How to become part of Wellington Batucada

Wellington Batucada is for everyone, regardless of experience. We have a range of authentic Brazilian instruments that beginners are welcome to use and we encourage people to come and check us out at one of our regular Sunday rehearsals.

The band rehearses for two hours every Sunday from 3pm to 5pm. Our rehearsal space is at the Cook Island Hall, 220 Hanson St, Newtown. Park in the Hanson Street car park and walk up the track to the hall.

Occasionally we also hire the Pipe Band Hall for beginners’ classes and sectionals, which is situated on the left-hand side of the Hanson Street car park. Drummers and dancers sometimes rehearse separately for the first hour and then come together for the second hour.

In order to become a member, all drummers and dancers must participate in our beginners’ classes.

Beginners’ drum classes for 2025

Once a year we run a 6-week block of beginners’ drumming classes. These are held on Sundays from 1pm to 3pm, before our regular band practice. All are welcome to join these inclusive classes.

The cost is $135 for the course, with a special price of $75 for Batucada members who are keen to learn a new instrument or refresh their skills.

Drumming classes take place at the Cook Islands Society Hall, 220 Hanson St, Newtown (see map).

The beginner’s course is followed by 2 weeks of integration into the main band.

Overview of the course

This is an opportunity learn the basic techniques and patterns on a number of instruments and cover the rhythms of Brazil including samba, samba reggae and merengue. You will be guided by our directors Darryn Sigley and Tim Cooke into the wonderful world of samba.

In Wellington Batucada we play nine different percussion instruments. Find out more about our drums and other percussion.

You’re welcome to stick around and listen to the main rehearsal after each class – and we encourage our beginners to do this, as it gives you an idea of our choreography and our range of rhythms, patterns and breaks before you actually have to play them!

Registering for the 2025 drumming course

Our 2024 course was held during July and August this year.

We are now accepting registrations of interest for our 2025 drumming course.

Please fill in the form on this page if you’d like to find out more.

Beginners’ dance classes for 2025

Wellington Batucada has a dedicated dance troupe, in addition to our drummers, and each of our performance pieces incorporates a choreographed dance sequence that matches the drumming pattern.

Once a year we run a six-week block of beginners’ dance classes, and all are welcome to join these inclusive classes, regardless of experience – even if you’ve never danced before! These are held on Sundays from 1pm to 3pm, before our regular band practice.

The cost is $135 for the course, with a special price of $75 for Batucada members who are keen to learn to dance or refresh their skills.

The dance classes take place at Te Whaea: National Dance & Drama Centre, 11 Hutchison Road, Newtown.

Overview of the course

Our dance director Arawhetu Berdinner will cover the basics of samba dance, guiding you through our dance moves and choreography, all of which are linked to the various rhythms, patterns and breaks played by the drummers. You will get to dance alongside members of Wellington Batucada while we teach choreography from our repertoire. No dance experience required and everyone is welcome.

Registering for the 2025 dance course

Our 2024 course was held during July and August this year.

We are now accepting registrations of interest for our 2025 dance course.

Please fill in the form on this page if you’d like to find out more.

Becoming a member

Once you have completed the beginners’ course, if you decide you’d like to join Wellington Batucada, you will begin attending main rehearsals with the rest of the band. Membership is $60 per year for both drummers and dancers, or $45 for students/unwaged.

We send out a group email each week to all our members to keep you informed about gigs, rehearsals and any other news we need to share with you.

We also provide our members with access to our extensive on-line collection of training and rehearsal videos, performance notes, and drum notation for each of our rhythms, with pattern variations for all our instruments – very useful for practicing at home!

There’s a members-only Facebook page for drummers and dancers, and each section also has its own Facebook group where we share videos and drumming techniques.

Performing with Wellington Batucada

Generally known as earning your uniform – but also known as earning your trousers!

Everyone is different. Some people arrive at Wellington Batucada with absolutely zero experience in playing any kind of instrument, while others may already have musical skills or previous drumming and/or dance experience. If you’ve started from scratch it may take a little longer, and if you’re already an accomplished musician or dancer it may be a bit quicker, but on average once you’ve been with us for 6-18 months you will probably feel ready to perform with the band.

Getting signed-off to perform

When you’re ready to perform (and there’s no set time period – it’s when you are ready) you can ask one of our directors to watch you playing or dancing during a rehearsal. They will assess your ability and look at whether you know the rhythms, breaks and choreography well enough to perform and whether you can keep up with the speed at which we play.

At the end of the rehearsal they will give you their feedback and tell you whether they think you’ve reached the standard needed to perform. Some people get signed-off at their first attempt, and for others the directors may recommend that you spend a bit more time practicing before inviting them to re-assess you.

This assessment process allows us to retain our “everyone welcome” philosophy while ensuring that our performances reach the required standard of excellence.

Uniforms for drummers

We’ve had a few different official Batucada uniforms – initially we had one white, one black – consisting of a t-shirt or singlet and a pair of trousers. White uniforms were usually worn for day performances, and black ones at night. Then we changed to a single black uniform that we wore all the time. More recently we’ve updated again to multicoloured T-shirts (you can choose between red, blue, green or yellow, or buy all four if you want) and your own choice of white trousers, shorts, skirt or capri pants. Once you’ve been signed off you can buy the official T-shirts, the cost of which is subsidised by Wellington Batucada to keep prices affordable for everyone. Uniforms are mandatory for all performances.

For special occasions, such as CubaDupa, we make additional costume elements such as headdresses, capes and wristbands which add to the spectacle. For the past three years we have designed our own CubaDupa fabric and have used that to make costumes for all our performers.

Uniforms for dancers

The basic Wellington Batucada uniform for dancers consists of a white top, singlet or T-shirt – plus a multicoloured flowing skirt for women and white trousers for men. You provide your own top and skirt/shorts/pants in whatever style you like, and add flowers, sparkles and whatever else you wish.

Our dancers generally get together for a sewing bee to make new costumes every year or so, often to coincide with a big event such as the Wellington Sevens, CubaDupa or the Rugby World Cup. The cost is subsidised by Wellington Batucada to keep prices affordable for everyone. Uniforms are mandatory for all performances.

Our general-purpose uniform is quite modest by samba standards, but for special occasions, such as CubaDupa, we make costumes that are much closer to Brazilian-style carnaval – and therefore somewhat more revealing.

We also have a range of other Wellington Batucada official clothing for sale to members, including Batucada t-shirts, sweatshirts and zipped hoodies.