up. They will wear the T shirt of their wing or float. There are penalty points if the school takes too long to parade and points are also lost in the Rio Samba Parade if there are any gaps between or inside the wings.
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| Guide for event: http://www.rio-carnival.net/index.php |
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