Celebrate
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Samba
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Celebrate ~ Samba ~
Celebrating Samba
Viver Brasil Celebrates Samba
From the first step to the final bow
Photo: Floriano RegisWhat does it mean to Celebrate samba?
Originally, Cooking Samba, our signature family program, was named Celebrating Samba in 2019. Celebrating Samba is our signature family program performed for all ages in which we offer as a culminating performance for in-school residencies or as a free offering to school and community partners. Thanks to our beautiful cast of dancers and musicians, students and family members get to see a reflection of themselves on stage.
Celebrating Samba is an interactive performance that introduces audiences of all ages to the fundamentals of Afro-Brazilian culture, which include the timely stories of the mythical and spiritual Orixa, the liberating joy of Samba de Roda, and the call for justice and communal celebration in the movements and rhythms of the Blocos Afro with Afro-Brazilian contemporary dance. Storytelling, movement, song, drumming, and vibrant costumes are uplifted as expressions of resistance, resilience, and devotion to the ancestral roots and contemporary expression of Viver Brasil’s commitment to honoring Brazil’s African legacy.
How have we been celebrating?
In 2019
Celebrating Samba journeyed to the lucky number of 13 venues: 11 of which were schools in Los Angeles and 2 of which were Los Angeles libraries. Between February 20th and June 19th, over 970 people Celebrated Samba with us! We were able to provide this funding thanks to the generous funding from the California Arts Council and LA’s Best.
Watch Viver Brasil Perform Celebrating Samba at the Los Angeles Public Library in 2019 for LA Made, a series of cultural programs funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
2020
We Celebrated Samba at the Broad Theater on February 8th, and we were able to host a residency at La Ballona Elementary School on February 19th with a turnout of 565 people before the pandemic prompted us to adapt and put our programming online. Since other programming was more suited to a virtual format, Celebrating Samba took a slight hiatus for the remainder of 2020, only to return stronger than ever in 2021.
In 2021
Celebrating Samba was performed virtually for 550 students at 6 schools over 7 days June and was a part of two virtual school assemblies in December of that year. Our ability to provide virtual programming only improved over time, and although we were still online due to the pandemic, we were not locked down or kept from sharing our programming in any way. These virtual classes were made possible by an amazing remote cast who were willing to pre-record lessons, film dances, perform over the computer, and to scout locations for their livestreams and film shoots.
2022
This program was provided in person once again after two years at 11 schools in Los Angeles County. In partnership with LA’s Best in order to offer programming while people transitioned from a pandemic social distance to an in person space, Celebrating Samba was produced in an online edition which included Bloco Afro dance workshops in both Los Angeles and Salvador, Bahia. Additionally, we taught classes and offered our Celebrating Samba performance across Alabama during the Samba in the Streets tour.
In 2023
This program toured with us to Alabama and was performed at 6 different schools, including Alabama State University and Tuskegee University. In the summer while back in LA we capped off our 6 different school residencies with Celebrating Samba, giving the students a chance to show their knowledge and talents. Additionally, Celebrating Samba showed multiple times at Inner City Arts between June and July.
Learn more about our other programming
Photo Credits: Arthur Seabra, Rebecca Green, Gia Trovela, Ashley Guevara, and Genna Cui