Samba Rehearsal

Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

The other night I went to a rehearsal for a group that's going to be marching as part of carnaval in Porto Alegre. I won't get to join them in the parade, but I can watch and I think I'm going to go along for the ride (or shall we say, the walk). I guess -- for reasons I do not yet understand -- they're marching at 5 AM on Sunday morning and therefore, all meeting up at midnight beforehand to be merry together in preparation. So, although I'm usually a fan of sleep, I think this may be one occasion where if I can tag along I will, camera in hand.

The rehearsal was fun. People had gathered hours earlier to eat churrasco (yup, Rio-Grande-do-Sul-style the food offerings were bread and grilled meat), drink beer (and water and soda) and dance a little. I joined my colleague on the dance floor. Another friend of hers laughed an said, "An American dancing samba!"

"One that does not know what she is doing either!" I responded. I stared at everyone's feet trying to get an idea how to move mine.

At 9:30, after some welcomes speeches, rehearsal began with a guy playing a little guitar-like instrument that sounded like a ukulele to me and another man leading us through the words of our song. Apparently a bunch of folks from China are crossing the ocean to come join the fun too, so the song is in tribute to them, including some idealistic lines (at least in my opinion) about how China is "valuing and preserving ecology."

I was grateful for a xeroxed copies of the words to the song, since I hadn't exactly memorized them, to hold in my hand as we waved our hands in the air back and forth during the chorus, held our arms out in a "T" fingertips nearly touching our neighbors at different points. Together we belted out the words to the song over and over again until our body movements generally corresponded to what we were supposed to be doing at that point in the song. Then, sweaty and happy, we applauded ourselves and called it a night.