VOA慢速英语--巴西嘉年华上外国舞者在训练桑巴舞

Foreign Dancers Train in Samba at Brazilian Carnival¹

Jessica Hahn-Chaplin smiles for cameras while wearing the beautiful yellow clothing and high heel shoes of passista samba dancers. She is in Rio de Janeiro to study the techniques of passistas through the Paraiso do Tuiuti samba school.

In Rio and other cities across Brazil, the weeks before Carnival are filled with the lively rehearsals³ and parades of samba schools. All of it is in preparation for the big day itself, which happens this year on February 23.

Paraiso do Tuiuti has been a home of Carnival culture for people in the working-class area near central Rio for over 60 years. But Hahn-Chaplin is not from Brazil. She comes from Bristol, in England.

The 31-year-old is part of a movement of foreigners who come to Brazil each year to train in the ways of samba dance. During Carnival season, these dancers spend a month or more at the samba schools. At the world-famous celebrations in Rio, they will dance for more than an hour through the massive⁴ Sambadrome parade space. Each year, 70,000 people fill the seats to enjoy the show. Tens of millions of people watch the television broadcast from their living rooms.

After the parade, the non-Brazilian dancers return to their home countries and share their passion for samba.

Samba dance classes

During classes, students dressed in athletic⁵ wear can be seen moving their feet in the quick samba steps as their arms make circles. Their hips⁷ go to the right and left as they keep their heads and shoulders as still as possible. Doing these things well together is important to the dance form.

On the floor in front of the dancers lies a soft, thin object which they must avoid touching⁸ with each step as their teacher calls out the tempo⁹.

These are no classes for beginners. All foreigners have passed a difficult exam to join this high-level course and train with Brazilians who have danced samba since childhood. The course is free. But leaving their jobs for long periods is not. It is evidence of their loyalty¹⁰ to samba.

Once a week, the students join the full Paraiso do Tuiuti for a rehearsal² on the road leading up to the school. Passistas and drummers, all wearing yellow clothing, temporarily turn the dark street into a small Sambadrome.

"It is very intimidating¹¹," Hahn-Chaplin told the Associated Press about dancing as a foreigner in front of several hundred people at rehearsals. "We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make the mark."

Unlike dances from other Latin American countries, samba has largely stayed inside Brazil's borders but has become hugely popular in recent years. These days, samba schools are being launched throughout the world as far away as Australia and Russia.

Samba's music and dance have roots in Africa, specifically Angola and Congo. The custom started in what is now Bahia State, in northeastern Brazil, then spread throughout the country.

Foreigners at Rio's Carnival

Back home in England, Hahn-Chaplin works as a language teacher and also teaches dance. In Rio de Janeiro, she is one of 15 foreigners who came to study this year with teacher Alex Coutinho. The best dancers join Paraiso do Tuiuti in its official parade on February 23.

Coutinho, who is 30, said foreign participation¹² in Carnival grows every year, with dancers returning again and again to learn the latest moves.

"Samba dancers, as with any other profession, need to recycle themselves. Every year, there will be a new thing: a different arm move, a different step," Coutinho said. "They come here, do classes and return to their countries with the skills to pass on to their students. They're propagating¹³ our culture."

Hahn-Chaplin, for example, dances samba every year in Bath, England. Another dancer, Sashya Debrito, heads a samba school in Australia and performs shows in Sydney. She says samba gets more popular there every year.

Rie Tankana came all the way to Rio from Japan, where she performs at Tokyo's yearly Carnival celebration.

"It's happiness in my life. It's healing," said Tankana, who is 33 years old. When she is not dancing, she is a jobs recruiter¹⁴ in Osaka.

A 2019 video of Tankana in Kobe, Japan, shows her front and center, leading a group of Japanese samba dancers with shiny wings on their arms.

She first found Paraiso do Tuiuti School on Instagram in 2019 and is participating for the first time this year.

Words in This Story

rehearsal – n. an event at which a person or group practices an activity to prepare for a public performance

passion – n. a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something

hip⁶ – n. the part of your body between your waist and legs on each side

tempo – n. the speed at which a musical piece is played or sung

drummer – n. a person who plays a drum or set of drums

intimidating – adj. having a frightening, overawing or threatening effect

recycle – v. to use something again

propagate¹⁵ – v. to make something, such as an idea or belief, known to many people

recruiter – n. a person who finds suitable people to join a company

1 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

2 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

3 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 massive   

adj.巨大的，大规模的，大量的，大范围的

参考例句：

• A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
• He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。

5 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

6 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

7 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

9 tempo   

n.(音乐的)速度；节奏，行进速度

参考例句：

• The boss is unsatisfied with the tardy tempo.老板不满于这种缓慢的进度。
• They waltz to the tempo of the music.他们跟着音乐的节奏跳华尔兹舞。

10 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

11 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

12 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

13 propagating   

繁衍，增殖( propagate的现在分词 )； 传播，宣传，普及

参考例句：

• Gene cloning provides a means of purifying and propagating specific DNA segments. 基因克隆化提供了一种纯化和扩增特定DNA片段的方法。
• What are the pigeons doing outside? Eating, sleeping, propagating! 门外的那些鸽子在干什么？吃，睡，繁衍！

14 recruiter   

n.招募者

参考例句：

• The tele recruiter is prompted by a variety of questions, depending on your answers. 针对你不同的回答，这位考官还会提出些不同的问题。
• A recruiter can give you insider pointers and advice. 一个招聘人可以为你提供内行人的观点与建议。

15 propagate   

vt.繁（增）殖，传播，使普及；vi.繁（增）殖

参考例句：

• The political party started the newspaper to propagate its ideas.那个政党创办一份报纸来宣传该党的观点。
• Most plants propagate by seeds.大多数植物都是通过种子繁殖的。