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Rio Carnival : 2010 Technical Rehearsal Schedule
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Before dazzling the world in the grand Carnival parades at the Sambódromo, Rio's samba schools need to rehearse. They do that in sizzling get-togethers, open to visitors, held every so often during the last months of the year at the quadra - their home base.

But that's not enough to master the time constraints and rules of the competitive Carnival parade on Rio's samba runway. Samba schools need technical rehearsals at the Sambódromo so they can get ready for the big day.

Technical rehearsals are free - and they've got to be one of the best freebies on earth. Even though you won't see the most glamorous costumes, and the floats will be sparsely decorated frames, samba schools put up quite a show during these very organized events.

Room for Improvement

Technical rehearsals provide the percussion section and puxador de samba, or lead singer, in each samba school an invaluable chance to see how their timing is working out. What you see will be their best performance possible - they need to consider every detail and find out what has to be improved if they want to have a chance at winning.

Some samba schools in the Special Group, associated under Liesa (Rio's Independent Samba School League) bring about 3,000 members to Sambódromo rehearsals, dressed in clothes specially designed for the occasion. The mestre-sala and porta-bandeira - the MC and flag bearer who open the parades; the velha guarda, or veterans; the queen of the percussion section; and baianas, women dressed in traditional Bahia attire, will be there.

You can see some Rio technical rehearsal photos (the caption will read "ensaio técnico") in this great Carnival 2008 set by Sergio Fonseca on Flickr.

2010 Special Group Technical Rehearsal Schedule

Rehearsals start in December and go through February. The (B) and (C) next to the name of the samba schools stand for Balança Mas Não Cai and Correios respectively. They indicate the Sambódromo entrance you will need to go to (see this Sambódromo map). A good Rio taxi driver should know exactly where to take you.