Return to the Avenida: Part 4

 

Now that I’ve gotten my first Passista show out of the way, it’s time to finally put myself through the paces of a samba school street rehearsal.

Usually, the only people who attend these rehearsals are members of the samba school and the local community, but because Vila is tipped to win this year, it seems the whole of Rio has turned up to watch tonight’s event.

Street rehearsals are mandatory for everyone performing, and a great way to test your endurance as they are designed to mimic the exact time and length of the official Carnival parade (approximately 70-80 minutes).

By the time I arrive, the street has been blocked off, the sound truck is warming up and placards announcing each aisle have been placed at intervals along the route. I weave my way through the crowd of locals dressed in their Vila t-shirts and caps, street vendors selling churrasco (BBQ meats) and caipirinhas, and make my way into the quadra (headquarters) to get ready.

 

 

The passistas are super excited as tonight we will receive our new uniform, and no one knows what it will look like this year as there is a new atelier making them. Our director begins to distribute them, and as I approach to collect mine, I hear a flurry of whispers as the dancers comment wildly on the new outfits. They can’t be that bad, can they?

Unfortunately, they can.

I’m the type of person that can usually see the positive in every situation and have certainly had to wear some pretty unattractive costumes over the years. I am good at adjusting outfits to highlight my assets and hide my defects, but when you are given a tiny pair of see-through white/blue Lycra hot pants and top (with no padding/lining), you don’t have much to work with.

Luckily, I have brought a white bra top and underwear with me (seasoned performer’s habit!), but many of the girls only have black underwear and some didn’t even bring a bra. You can just imagine the collective horror as we all check ourselves out in the mirror and try desperately to cover all the see through spots lol.

 

 

When we are dressed and over our shock, the tedious process of taping our feet begins. When you are about to dance on concrete in 6-inch heels, you need to take very good care of your feet, which includes individually taping every toe, the backs of your heels and the bridge of your feet so you don’t end up with awful blisters or bleeding.

Once that is done, we put on our heels and begin the 15-minute walk back out of the quadra and down the street to get to the starting point of our aisle, then wait another half an hour standing in our heels while our school director puts us into formation. By this time my feet are killing me, and the rehearsal hasn’t even begun!

Thankfully, as I’m tall (and new to the team), I’m placed at the very back of the aisle, which gives me a good vantage point to watch the more experienced passistas and how they move to different sections of the enredo. Even though Vila is known for not wanting their passistas to do choreography (as it’s seen to be much more authentic and a higher skill level to freestyle), there are still parts of the song where the dancers repeat certain movements, (especially when there are references to Orixas gods/goddesses), and I need to learn them quickly so I don’t look out of place.

After almost an hour of waiting, the rehearsal starts. The public surrounding us begin to cheer, and the drums kick in as the entire school (over 3 thousand participants) slowly parade their way back towards the quadra singing the theme song over and over again.

 

 

I’d been told to pace myself, and not go too hard to begin with, but the passistas in front of me are already going hell for leather, and I need to keep up.

I’m surprised at how fit I’m feeling as we reach the hour mark (all of those gym classes and leg weight sessions must be working!), even though it’s still 35C at 9pm at night and I am dripping in sweat. My voice though is starting to get hoarse from singing so I decide to just mime the words, and now my toes are beginning to feel numb, but we are almost at the end.

Up ahead, I can see Sabrina Sato, the Queen of Vila, who is a huge celebrity in Brazil. She is with the drum squad waiting for us to go past so that they can then slot in behind us to finish off the parade. As we move towards her, she starts to cheer for us and I make eye contact with her and give her a big smile, and in return, she blows me a kiss! What a fan girl moment!

Globo (Brazil’s largest TV network and the broadcaster of Carnival) is interviewing her, so they signal for the passista aisle to stay where we are, and for the next half an hour we dance on the spot while the drums keep playing and the camera crew get footage for TV. The crowd surges towards us as they attempt to catch a glimpse of Sabrina and show their faces on TV, and we dance even more intensely as they rally around us.

 

 

By this time, we have all been dancing for nearly two hours with no break or water. As I look around me, everyone is starting to lose their energy, and suddenly a dancer passes out. Members of the group rush to catch her, and in the process, another girl’s heel breaks, someone trips over someone else, and others start to elbow each other to get out of the way. The crowd closes in and there is nowhere to go. People are yelling and pushing, and it takes all my control not to have a full-blown panic attack as an intense feeling of claustrophobia hits me.

Luckily the bateria, sensing the chaos that is about to unfold, start to make their way inside the quadra and we are swept inside in a wave of people.

Heat exhaustion finally hits me and I rush to the bathrooms to be sick, along with most of my foreign dancer friends. Apparently, this is a common occurrence as our bodies adjust to dancing in 100% humidity, 35C heat, on concrete and with no water for prolonged periods of time. This is another reason why it’s so important for us to arrive early, so we give ourselves as much time as possible to acclimatize and prepare for the parade.

But is it really worth pushing my body to the limit and risking my health, just to experience being a passista?