Sunday 8 August 2010

Our first Samba lesson

Last night Kim, Lisa, Sean and I ventured over to the other side of Anchietta Ave. and found ourselves in the centro for a very interesting night.

We first sat out on the patio at a very cute, historic building that has a piano bar upstairs. Unfortunately, the piano bar was closed for the night, but we had a good time anyway just sitting and chatting. We ordered a carafe of wine, because we couldn't believe it was only 10 Reis each. We ended up ordering two, and when we got the wine, it was obvious why each carafe was about the equivalent of 6 US dollars. The stuff was SO sweet, it tasted like Welch's grape juice! I had a glass, but gave up pretty quick, and Kim had to finish off the rest by himself. The juice was a bit deceptive though, because although it tasted like candy, it still got Kim pretty tipsy.

After our suco de uva, we walked across the square to a bar named Tonicos. They had live samba music, complete with a ukelele, bombos, whistles, the works. We couldn't find an empty table because the place was so crowded! The best part was the variety of ages represented there.. There were tables of people in their 20's all the way up to 60's and 70's. Everyone was clapping, dancing, and using their menus as percussion instruments.

We met a lady named Ana once the bar got a little less full, and we sat at a table near the music. She taught us all some samba steps, and then took turns taking each of us out on the dance floor. By the end of the night we were getting a lot of attention from the regulars. A lady in her 60's was having a super swell time dancing with Sean, and Lisa found a 4 ' 8 samba champion to whisk her away. Kim and I practiced some spins that included the classic "dirty bird" move.
We had pictures snapped of us, and were giving our e-mail addresses out to our new Brazilian dance partners. We agreed to be back this Friday for some more dancing. It was a pretty awesome night...

I found a video on YouTube of the lady who was singing last night. It's not from last night, but its very similar to what we saw. The band behind her was different.

The music was excellent. I can't wait to be a samba queen. Hopefully my butt will learn to move that fast.....



3 comments:

  1. kim was tipsy -- i think not ;-)

    btw, you've inspired me to blog

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  2. Are the videos from the same bar as the one where you went? It looks like fun. Errrrbody seems to be having a blast.

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  3. yup, same bar. Same vibe, too. It was super fun.. We're going to go back this Friday :)

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