Samba
Brazilian samba grew out of Afro-Brazilian communities in Bahia and Rio de Janeiro in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, rooted in West African traditions and in rural forms such as samba de roda. The Bahian circle tradition joins music, dance and poetry, uses the viola machete, and was inscribed by UNESCO in 2008. Urban samba took form in Rio, notably around Estácio, and samba schools later organised carnival parades.
The International Latin samba is a separate, competition version. Britain's ISTD included Brazilian Samba in its first Latin syllabus in 1947. It progresses counter-clockwise around the floor in 2/4 at roughly 50 to 52 bars per minute, and its characteristic bounce comes from bending and straightening the knees rather than literal rise and fall. Partner forms such as samba de gafieira exist separately in Brazil.
Sources
- Samba de Roda of the Recôncavo of Bahia — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
- Samba — Wikipedia
- Samba (ballroom dance) — Wikipedia
- Latin American dance — Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
Organisations connected with this dance
- Museu do Samba (Rio de Janeiro, Mangueira)
- Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba do Rio de Janeiro (LIESA)
- Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD), Latin American Dance
- World DanceSport Federation (WDSF)
Listed as references; being listed is not an endorsement by or of the organisation.