Read the full article by Janine Mapurunga at RAM’s New Times Magazine
Community members gathered in celebration at the third-annual Sacramento Brazilian Carnaval on Saturday, March 22 at CLARA in Sacramento. The event’s organizer, Marta Santos, is a native of the Brazilian state of Bahia and has been performing and teaching Brazilian dance in Sacramento for over 25 years.
This family-friendly event displayed Brazilian culture, including traditional foods and diverse performances of dance and music. Some food highlights were the Brazilian national dish “feijoada,” a meaty black bean stew served with white rice and collard greens, and the beloved street food “pastel,” a rectangular shaped deep fried dough filled with a variety of savory flavors from cheese to ground beef with green olives.
This grassroots effort brought together performing artists from Sacramento, Bay Area, North Bay and even Brazil. Weslei Guimarães from San Francisco-based dance group Estrelas do Samba performed a solo Gafieira, the elegant samba style born in Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century.