Samba Schools

Each Samba School represents a different neighborhood or social club from different areas of Rio.

It's not a simple parade , but a competition between the schools attempting to gain points from their presentation composed of song, story , rhythm , dance , dress. It all starts the year preceeding Carnaval , as each samba school mobilises thousands of supporters who will create the various parts of the school's display. A theme is chosen , music written, costumes created, richly decorated floats built , while every detail is supervised by the 'carnavalesco ', the school director. By December, rehearsals have begun and, in time for Christmas , the sambas are recorded and released to record shops.

Since 1984 , the parade or 'desfile' takes place at SAMBODROMO , the samba parade ground , a concrete structure 700 meters long which can accomodate 60.000 people.

There are 14 samba schools from the 'special group' to perform. The first night, Sunday , 7 of these schools performe at the Sambodromo - Samba Parade Ground . Each of them has from 70 to 85 minutes to perform, and the parade finishes at the 'Praça da Apoteose' (the M shaped structure at the end of the avenue ). Each school has a different theme. Each samba school has an average of 4.000 participants