Samba school

After two long years without its frenetic festival of sparkling sequins, sultry samba and towering floats, Rio de Janeiro is holding its famed carnival parades for the first time since COVID-19 hit Brazil.

Nine people were injured in Brazil on Feb. 28 during the fourth round of samba parades when the platform of a float collapsed under the weight of dancers. 

The incident happened around 3:00 a.m. during the Unidos da Tijuca parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambodromo, a day after a truck carrying a float ran into bystanders late Feb. 26 and injured 20.

The Rio carnival is a celebration of joyful excess but deep recession in Brazil means that samba schools are thinking about their budgets as much as their dance moves.

"Here the key word is austerity," says Luiz Carlos Magalhaes, president of the Portela samba school, which has won the prestigious annual parade contest in the Sambodromo more than any other school.

Refugee children from Syria and other conflict-torn countries will be treated to a place in Rio de Janeiro's exuberant carnival parade on Feb. 9, UN officials said.

Swatting aside fears over the Zika virus, the glittering dancers of the Rio Carnival samba championship and their adoring fans were primed Feb. 7 for their first all-night parade.

A Brazilian samba school shrugged off a controversy over alleged funding by an African strongman president and went on to claim its 13th win at the Rio Carnival championship on Feb. 18.
      

NOVI SAD – The northern Serbian city of Novi Sad will host Days of Brazil (Dani Brazila) - Novi Sad Samba Carnival on August 15-17 and present itself as regional center of Brazilian culture for the fifth consecutive year, the city's cultural center has said in a release.