Updated on
Summary
Gigantic floats, electrifying drummers, quicksilver samba girls and spinning flag bearers filled Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome stadium during the second night of the city's top samba schools' parades. Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel school was the first to swing into the spotlights of the avenue at the globally televised pageant and paraded for 70,000 Brazilian and foreign spectators. Floats depicting tropical paradises, the Garden of Eden and tax havens were pushed into the Sambadrome as a 300-strong drum corps played for the cheering crowd. On the final night of Rio's 12 top samba schools' parades that are both a huge tourist draw and serious competition between poor Rio communities, drum queens and near-naked samba dancers stole the show dancing in little more than feathers and high heels. Many school members couldn't hold back their emotions when entering into the samba avenue. Porto da Pedra school, the second to parade, chose to paid tribute to fashion and its floats depicted since Romans' and Greeks' outfits to French King Louis XIV extravagant looks and Coco Chanel's classic clothes. The school's director said it had bought 50 bottles of Channel No. 5 and would spray them over the avenue during the parade. The samba troupes are rigorously judged on their choreography, floats, costumes and song lyrics and every year two are downgraded to the second league. Judges will announce this year's champion on Ash Wednesday, when the pre-Lenten festivities close.
