Performers from the Portela samba school wear water sprouts on their heads as they splash their way through the stadium
The
Carnival festival, famed for its scantily clad performers, bikini
costumes and eroticized dance routines, has never been a symbol of
modesty.
But
Brazilian medics, in a request unsurprisingly ignored during the wild
party, have suggested women should start wearing burqas in a bid to
prevent the spread of the Zika virus.
Last
night marked the finale of the city's famed samba schools parade, which
saw thousands of costumed dancers and extravagant floats make their way
through the city's specially designed Sambadrome stadium.
A reveller of Salgueiro samba school wearing an extravagant sparkling red cape and top hot appeals to the crowd
The Carnival celebration is hardly known for its modesty - making medics' suggestions women wear a burqa slightly unusual
A woman wearing a spectacular black and white costume covered in jewels performs during the second day of the legendary parade
A member of the Samba Inperatriz Leopoldinense school took part in the ceremony dressed as a clown
A woman from the Mangueira samba school smiles for a photograph while wearing a tiger-insprired costume
This spectacular costume required thousands of feathers to be included for its extravagant dress
The
annual party, in which participants wear little to cover their body,
has coincided this year with fears the virus is spreading rapidly
throughout the Americas.
In
response, medics in Recife recommended women wear the burka - a symbol
of modesty in the most unlikely of places - in a bid to halt the spread
of the mosquito-borne disease, O Globo reported.
They
also recommended women dress in long sleeved shirts, gloves, long pants
and socks amid fears the virus is linked to a waves of children born
with deformed heads.
The
World Health Organization declared the spread of the virus an
international health emergency on February 1, amid fears the virus in
pregnant women caused the deformities known as microcephaly.
It
comes as the party in Rio de Janeiro reached its finale last night with
the final samba schools' parades through the Sambadrome.
Thousands
of women, oblivious to the threat of catching the Zika virus, made
their way through the ----- before 70,000 dancing spectators.
And
surrounded by the jaw-dropping costumes, barely there gold bikinis, and
thousands of hip-shaking dancers, the one thing you don't expect at
Rio's Carnival is a man with a T-shirt emblazoned: 'Discipline.'
But
out of the limelight, the dazzle and the sumptuous floats, the likes of
Paulo Roberto are the reason why Carnival has all the efficiency and
precision that so much else in this vast, troubled country seems to
lack.
In
his unglamorous shirt, Roberto, 50, is part of a team in the elite
Salgueiro samba school that simply makes sure performers show up on
time, and know where to go when they do.
'We're
here so everyone stays in the right place,' he said as the school
prepared for the samba championship finals Monday night in Rio's
Sambadrome stadium.
The
discipline team members are there during the complex stage of setting
up, they hustle along with the performers as they parade down the
Sambadrome runway, and they're there at the end to help performers find
their way out.
Women from the Mangueira samba school performed during the ceremony as Baianas, a food vendor common in Brazil
This woman wore a bright red and pink petal covered costume to the final parade, held in Rio de Janeiro last night
Marcia Galvao, a Baiana from the Mangueira samba school, waits for her school's performance to begin
A woman wearing a head dress filled with dozens of spectacular feathers dances on the top of a float
Residents watch one of the schools making their way to the Sambadrome from a viaduct near the stadium
Members of Vila Isabel samba school wore these remarkable costumes, inspired by old fashioned armour
Mangueira samba school's drum queen Evelin performs during the carnival parade at the Sambadrome overnight
This
woman, from the Vila Isabel samba school, wore a spectacular costume
covered in long feathers across her arms, head and back
Revellers of Imperatriz samba school dance their way through the ceremony in the city's specially-designed Sambadrome
A group of men from the Salgueiro samba school perform a salsa dance wearing classical male dancer costumes
'We're like guides,' Roberto said.
With
the Salgueiro's 3,500-strong cast - many of them in comically ungainly
costumes - six floats depicting everything from the hanging gardens of
Babylon to a palace, and a crowd of 70,000 spectators, Roberto had his
work cut out.
