Grupo A reviews & pix

Reviews of the Grupo A parades:
(translations by me, all photos shamelessly stolen from O Globo & O Dia. See the originals & more photos at www.oglobo.com.br and odia.terra.com.br)

O Globo's story:
"On a Saturday night, and a Sunday morning, full of problems with floats breaking down and parade gaps, the ten escolas of Grupo de Acesso A paraded for a Sambadromo that was completely full in the grandstands of sectors 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.Uniao da Ilha, with its reprise of the samba-enredo "É Hoje!", and Imperio Serrano, with a theme about Carmen Miranda, are the favorites for the title and for the single opneing in Grupo Especial.

"Two escolas are also in the chase for the fight for the title: Acadêmicos da Rocinha, which did a marvelous parade in terms of floats and costumes, but for the second year in a row didn't have enough baianas (53, when the required minimum is 60) and will lose half a point. With a "correct" parade without any mistakes, Caprichosos is the other contender, in spite of difficulty reading the theme in the floats (i.e. the floats did not make sense to the average viewer).

"Lins Imperial went over the allowed time by five minutes and will lose two and a half points [out of 10 - a ghastly blow - KH]. The escola is a strong candidate for being sent down [to Grupo B]. At the end of the parade, the fourth float broke an axle and ended up stopping by sector 6, in the Praca da Apoteose [just at the end of the parade route]. The directors of the escola had to destroy part of the float. There is no judges' booth in this area, but the lost time affected Lins' final score. Lins' theme commemorated the 200th anniversay of the arrival of the royal family of Portugal in Brazil. The escola received R$ 500,000 from the city of Rio [in sponsorship for the royal family theme]."

ESTACIO DE SA


O Globo says: "Estácio de Sá opened the night of the parade of the Grupo A escolas. The first escola to finish its float construction, back in December, this escola of the hill of São Carlos did not live up to its expectations as the pre-Carnaval favorite. With the Sambodromo still empty, the red-and-white escola was unrecognizable on the parade route. The dance group, led by Fábio de Mello, was four minutes late for the state of the parade. [Because their costumes hadn't arrived! -KH]
The performance of the group did not meet the standard of this choreographer's past work in Imperatriz Leopoldinense. A tripod was part of the dance group, paired with the first float. But there was a problem in the motor and the tripod had to be pushed by escola members, who suffered mightily trying to push the little float. Estacio's costumes and floats were luxurious and were easy to understand with the theme. However, the escola members seemed lacking in their energy and singing. The bateria, led by mestre Esteves, was perfect."

O Dia adds: O Dia actually really liked Estacio's parade, said they had lovely floats & costumes, and thinks they are one of the top 3 (along with Ilha & Imperio Serrano). But O Dia agrees the paraders were lacking in energy. There was also a problem with the little float of the dance group, and the little float had to be pushed. Estacio was so short of time at the end that the bateria didn't even move into the second recuo, but just sprinted past the last three sections of the grandstand! Also, the flag-bearer was feeling ill, messed up in front of the third judge's booth, and later fainted at the end of the parade. A baiana passed out from the heat.

And, O Dia noted with some annoyance, one of the great supporters of the school, Zeca da Cuica, who can't see very well, was in Sector 9, and he was blocked from seeing anything by a group of those annoying "friends of the director" who "insisting in standing still" by the fence and blocking his view of the parade.

UNIAO DA ILHA






O Globo says: "With the force of a reprise of the samba-enredo "É Hoje!", A União da Ilha relived its best days of Carnaval. The escola entered a little flat, but the samba had highs and lows during the parade. [I don't understand that - KH] The dance group, choreographed by Handerson Big, did a perfect show. The members were dressed as seahorses. In the bateria, mestre Riquinho maintained a good rhythm and even risked a few paradinhas. The flag couple, Rogerinho and Priscila Rosas, paraded with golden costumes. But when they were dancing in front of the second judge's booth, in front of sector 7, the ala in front of the couple didn't stop and a gap opened up in the parade. Since this occurred right under the nose of the judge of parade flow, the escola will likely be penalized."

O Dia adds: Ilha's budget was so tiny they really had to improvise - the first float was made entirely out of recycled materials, and they used Christmas tree lights on one of the little tripod-floats. O Dia also really liked the bateria, and also the queen of the bateria Bruna Bruno. The flag couple danced excellently, but the ala in front of them didn't stop to let them do their dance in front of the second judges' booth, and a huge gap opened up.

