Category Archives: Dance

Beginners dance and drumming course 2019

comment

Come and join us!

Beginners dance and drumming course 2019Come and learn to drum and dance alongside members of Wellington Batucada. Sign up for the Beginners courses now for 2019.

Dates have been confirmed for 3 x two-hour workshops to be run every second Sunday for both Dancers and Drummers on the following dates: 11th & 25th August and 8 September.

Dancers will be in the Pipe Band Hall and the Drummers up at the Cook Island Society Hall. On the alternate Sunday beginners will be invited to visit band practice and watch.

Cost of workshops to beginners will be $60 for all 3 x two-hour sessions, to be paid up front. There’s also a special price of $25 for current Batucada members.

Sign up here!

Batucada beginners’ dance course starts 5 August 2018

comment

Who’d like a piece of the Samba action?

Arawhetu and Hillary lead the dancers at Newtown Fair 2018 - photo by Paul Taylor

Our next Batucada beginners’ dance course begins 5 August 2018.

You will get to dance alongside members of Wellington Batucada while our Dance Directors teach choreography from our Samba repertoire. No dance experience required and everyone is welcome (all genders).

The cost for the beginners’ course is $80 for 6 weeks. Or you can pay $20 per individual session.

Dance course dates

Venue: Thistle Hall, 293 Cuba St, Te Aro Wellington.

Our beginners’ dance classes will be held every Sunday for 6 weeks, in two 3-week blocks. Classes run from 1pm to 3pm as follows:

Week Date Time Venue
Week 1 Sunday 5 August 1-3pm Thistle Hall
Week 2 Sunday 12 August 1-3pm Thistle Hall
Week 3 Sunday 19 August 1-3pm Thistle Hall
NO CLASS Sunday 26 August NO CLASS
Week 4 Sunday 2 September 1-3pm Thistle Hall
Week 5 Sunday 9 September 1-3pm Thistle Hall
Week 6 Sunday 16 September 1-3pm Thistle Hall

Continue reading

Batucada beginners’ dance course starts 27 August 2017

comment

Learn to dance samba with Wellington Batucada!

Newtown Fair 2016

Our next Batucada beginners’ dance course begins 27 August 2017.

Dance course dates

Our beginners’ dance classes will be held every Sunday for 6 weeks from 2pm to 4pm as follows:

Week Date Time Venue
Week 1 Sunday 27 August 2-4pm Thistle Hall
Week 2 Sunday 3 September 2-4pm Thistle Hall
Week 3 Sunday 10 September 2-4pm Thistle Hall
NO CLASS Sunday 17 September The band will be away at the Hastings Blossom Festival
Week 4 Sunday 24 September 2-4pm Whitireia Performing Arts Centre – Studio 1 on Level 2
Week 5 Sunday 1 October 2-4pm Whitireia Performing Arts Centre – Studio 1 on Level 2
Week 6 Sunday 8 October 2-4pm Whitireia Performing Arts Centre – Studio 1 on Level 2

Continue reading

Batucada beginners dance workshops coming soon!

5

Time to get your groove on for summer

Batucada dancers performing at the Newtown Fair, 2016 - photo by Paul Taylor

Batucada dancers performing at the Newtown Fair, 2016 – photo by Paul Taylor

Join the Wellington Batucada this summer and dance your heart out at the CubaDupa festival!

A six week block of samba workshops designed to get you festival ready*.

Level – beginner to intermediate samba, previous dance experience a bonus but not essential.

Dates for the 2017 summer workshops are as follows:

Date Venue Address
Sunday 29 January 2017 Toi Poneke 61-69 Able Smith Street
Mon 6 February (Waitangi weekend) Thistle Hall 293 Cuba St
Sunday 12 February Thistle Hall 293 Cuba St
Sunday 19 February Thistle Hall 293 Cuba St
Sunday 26 February Thistle Hall 293 Cuba St
Saturday 4 March Te Whaea (Drama 3) 11 Hutchison Rd

Time: 2.00pm – 3.45pm
Cost: $60 for the block of six classes or $15 casual rate per class

* Participation in CupaDupa and other festivals is encouraged but you’re free attend the dance workshops without performing. Please note the dates, as most are on Sundays with the exception of Monday 6 February and Saturday 4 March.

Bring – Drink bottle, soft shoes/sneakers and exercise wear or loose clothing.

For more information please contact: wellingtonbatucada@gmail.com or call us on 027 253 7288.

CubaDupa Day 1 - dancers and band onstage - photo by Alan Shuker

CubaDupa Day 1 – dancers and band onstage – photo by Alan Shuker

Long weekend dance workshops with Josiane Santos

comment

22-24 October 2016 (Labour Weekend) – come and join us!

Wellington Batucada is excited to introduce this series of dance workshops to the capital.

Teacher Josiane Santos is an exuberant force, igniting her classes with the warmth and passion she holds for her culture. The talented Brazilian has danced and performed since her childhood, and from 2002 began researching Brazilian Folk Dances as choreographic material for the production of her dance shows.

Josi has taught Afro-Dance and Samba de Gafieira workshops since 2009, and has produced and directed shows seen across Brazil, USA and Sweden. She currently resides in Byron Bay, Australia where she co-founded the Brazilian Bay Company with her partner, promoting Brazilian culture and performing arts within the community. Their inclusive and empowering approach brings joy and a great sense of achievement to those participating.

More info about the weekend’s activities can be found on our Dance workshops with Josiane Santos page.

Cost is $120 for the full three days, or payable on a per workshop basis if you prefer.

This weekend has been set up in lieu of Sambanui and is open to all samba groups in New Zealand and the wider dance community.

The workshops will take place in Wellington over 22-24 October 2016 (Labour Weekend)

Feel free to rock on up to any of the workshops and register in person. You can come to one, all or some of the workshops over the long weekend – you choose!

Learn to dance Brazilian samba for CubaDupa!

comment

If you hear the sound of the drums, and can’t sit still… this is for you!

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

A thousand reasons to support our CubaDupa Boosted campaign!

comment

They say a picture is worth a thousand words…

…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?

MAKE A DONATION TODAY!

Wellington Batucada at Cuba Street Carnival

THANK YOU xxxxxx
Continue reading

Donate to the CubaDupa Boosted campaign!

comment

Get involved as Wellington Batucada becomes part of Carnival at the top of Cuba Street

2009 Cuba Street Carnival

Creating a spectacle at the 2009 Cuba Street Carnival

MAKE A DONATION RIGHT NOW!!!

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

Beginners’ drum workshops start Sunday 12 October 2014

comment

Learn samba drumming with Wellington Batucada!

Wellington Batucada in the RWC 2011 All Blacks victory parade

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

Wellington Batucada – we’d love to play for you (retrospective video)

comment

Check out our new video

I thought it might be a good idea for us to have a showreel for the band – so I made a video…. hope you like it!

I’ve used all kinds of Batucada footage, old and new – and selected some of our best photos as well. My aim was to put together a good representation of who we are, what we do – and how much fun it is to be a member of Wellington Batucada – using the random collection of video, audio and photographs currently in our archives. It’s been a fun project!

Wellington Batucada retrospective video – We’d love to play for you
Compiled and edited by Alison Green