Normally when we are invited to parade on or around the field at a Wellington Phoenix game, they lose. OMG! The curse of the samba drummers!
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Wellington Batucada’s Menagerie performance – the official video. Video by The Menagerie Variety Show 2018.
The last time we were on-stage at the Opera House was for the DANZdance20 gig back in 2013 – so it’s been a while.
25 drummers and 10 dancers from Batucada took to the stage for The Menagerie Variety Show – invited as the “intermission entertainment” – and a brilliant time was had by all.
It was a long day – beginning with a stage walk-through at 3pm. It’s always reassuring to be able to experience the stage and plan how you’re going to get on and off before you do a big gig like this one – and producer extraordinaire Rachel Rouge and her team made sure that every one of the multiple acts in this fabulous Variety Show were able to do just that.
The Opera House is such a beautiful old building – a perfectly grand and decorative old-fashioned theatre – with a veritable rabbit warren of dressing rooms on multiple levels behind the scenes. When you reach the bottom of the many flights of stairs from your dressing room you step through the door from the light-filled stairwell into a dimly-lit and cavernous backstage area. It’s another world.
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We adore CubaDupa. In the four short years that it’s been running it has become one of the best festivals on Wellington’s annual calendar, and it’s one that we put a huge amount of effort into in terms of costuming and trying out new performance pieces.
Highlights of our main stage performance.
Video footage by John Conly and Michael Sloley, compiled by Michael Sloley.
This year we did two things we’ve never done before. We designed our own patterned fabric especially for CubaDupa and made our own costumes with it; and we introduced two fabulous singers into the mix – Alda Rezende and Nikkie Rich – who sang traditional Brazilian songs while we accompanied them on our drums.
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What a beautiful day for a mad drumming and dancing session through Newtown. A perfect (actually, incredibly hot) day in the middle of The Best Summer Ever – and here we all are at the Newtown Fair, one of our favourite gigs of the year.
We had a ton of first-time performers with us for this gig, as the band is busy preparing for CubaDupa. We’re giving our most recent intake of drummers the opportunity to get a bit of parade practice in before the night parade down Cuba Street in a couple of weekend’s time. Exciting!
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In addition to our gig on Tuesday night for the Hurricanes game, we were also asked to double down for the All Blacks game on Saturday with a total of five gigs, spread throughout the day and into the evening. Of course we said yes.
Wellington Batucada perform for the Lions Tour – playing Samba. Video by John Bosomworth.
Whereas the weather for the ‘Canes game had been really quite friendly for a winter’s evening – cold but not too cold, no wind, no rain (fantastic!) It was an altogether different story on Saturday night. Wellington served up a hefty dose of seriously crappy weather – cold, windy, and rather a lot of rain. Oh joy!
On a freezing cold day in May, Batucada drummers and dances warmed up Cuba Street with our rhythms and beats. We were taking part in the Mary Potter Hospice street appeal once again, and a great time was had by all.
A week or so later we received this lovely message from the Mary Potter Hospice:
Thank you so very much for volunteering your time for our Mary Potter Hospice Street Collection. … You will be happy to hear we raised $84,762 over the two days of our Street Collection. We really couldn’t do it without this support – so thank you!!
We began Race Relations Day with a short performance on Wellington’s beautiful waterfront to warm us all up. We gathered quite a crowd, which was brilliant because the point of the exercise was to lead them into Shed 6 where the event was taking place.
After the formal speeches and welcomes, the festival had organised for Wellington performance groups from a whole range of different cultural backgrounds to each do a short performance on the main stage.
Wellington Batucada was one of the first groups on-stage, and we had a wonderful time. Thanks heaps to the organisers for inviting us to this inaugural event – may you have many more!
Our second gig of the year so far, and quite a reasonable turn-out, including some lovely faces who we haven’t seen for a while – hello Shelly and Kat! It’s good to see you again!
The sun shone, and the wind did not make an appearance (which was quite fabulous, considering that this summer has been, so far, The Worst Summer Ever, weather-wise).
Tim C did the honours with the directing, and challenged us with (I think) our first live performance of Timbalada, which went pretty well.
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
A small and select group from Wellington Batucada helped celebrate 100 Days to the Paralympics at Te Papa. Great fun was had by all.
We started filtering through the doors of Te Papa around 11:30 and waited for the rest of the band to arrive. As we waited, the Brazilian Embassy delegation arrived and, as always, Eduardo (the ambassador) showed his charm and general cool dude tendencies by stopping by to say hello to his adopted community samba group. Continue reading