CUBANGO
O Globo ominously did not mention Cubango. O Dia says: They had a tiny budget and no sponsorship and couldn't make many floats, but they made up for it with great costumes. However, the flag couple didn't dance well, and the flag-bearer messed up and let the flag get wrapped up around the flagpole.

They also had some scary float trouble. Pauline and I were trying to figure out last night what a "queijo" on a float is. As far as we both know, queijo just means "cheese". Well, apparently, the cheeses on one of Cubango's floats were twisting, so much it was frightening the dancers, and a girl actually fell off. Today O Dia helpfully included a picture of what a broken float cheese looks like:



Aha! So a queijo is one of those little pillars on the side of a float that a girl stands on top of. Yikes, no wonder the girls were scared! O Dia put the word "queijo" in quotes, so clearly it's slang - I'm guessing it's a reference to the little vertical sticks of cheese sold by street vendors.

The cool part about Cubango's parade is that was an homage to the first black ballet dancer in Rio's city ballet, Mercedes Batista. She's still alive, 86 years old, and she was on the fifth float! She got a huge ovation from the crowd.



O Dia had a quote from Cubango's carnavalesco, Wagner Gonçalves, afterwards: "I saw so many mistakes that I don't even want to remember. We were lacking so many things, principally money. At least five alas were in entirely the wrong place,"


LINS IMPERIAL
O Globo: "Without any infrastructure in the Cidade do Samba, the escolas of Grupo A must suffer with ramshackle warehouses in the port zone of the city. In the 2008 parade, Lins Imperial and Imperio da Tijuca were the groups who most suffered. In Lins, the escola went five minutes over the allowed time and will lose 2.5 points, since the penalty is 0.5 for each minute too long. The fourth float broke an axle and stopped in Sector 6. Escola members had to destroy the float."

O Dia says: It was Setor 13 and says there were problems all along with the steering axle, but that the death blow was when the float finally veered so much that part of the sculpture on the float got stuck in the fences of the frisas.

O Dia's posted a spectator's video of escola directors desperately trying to wrestle the float back onto the parade route and over the finish line. Notice the quick view of the clock reading 1:03 - and there's still one more float behind the stuck float. The time limit for Grupo A is one hour exactly.

Poor Lins ended up with a five minute time penalty due to the stuck float. Five minutes over time is utterly catastrophic. Quotes from O Dia: "Until then we had been doing such a beautiful parade. It was a problem in steering the float," lamented the carnavalesco Eduardo Gonçalves. Despair also took hold of the president Admir Menezes, who couldn't hold back his tears when he got to the end of the parade. "We did such lovely work, but we will certainly be punished," he said.

Damn, I really hate it when an escola works so hard and then gets all their hopes crushed by a random float problem. Float trouble is like the curse of the gods.

IMPERIO DA TIJUCA
O Globo says: "Império da Tijuca suffered with problems in the decoration and production of its floats. The crown, symbol of the escola, caught fire near the first judges' booth in Sector 3. On the float about Dom Pedro, the upper half of the body of the statue broke off and wasn't even taken off the float. The members forgot and left it on the floor of the float. [KH adds: This probably the means the break happened right at the last second just as the float was entering the parade route. Breaks sometimes happen here, when the fragile floats make the sharp turn into the Sambodromo. The parade is already underway, so it's impossible to stop the float without creating a parade gap or time penalty. It's heartbreaking when it happens.]

O Dia adds: The second float also had problems - the statue of Dom Joao on that float seemed to have disproportionately large arms, and people in the crowd were talking about it. One of the arms started to crack near the end of the parade. The third float's palm trees were falling apart due to rain. But the salvation of Imperio was the wonderful bateria.


CAPRICHOSOS DE PILARES

O Globo says: With a complicated theme about the city of Itaboraí, Caprichosos de Pilares did a good parade. Members sang the samba well and had good energy and parade flow. But their floats were not as good. Using the style of carnavalesco Paulo Barros of Viradouro, the blue-and-white escola of Pilares put choreographed dancers on all the floats. But it made it difficult to figure what the floats had to do with the theme. The dance group, led by Jaime Arouxa, was the high point of Caprichosos. Dressed as Indians, the members danced perfectly and the choreography fit the theme.

O Dia agrees that the dance group's Indian choreography was wonderful. The flag-bearer's skirt was falling apart and she ahd some trouble. O Dia didn't like the floats - not very creative.

