Samba School

Brazil · music and dance · community · carnival

Drumming and dancing clubs. Samba schools are community groups devoted to practicing and performing samba, an Afro-Brazilian style of music and dance. Despite having 'school' in their name, they don't teach formal classes.

Neighborhood pride and identity. Each samba school is traditionally connected to a specific neighborhood, especially in Rio de Janeiro's poorer areas called favelas. They celebrate Afro-Brazilian culture and become woven into the daily lives of people in their communities.

Year-round carnival prep. Most of the year, samba schools rehearse, design themes, hold song competitions, and build elaborate floats for the big yearly carnival parade. A carnival director called a carnavalesco leads all this creative work.

Massive building spaces. The top samba schools in Rio use a special warehouse complex called Samba City, which is as large as ten football fields combined, just to build and store their giant carnival floats and decorations.

From schoolyard to movement. The name 'samba school' likely comes from early groups that rehearsed in a schoolyard. Over time, samba schools grew into powerful cultural organizations that kept Afro-Brazilian traditions alive.