This year’s theme’ Passando a Chama – Passing the flame’ has created some amazing and exciting costumes (like our beautiful ala Passista female costume, below, designed by Elin Ritter of Posto9 Samba Couture) that will be fun and easy to make , click HERE to see the rest of this year’s designs.

If you are parading in carnival you need to attend at least 5 workshop sessions between May and July, but we recommend coming as often as you can to ensure your costume is completed on time and to help out the whole team. Even if you’re not performing you are still welcome to come down and help out.

Our 2012 Carnivals registration is now open and it’s time to get your skates on if you want to perform in our Summer of Carnivals. You need to submit your choices by this Friday 18th May, as we’ll start to allocate places to people who have expressed interest in participating.

We had a fantastic Carnival costume launch @ Bar Salsa last Tuesday when we revealed all our spectacular costumes for this year, we’ve also decided on this year’s theme song (samba de enredo), so now all we need is people to make it all happen!

This year our Carnival Season is going to be a bit different.  It’s gonna be bigger and badder than ever before! We’re taking part in 6 Carnivals and we want as many people as possible, of all ages, to get involved!

Whether you’re a dancer, percussionist or you’d just like to help out there are plenty of opportunities this year like coming to our Costume making workshops and participating for free as a steward.

For more information have a look at our 2012 Carnivals page more details on this year’s theme Passando a Chama – Passing the Flame’ as well as Registering, Performing, Costumes, Outreach and our Floats!

BOM CARNAVAL!!

Dear LSS Members & Friends,

If you have not already officially registered to participate in the Flaghandover Ceremony via the Flaghandover 2012 website, please do so by clicking here and going to the Register Now page to complete your details. You must do this to officially register to take part.

The Flaghandover Ceremony will form part of the 2012 Olympics Closing ceremony, where the Olympics Flags are handed from London 2012 to the next host Rio. The organisers will be putting together a Brazilian show which will involve about 300 samba dancers and drummers.

Auditions will be taking place this weekend and every weekend until 27th May. It is NOT too late to apply, but please do so as soon as possible and before the final weekend of auditions, if you are interested.

If you have already officially registered via the Flaghandover website, the organisers will be calling you in the coming days and weeks to arrange a time for you to audition. Please be on the look out for their phone call, as this is the only way they will be contacting applicants to confirm auditions.  Once you have confirmed a time for auditioning, they will send you info like details of audition venue, what to expect and what you’ll need to bring.  Auditions will held in groups but selection with be on an individual basis.

Please note:  You do not have to be a member of LSS to participate at the Flaghandover Ceremony. If you are not a member of the London School of Samba you can still apply for the chance to perform,  however if you would like to participate as a member of LSS, visit our Membership page and sign up to become a member. If you are not a performer you can volunteer.

Registration

Thank you to everyone who has expressed an interest in taking part in the Closing Ceremony – the organisers are aware of the potential number of LSSers who are interested, but there is still room for more to take part in auditions, even if you haven’t already registered an interest with us.

To take part in the auditions (as a drummer, dancer, passista etc), you will need to register yourself online here. The application asks if you perform with any group – please put London School of Samba here, as all future contact for LSS members will be through LSS.

If you are applying, you need to show that you are in the UK legally. You need to be able to show:

·         A valid driving licence or passport if you’re a British citizen

·         A valid passport if you’re from the EU (identity cards will not be accepted)

·         A visa if you’re not from the UK or EU

The Casting Director has made it clear that there’ll be no room for excuses or exceptions!

Once you register online you should receive a confirmation email from the organisers.

Auditions

Auditions take place on the following weekends:

·         12 – 13 May

·         19 – 20 May

·         26 – 27 May

Auditions will held in groups but selection with be on an individual basis.The auditions will be in Kidbrooke (SE London, about 15-20 minutes train from London Bridge), but you’ll get this info when you are contacted with an invite to audition. Registration for auditions will be open for approx another 2 weeks.

Unfortunately, LSS has no part in the auditions process.

Rehearsals

The final dates are to be confirmed; rehearsals are probably going to be in North Greenwich (Jubilee line).

Who’s involved

Creative Directors – Cao Hamburger and Daniela Thomas

Head of the Bateria – Mestre Marçalzinho of Portela

Costume Designer – Mauricio Carneiro

Where does LSS fit in?

The Casting Director is keen to have one point of contact for all LSSers after the auditions have finished. That means that if you’re successful at audition, the casting director will liaise directly with LSS, who will send out all info about rehearsals schedules etc. This also means that LSS will be held responsible for attendance and behaviour etc.

Contact info

From now on LSS will be using lssflaghandover@gmail.com to contact members interested in this opportunity (don’t worry if you used the old email address, we still have your details). The lssflaghandover@gmail.com has been set up and is being managed by the London School of Samba’s Management team, it will be used as the main point of contact for LSS members who are successful in auditioning to take part in the Flaghandover ceremony.

For more information see the official Flag Handover 2012 website

Thanks & Good Luck!
LSS Management team

The London School of Samba is run by a group of around 15 volunteers in the Operational Management Team and Trustees, but we often need extra help. Tasks can vary from as little as a couple of hours a month to a one off task, and it all helps.

Volunteering can be rewarding and fun. It can be an opportunity to make new friends, develop some new skills, or contribute an existing expertise.

If you would be interested in volunteering in anyway, then please see our volunteering page for more info.

If you missed it, catch it here on the ITV Player: http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=dancingonice (about 15 minutes in).

• ‘Brazilian Dance School of the Year’ and
• ‘Brazilian Dance Performers of the Year’

Also through in the ‘Brazilan Teacher of the Year’ category is one or our amazing teachers:

• Romero de Mangueira

This is a huge achievement being one of the top five nominees for each respective category (out of a total of 850 nominees across the LUKAS awards).

The final round of voting is open now until 9th February, please click HERE to cast your votes!

The LUKAS are the first ever awards celebrating the contribution of Britain’s burgeoning Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese communities to British society.