SANTA CRUZ

O Globo says: "With a luxurious parade, Santa Cruz did a very nice parade. The standouts were the dance group and the floats, all with beautiful detail. However, the parade of the escola seemed "tied" [? I'm guessing stiff, formal? - KH]. The song didn't help, and the crowd in the grandstands was "stopped" [not dancing or singing, a bad sign - KH]. On the parade route, the members didn't have good energy and seemed to be asleep as they paraded. In spite of a beautiful parade in terms of visuals, the thrill was gone for Santa Cruz."

O Dia notes that many alas weren't even singing.

RENASCER
O Globo has just a single sentence:
"Renascer de Jacarepaguá put on a dull parade without a single interesting attraction." [ouch!]

O Dia was kinder: nice dance group, good flag couple, good singer, nice queen of the bateria... but there didn't seem to be anything that stood out enough to put them in the running. At least there were no float catastrophes.

ROCINHA
O Globo says: "The second-to-last escola to parade in Grupo A, Rocinha had a luxurious set of floats and costumes. The carnavalesco Fábio Ricardo, "estreante" in Carnaval [? - KH], was very detail-oriented with his floats, and the result was extremely positive. Everybody in the crowd was exclaiming about Rocinha's floats. However, once again this year, the escola showed a lack of attention to some basic necessities. For the second year in a row, Rocinha didn't have the minimum required number of 60 baianas. [the elderly ladies in the hoop skirts]. Rocinha only had 53. At the end of the parade, the directors said they would challenge this, and insisted that they paraded with 62 baianas. The result will be made available before the scores are announced on Ash Wednesday."

O Dia says: There were definitely 53 baianas. O Dia also notes the costumes were extremely heavy and many baianas were struggling. (I wonder if 62 signed up but 9 just decided not to come once they tried to put the costumes on...) Also, the third float caught fire just before the start of the parade. The fire was put out but the float was surrounded by firefighters during the entire parade.

IMPERIO SERRANO
Imperio Serrano Shines With Carmen Miranda

O Globo says: "Closing the Grupo A parade for Carnaval 2008, Imperio Serrano once again brought Carmen Miranda to the Sambodromo. With simple, clear, and "objetiva" [?} floats, the escola developed its theme perfectly, as well as having beautiful costumes. With a great show, the bateria of mestre Atila was the best part of all the parades of Grupo A. The rhythm, the standard of playing, and magnificent paradinhas with the standouts of the bateria. The one problem of the parade was a gap that opened up right in front of sector 11, in front of the fourth judges' cabin. Mestre Atila stopped with his bateria to do a presentation for the third judges' booth, but the ala in front didn't wait for them, moved on and created a hole. This gap might be penalized by both the third and fourth judges' booths."

Let me indulge myself with one more full Imperio Serrano review, this from from O Dia:
"Imperio Serrano did the best parade of Grupo A. The last escola to parade on this Saturday of Carnaval, Imperio Serrano did a heart-warming parade, even under heavy rain. In spite of financial difficulties, the green-and-white escola showed that it could overcome lack of resources with creative solutions, in costumes as well as in floats. Renato Lage and Márcia Lávia, the pair responsible for the parade (which was an homage to Carmen Miranda), pulled off a miracle. The bateria of Mestre Átila put on an impeccable show and held the whole parade together. On the ground, all the parade members were full of emotion, with tears in their eyes, and a certainty in their hearts: That the escola of Serrinha is in the fight for the title.

"Even in the dance group, the escola showed creativity and good humor. The group, composed all of people from the Imperio community, represented Zé Carioca, a character created by Walt Disney after he visited Brazil in the 1940's. In the center, the actress Camila Caputi acted out the story of Carmen Miranda.

"The parade flow of the escola, however, faltered in at least one moment. When passing in front of the third judges' cabin, the bateria stopped to make its presentation, but the rest of the school left them behind. Result: an enormous gap between sectors 4 and 11.

"In his debut as singer, Gonzaguinha was in calm and sure command, and he ensured the steadiness of the song. Arlindo Cruz decided at the last minute to parade and brought with him his friends Andrezinho do Molejo and Maria Rita. The singer (Rita), for her part, danced and blew kisses to everybody. The writer Ruy Castro, author of the Carmen Miranda biography that was used for the parade's theme, also participated in the parade.

"On the last float, the cast of the musical "Sassaricando" really shown. Eduardo Dusek, Soraya Ravenle and other authors paraded by the side of the author of the play, the writer and journalist Sérgio Cabral. All in all - an incredible parade, especially considering the conditions under which it was prepared. The drenching rain simply ended up exciting the Imperio members even more."