Gorgeous weather for the Sevens Parade this year – hooray!
We were right at the front of the parade again this year, which was nice. Huge crowds, lots of sunshine and a whole lot of happy people. We love the Sevens! Continue reading
We are running a new block of Brazilian samba dance workshops, in preparation for CubaDupa and beyond…
All are welcome – even if you’ve never danced before, we can teach you. Intermediate levels and above are also very welcome – we will tailor our workshops to your level.
Our two fabulous dance directors, Arawhetu Berdinner and Hillary Reid will be taking the workshops, with the aim (if you want to!) of getting you ready to perform with us at CubaDupa. Wellington Batucada will be performing at CubaDupa on March 28 and 29, together with all the other samba schools from around the country, and we’re looking to boost our dancer numbers to create a really spectacular show. It’s gonna be awesome! Continue reading
Thank you so very very much to all our friends, family, supporters and – perhaps most of all – to the Bat-members themselves, who dug deep, put their hands in their own pockets, and invited anyone they could think of to help us in our next grand endeavour.
Our final total was 104% of our target, at $10,430, with 59 donors – and we reached 100% with two days to spare.
Thank you to:
Alison Green, Alan Shuker, H Carmody, Miett Fear, Anonymous, Darryn Sigley, Graham Dwyer, Charlene Hillyard, Cedric Papion, Barin Das, Anonymous, Anonymous, Gordon Cessford, Simon Bowden, Geoff Simmons, Anonymous, Nick Simcock, Keith Ferguson, Jane Watson-Baker, Jenny Lea, Kate McAlpine, Anonymous, Deborah Harris, Nina Grattan, Alexandra Lutyens, Annette Paul, Michael James, Anonymous, Paula Warren, Lisa Leask, Trish Sullivan, Anonymous, Lizzie Young, Jeanette Spicer, Lise Hutcheon, Ros Nelson Breast Limited Pochin, Dana Mitchell, Zelda Gilbert, Anonymous, J Dwane, Anonymous, Anonymous, Carin Sundstedt, Megan Hand, Alex Gough, Martin Horspool, Hamish Garland, Anonymous, Anonymous, Carol Green, Tabitha Arthur, Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous, Andreas Leitz, Maire Harding, Tanya Nock, Anonymous, Sunita Singh, plus a whole host of other Wellington Batucada members who threw money in the hat for us at our Christmas party (I wish I’d written all your names down!).
…and a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to our fantastic Match Donor, Mr Chris Parkin from the Museum Art Hotel who has matched our $5k dollar for dollar to give us $10k in total.
YOU ALL ROCK.
Here’s our page on Boosted so you can bask in the glory of those numbers – and here’s a picture for you of a whole host of very happy Samba people – from all over New Zealand – who will be playing together for your entertainment and listening/dancing pleasure at CubaDupa next March:
Now go check out the CubaDupa website and see what wonders await you!
…so here’s ours – a thousand reasons to make a donation towards the CubaDupa Carnival Zone via our Boosted campaign. So far we have raised $4,710 towards the total of $10,000 – and we have only 6 more days in which to raise the remaining 53%. Would you like to become part of the team and join us in our journey?
THANK YOU xxxxxx
Continue reading
Busking for WOMAD votes on Courtenay Place
Photo by Alan Shuker
Check out the WOMAD website!!!
Dear Batucada friends and family, Bat-members past, present, and future…
It’s been one heck of a ride.
Over the past 8 weeks we have worked together on an awesome common goal – to win the opportunity to perform at WOMAD next year – a festival that we love and admire.
We’ve asked pretty much everyone we know to vote for us, and then we’ve asked a whole bunch of people we don’t know to vote for us too – through our regular gigs and special vote-collecting busking sessions all over Wellington and beyond.
It’s been a heck of a busy and full-on 2 months for all of us, and I think what has impressed me the most is the huge amount of original effort, creativity and sheer guts and determination that so many people have shown. Continue reading
Another day, another vote-gathering busking session in our quest to win the People’s Choice competition and play at WOMAD next year. Woop! Woop!
This time we entertained the lovely folks at the Wellington Night Market on a Friday evening, the front row wearing the W-O-M-A-D headpieces that Carin made (she’s so creative!).
Instead of playing I went around the audience with my clipboard, explaining why we were playing and what it was for, and gathering votes. I filled two or three pages with names and email addresses, all of which were duly entered onto the WOMAD website with confirmation emails sent to the voters themselves. The system is working! We’re doing well!
Full rendition of Ijexá – video by Phuong Nguyen
Wellington Batucada is delighted to announce that we have found a match donor for the CubaDupa Carnival Zone. We met Chris Parkin of the Museum Art Hotel at the CubaDupa launch event on Monday, got chatting, and he has agreed to become our partner! How fabulous.
The Museum Art Hotel will match all donations made to the Carnival Zone Boosted campaign, up to the value of $5,000. Thanks a million Chris! You are wonderful. Now all we have to do is help Chris decide what instrument he wants to play in the band.
Find out more about the Carnival Zone and make a donation to our Boosted campaign. You know you want to! Your donation will enable us to create a themed zone with music, dance and carnival arts in Upper Cuba Street. Costumes, street dressings, puppets and a stage set will bring Cuba Street alive with colour celebrating the street and the people who make up the creative pulse of our capital.
Creating a spectacle at the 2009 Cuba Street Carnival
We are honoured to have been chosen as one of seven groups to spearhead the Wellington CubaDupa Boosted campaign. Each group will be featured as part of next year’s inaugural CubaDupa festival, being held in and around Cuba Street, 28th & 29th March 2015. The Boosted campaign aims to raise an additional $250,000 to match the Wellington City Council’s generous $250,000 funding, which will make CubaDupa the awesome event that we know it can be.
The Carnival Zone target on Boosted is to raise $10,000, which we hope will be equalled by a generous match donor. Wellington Batucada will also be putting in $10,000 of our own money.
Featuring Wellington Batucada and samba groups from across New Zealand; the Carnival Zone will fill the streets with music, dance and festivity throughout the weekend. Continue reading
Wellington Batucada has entered the competition to perform as a roving band at WOMAD 2015. The band that gets the most votes, wins.
Check out our video:
If you think we would be good at WOMAD, how about giving us your vote?
To vote, click on the Batucada entry page on the WOMAD website and cast your vote. You’ll get an email asking you to confirm your vote (check your junk mail folder if you don’t).
Thanks so much! Every vote counts, because you can only vote once from any given email address.
If you have friends who might also consider supporting us, please pass this info on to them.
Wellington Batucada in the RWC 2011 All Blacks victory parade
Photo by NZ Sevens (click to enlarge)
We are pleased to announce that the new series of beginners’ drumming workshops will start at 12.45pm on Sunday 12 October 2014, and will run till 3pm. There will be 6 workshops in total, and costs are $60 for the series if paid in full, or $12.50 per workshop. Continue reading