{{Yes, oh yes\u2026.it is CARNIVALE season in Brasil\u2026in particular in Rio de Janiero\u2026and anyone who loves dancing as much as I do, knows this is one of the highlights of the global dance calendar each year.}} <\/p>\n
It\u2019s that time of the year\u2026Dancing and of course\u2026.drumming\u2026.and spangles, feathers\u2026.and most of all the spirit that is \u2018community\u2019.<\/p>\n
I know I am amongst friends as I write this, because the Rwandan skillful dance is known throughout the world. I have a modest collection of antique Rwandan postcards and amongst them your dance traditions are well represented.<\/p>\n
I must say, one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life was standing at the entrance to the Sambadrome\u2026.tens of thousands singing in Portugese from the stands\u2026drum beats pumping out the rhythm\u2026surrounded by thousands of twirling, dancing, singing dancing performers \u2013 young and old, tall and short, thin and fat\u2026.everyone in the community\u2026and everyone smiling! <\/p>\n
That celebration of community life, dance, culture, history, music and costume\u2026.The colour\u2026.The spectacle! \u2026that goes from dusk to dawn, twice! \u2026needless to say it was one of the most remarkable experiences of my life!<\/p>\n
All praise to the Brasilians for having the brains to build the Sambadrome! What a place! Approximately 30m wide and 700m long\u2026a straight, flat piece of concrete\u2026more like a runway to look at rather than a stage\u2026.but indeed \u2013 what a stage it becomes!!!! <\/p>\n
For a rank amateur dancer like me\u2026the chance of a lifetime to perform in front of tens of thousands!….well, when you think about the global broadcasting of the Carnivale\u2026I guess I did actually perform in front of millions\u2026.Woo hoo! (Thankfully they weren\u2019t looking too closely at my footwork or listening to my appauling attempt at singing in Portugese hee hee)<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t find anything even close to the Sambadrome in Australia (I wish I could)\u2026instead we spend $100M on building a football stadium to passively watch about forty men play combative sport and chase a ball around a field each weekend during Winter\u2026.uuugghghhhh! <\/p>\n
As the Rwandan tourism industry is thriving, there is much to be learnt from those Brasilians – the Carnivale itself is a remarkable global tourist drawcard! ..and no wonder!<\/p>\n
As reported on the www.rio-carnival.net website \u201cThe five-day mega-event will be broadcast live around the world. Carnival in Rio generates 250,000 jobs and revenues of some $640 million for hotels, bars and restaurants, according to state officials. City officials expect more than five million people, including 850,000 tourists, to attend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2026of course, none of that factors in the profit from the sale of the television broadcasting rights.<\/p>\n
With so many similarities between Brasilian Samba and so much Rwandan music\u2026such obvious links between those cultural expressions\u2026.I hope there is some sharing of dance expertise fostered by your government\u2026..as the history of Brasilian Samba is deeply embedded in Africa. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the slums of downtown Rio, a place referred to as ‘Little Africa’, they established a number of religious houses devoted to religious ceremonies where they played and danced the early forms of samba. However, African religions were illegal in a dominantly catholic Brazil. These roots of samba remained invisible to the white elite for a long time.\u201d Source: http:\/\/www.rio-carnival.net\/rio_carnival\/rio_carnival_programs.php<\/p>\n
As for why listen to an Aussie about fostering your tourism through Rwandan dance, I first learnt Latin dance through Rio Rhythmics Latin Dance Academy in Brisbane which has taught more than 20,000 Australians to latin dance since it began in 1994. Thus as a community, we embrace dances from other cultures! Every year its founder, Brazilian Tarcisio Teatini-Climaco takes a group of his students to dance in the Carnivale in Rio.<\/p>\n
As reported by Angela Surine in \u2018The Courier Mail\u2019 on February 11 \u2013 12, 2012 \u2018The equivalent of half the Australian population will take an overseas trip each year by 2017 as the love affair with international travel continues.\u201d With the Australian population over 20 million\u2026that equates to more than 10 million travelling abroad each year\u2026.that\u2019s a lot of Aussie tourists looking for somewhere to visit each year! <\/p>\n
From my experience Rwanda is known for two things in Australia and they both start with \u2018G\u2019\u2026.Gorillas\u2026and the 1994 Tutsi Genocide. I know there is a lot more to Rwanda than this\u2026.I look forward to the day when Rwandan dance troupes tour Australia regularly. <\/p>\n
I know they have travelled elsewhere including in Europe. There is no greater Ambassador for a country \u2013 than the; Arts,music,dance,performing arts,visual arts,and mixed media. The Arts builds cross-cultural bridges and respect for others traditions. <\/p>\n
Certainly at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in the last few years I have seen the Cuban ballet, a Cuban contemporary dance company, a couple of Brasilian bands, the Bueno Vista Social Club and at The Powerhouse \u2013 TaikOz \u2013 a large Australian-based Japanese drumming band, whose members regularly study in Japan. I look forward to the day that I read that Rwandan dancers, musicians and singers are coming to town! I\u2019ll be the one in the front row!<\/p>\n
We Aussie\u2019s love great music and dance from all over the world! Therefore, please come to Australia\u2026let us shower you with applause! I am sure we will.<\/p>\n
The Author is a Director
\nPlan-it Life Pty Ltd<\/p>\n
Australia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{Yes, oh yes\u2026.it is CARNIVALE season in Brasil\u2026in particular in Rio de Janiero\u2026and anyone who loves dancing as much as I do, knows this is one of the highlights of the global dance calendar each year.}} It\u2019s that time of the year\u2026Dancing and of course\u2026.drumming\u2026.and spangles, feathers\u2026.and most of all the spirit that is \u2018community\u2019. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[75],"byline":[389],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-1889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-homenews","byline-paige-garland"],"bylines":[{"id":389,"name":"Paige Garland","slug":"paige-garland","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":389,"name":"Paige Garland","slug":"paige-garland","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1889"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=1889"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=1889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}