For the integrity of Samba.

The reason I started Escola de Samba Sydney in 2016.

At the time I had been dancing and performing Samba extensively for almost 10 years. I was running a successful Brazilian entertainment company however I was watching what was happening in Brasil and frustrated with the way Samba was being represented in Australia. Samba had become so far removed from the source and the art of Passista Samba no pé was virtually non-existent… It was all showgirl style choreography and Samba “competitions” with no connection to the roots of the culture.

So I travelled to Brazil with my Baiano husband at end of 2015, threw myself in the deep-end and began the intense journey of studying the art form like a university degree and completely retraining my Samba. I went to Carlinhos Salguerio’s, projeto (class), trained with Carlinhos de Jesus (the top two masters of all things Samba in Brazil). I slowly started to feel my way through the...