Casa Samba is a New Orleans-based, authentic Brazilian Escola de Samba (samba school). Mayor Sidney Barthelemy proclaimed Casa Samba as the first samba school in New Orleans on July 21, 1993. Director, Curtis Pierre, and Brazilian master drummer, Jorge "Alabe" Bezerra, lead the group with the assistance of Carol Barber. Casa Samba's primary goal is to present audiences with an authentic Brazilian Carnival and folk arts experience.
Their goal is to train children and adults in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf South into aspiring practitioners of traditional Brazilian music, cultural arts and dance. Casa Samba does this through weekly open rehearsals and frequent school and university workshops. We showcase our professional performances at major hotels, festivals, conventions and special events and through our annual participation in several Mardi Gras parades and coronations such as Endymion and Zulu and at the New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival. Appropriately enough, Casa Samba first emerged in 1986 during the Mardi Gras season.
Casa Samba's performances combine dance, theater, vocals and drumming to capture the spirit of Carnival in Brazil, as well as presenting a history of the African influence of its culture, music and dance. Just as "second line is to New Orleans, so is samba to Brazil." Our performances presents audiences with a folkloric show that includes the sounds of the Amazon; Candomble, a cultural representation of African spiritual dances of the Orixas; Maculele (a stick dance); Capoeira,, an Afro-Brazilian martial arts form, and other folkloric dances. The show culminates with a finale the start people moving on to the infectious samba beat to a fantastic re-creation of Carnival parade of Brazil. All costumes, songs, and dance performances are authentically faithful to Brazilian tradition.
Their goal is to train children and adults in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf South into aspiring practitioners of traditional Brazilian music, cultural arts and dance. Casa Samba does this through weekly open rehearsals and frequent school and university workshops. We showcase our professional performances at major hotels, festivals, conventions and special events and through our annual participation in several Mardi Gras parades and coronations such as Endymion and Zulu and at the New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival. Appropriately enough, Casa Samba first emerged in 1986 during the Mardi Gras season.
Casa Samba's performances combine dance, theater, vocals and drumming to capture the spirit of Carnival in Brazil, as well as presenting a history of the African influence of its culture, music and dance. Just as "second line is to New Orleans, so is samba to Brazil." Our performances presents audiences with a folkloric show that includes the sounds of the Amazon; Candomble, a cultural representation of African spiritual dances of the Orixas; Maculele (a stick dance); Capoeira,, an Afro-Brazilian martial arts form, and other folkloric dances. The show culminates with a finale the start people moving on to the infectious samba beat to a fantastic re-creation of Carnival parade of Brazil. All costumes, songs, and dance performances are authentically faithful to Brazilian tradition.
