Celebrate cancer survivors and carers; remember loved ones lost to cancer; and fight back by raising awareness and funds to support the work of the Cancer Society

We’ve been taking part in the Wellington Cancer Society Relay for Life for a few years now, and we’re always very honoured to be asked back. This year was no exception.

A beautiful day, hundreds of cancer survivors, supporters and their families, with Wellington Batucada dancers and drummers all set to lead the crowd around the first lap of Frank Kitts Park.

Once the speeches were over and the event officially launched, it was our job to parade around the outer edge of Frank Kitts in celebration of the first of many (many) laps that would be completed by participants over the next 24 hours. Tim G did a great job of directing, and Sarah did an equally great job of leading the dancers. It was her first outing as dance leader, and they all looked fabulous, so well done all.

Relay for Life is always an amazing event, full of hope and positivity as well as remembrance and sadness for those lost to cancer, and we feel privileged to be a part of it. Continue reading

Fun in the sun on the streets of Newtown

I was struck by how many people came and talked to me as I wandered through the Fair earlier in the day, enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of Newtown. Easy to spot in my giant red hat and red Batucada T-shirt, I was constantly being stopped and asked “What time are you guys playing? I can’t wait to see you!”.

People really LOVE us – and for many, we complete their Newtown experience in an all-drumming, all-dancing way that they look forward to every year. I think that’s pretty awesome – and it was really nice to be reminded of that fact in such an immediate way. Continue reading

Superheroes ahoy! (again)

It was a slightly different year for the Sevens. No city centre parade this year (we love the Sevens Parade because it always gets such huge crowds – plus we always have such fun drumming the players into Civic Square).

Never mind – the theme this year was Superpowers Unleashed, so we all got dressed up in our superhero costumes again (we’ve done that theme for the Sevens before) and headed off to Thistle Hall to get picked up by bus and taken to the stadium.

This year they decided they wanted us to play twice on both days, but only on the walkway approaching the stadium, rather than doing a parade all the way along the waterfront. We missed giving a big old wave to all the costumed partygoers at all the establishments along the waterfront, but had a great time parading up and down the walkway in our costumes. It was a wee bit windy, but also a wee bit sunny, which is what you want when you’re drumming. Continue reading

Batucada goes to the seaside

It’s been a couple of years since we played at the Footvolley Championship at Oriental Bay, so we were happy to get the opportunity to perform again this year.

Gorgeous day (the Summer of 2016 will long go down in Wellington history as some of the best sustained sunshiny weather in years) and a good crowd watching the athletes doing their crazy football-crossed-with-volleyball gymnastics on the beach. Continue reading

Tinsel and starry hats in the summer sun

Lisa’s instructions for costuming were “Red or green T-shirts to match the Christmassy theme, plus whatever Christmas-related pimpimg you want to do on your drums, heads and hats”.

Some people took this more seriously than others – particularly Paquita who turned up wearing the most amazing starry headdress I’ve ever seen. Awesome!

Such a beautiful sunny day, the crowds were enormous (70,000 they said), we were pretty awesome (and oh so modest!) and Tess (surdo #3), Charlotte (caixa) and Shelly (surdo #2) all played their first gig. Great stuff! Continue reading

A new Christmas parade experience for all

So – we’ve never done the Upper Hutt Christmas Parade before, but the organisers had seen us on parade earlier in the year, absolutely loved us, and invited us to lead the 2015 event. How cool!

It’s quite a long route, which is always good because we get a real workout, and the streets were absolutely thronged with people watching the parade. Lovely atmosphere too – we had a great time.

It was Simon-the-German’s first gig with us and it was great to have him there. He plays in a samba band in Nuremberg, Germany, and saw us performing at the Coburg Samba Festival last year. He’s in New Zealand for 6 months or so on his OE, and got in touch the minute he arrived in Wellington. It’s very cool to see how far our reputation reaches these days 🙂 Continue reading

Happy National Day, Brazil!

Wellington Batucada was honoured to be invited once again to play for guests at the Brazilian Embassy’s Brazil National Day celebrations – a celebration of the 193rd Anniversary of the Independence of Brazil. The event was held on 7 September 2015 at Te Whaea (NZ School of Dance), Wellington.

A group of drummers and dancers performed at the invite-only event, with Wellington Batucada featuring at the top of the bill. Guests including the Brazilian Ambassador danced enthusiastically (and skillfully) to our Brazilian beats. Continue reading