Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (EFE). – A fire in a Rio de Janeiro clothing factory injured 21 people on Wednesday, shattering the dreams of three samba schools, whose costumes were destroyed just 16 days before the world’s most famous Carnival.
The flames at the Maximus factory ravaged the costumes commissioned by the Imperio Serrano, Unidos de Bangú and Unidos da Ponte samba schools for this year’s carnival parades.
It also destroyed part of the costumes of three other schools, Porto da Pedra, União do Parque Acari, and Em Cima da Hora, whose losses were not as great, but they still do not know if they can save their parades.
Samba schools are groups dedicated to the practice and exhibition of samba, an Afro-Brazilian dance and drumming style.
Despite their name, they are not schools per se, but community clubs and neighborhood centers where dancers, musicians, and people involved in building floats and making elaborate costumes come together to dance and prepare exhibitions, mainly the yearly Carnival parade.
All the affected groups belong to the Gold Series, a kind of second division among the samba schools of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival; however, some have performed several times in the Elite Division.
A test of endurance
of the affected schools announced they would go to the Sambadrome, where samba schools compete during the Rio Carnival, to show that they are still standing.
“I still don’t know the extent and I can’t say that we have lost everything, but I can tell you that next Sunday we will have the best rehearsal in our history and that for sure we will parade in the Sambadrome on March 1st,” assured the director of the Imperio Serrano Samba School, Paulo Santi.
The parades of these majestic artistic groups, with thousands of costumed musicians and dancers, are the main attraction of Rio’s Carnival, one of the biggest open-air spectacles in the world.
Although the dream of being promoted to the first division of samba schools was put on hold, at least the affected associations will not have to worry about being relegated to the third division for not performing their parades or performing without costumes.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, said he spoke with the leaders of the Samba School League to convince them that the affected schools would not be relegated this year.
“We decided these schools will not be relegated in this year’s Carnival. If they parade, all three will be considered out of competition,” the mayor said on social media.
The Independent League of Samba Schools said the fire “directly affected the planning of this year’s Carnival and the entire production chain involved,” especially for the Gold Series.
According to the association, the destroyed factory also supplied fabrics to schools that used other workshops to make costumes.
Fires on the eve of Carnival
This is the fourth time a fire has changed the course of Rio’s Carnival.
In 1992, a fire destroyed 1,500 costumes at the Académicos de Salgueiro school, one of the most popular in the city.
A month before Carnival in 1999, another fire destroyed the workshop of the União da Ilha school with all the parade material inside.
The Imperatriz Leopoldinense School was left without a workshop in 2001.
In 2011, in the biggest tragedy of its kind and just a few days before Carnival, a fire in Cidade do Samba destroyed the workshops of Grande Rio and União da Ilha school and part of the workshop of Portela.
That year, it was also decided that none of the affected schools would lose their place in the first division. EFE
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