What's going on with samba schools in Rio de Janeiro at this time of the year? Well, they have defined their themes and synopses for Carnival 2011 and now they have to choose their theme samba (samba-enredo).
São Clemente, one of the Big 12 in Liesa (Independent Samba School League), is in the process of choosing their samba-enredo like everyone else, and you can join in for some fun at their quadra (pronounced KWA-dra), or headquarters. Show up on Friday nights for the eliminatórias de samba-enredo ("theme samba playoffs"). Right now, there are 14 songs running up.
São Clemente has its origin in a soccer club from Botafogo which spun off into a Carnival group in the 1950s. Though they still have a lot of associations with beach soccer and with Botafogo, their quadra is in Central Rio.
The school will be back in the 2011 Special Group parade because it won the Access Group A parade 2010, to which it had been demoted in 2008 (model Viviane Castro's extra-tiny tapa-sexo, or cache-sexe, which cost the school 0.5 in the point count for forbidden full nudity in the parade, wasn't the only reason).
São Clemente Rehearsals/Samba-Enredo Playoffs
When: Fridays at 11 p.m.
Where: Avenida Presidente Vargas 3102
Samba School Colors: Yellow and black (not mandatory, but why not?)
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