In
fact, the entire samba school production is a miracle of organization
that molds thousands of amateurs with self-made costumes into a
spectacle that would be the equivalent of many major theaters and
operas.
Unlike
much else in Brazil, the parades start on time and are paced to last
exactly the regulation one hour and 20 minutes. Work, though, starts at
least six months before, with rehearsals, fundraising, set design, music
composition and the sewing, sticking and building of the famous
costumes.
The
small, vital details that need attending to are countless. For example,
just hours before her turn to parade with the Salgueiro, Olga Braga,
53, was still stitching her enormous red and black skirt.
'Just to reinforce it,' she said.
Nearby,
teenage girls swept the floors of the floats, while men in red shirts
stood guard over neat stacks of drums to be used by the ensemble's 300
drummers.
Once
the parade starts, performers run a gantlet of judges who, like
everything in the samba world, are highly regulated, with scoring broken
down into no fewer than 10 categories.
Revellers from the Sao Clemente samba school prepare for their appearance in the carnival parade at the Sambadrome
A group of brightly coloured clowns wearing face paint and sparkling costumes wait for their turn to enter the stadium
Pictured left and right respectively, members of Portela and Sao Clemente samba schools dance their way through the party
Despite
the threat of the spread of the Zika virus, the annual party sees
thousands of people partying in little more than bikinis
Under
such scrutiny, merely allowing too big a gap between sections would be a
disaster. Having the drummers lose the beat would be even worse. And
there have been years when, because of miscalculations, a float turned
out to be too big to fit in the Sambadrome.
But
the trickiest time is in pre-parade assembly, said Paulo Lapa, a
47-year-old coordinator with the Vila Isabel ensemble, which was also
among the finalists Monday.
'That's
when things can go wrong most easily,' he said in a crowd of performers
changing into costumes on the street. Once we start into the
Sambadrome, it's almost automatic, because we've rehearsed so much.'
Leonardo
Sardou, one of the float directors for Vila Isabel, said that intense
preparation - usually at least once a week for a period of anything
between six months and a year - is the key.
'We
have almost 5,000 people involved and the main thing is that everyone
has the same goal and no one does anything just for themselves,' he
said. 'The parade is spontaneous, but not totally - it can't be.'
Asked what the secret is to Brazilians' prowess at Carnival time, Lapa said it was simply in their blood.
'Brazil's
a country of so many problems that it might seem hard to believe we can
do this,' he said. 'But it's our deep tradition.'
A dancer grins during her performance in the Sambadrome last night, capping off a week of wild celebrations
This woman, wearing an extravagantly built mask on her head, dances her way through the parade
The events sees dozens of samba schools from across the country performing for judges, who will select a winner tomorrow
Imperatriz samba school's drum queen Cris Vianna leads her team - dressed in bright green costumes - through the stadium
A partygoer dances inside the stadium, where 70,000 gathered to watch the spectacular ceremony last night
A participant from Salgueiro samba school is hoisted into the air by her colleagues as thousands watch from the stands above
Wearing an elaborate hair-covered bikini costume, this woman from Vila Isabel samba school grins for a photograph
Wearing G-string bikinis and extravagant hats, a group of women from the Vila Isabel samba school dance through the stadium
Sabrina Sato, also from Vila Isabel samba school, wore a tiny gold bikini and huge blue head dress while clutching a sword
The Salgueiro samba school (pictured), saw hundreds of members line the Sambadrome next to the team's impressive white float
This incredible float, featuring a massive sprawling eagle, was created by Portela samba school
A man from Sao Clemente samba school appeals to the crowd while covered in a breathtaking blue and green costume
One
of the parade's more original designs, also from the Portela samba
school, saw dancers dressed with water fountains on their heads
A reveller leaves the Sambadrome after parading in the carnival in Rio de Janeiro in the early hours of the morning
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