Dancers to samba through streets of Liverpool

Jul 24 2008 By Gail Thomson

LIVERPOOL’S thoroughfares will be pulsing to the beat of 600 samba drums next weekend when the city hosts its first ever Rio De Janeiro Brazilian Street Party.

Percussionists from Liverpool Samba School will join glittering floats and wear exuberant costumes late into the night.

The Brazilian Street Party, on August 2, is the brainchild of Roger and Maeve Morris, who put it together after 20 years with the samba school.

The party begins at 8.30pm at the Arts Centre on Myrtle Street, Liverpool, where Brazil's oldest and most famous samba school, Mangueria, will be joined by schools from around the country London, Manchester, Holland, Ireland, Germany, Spain and Liverpool.

Dancers from the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, Liverpool Community College and NLA will also join them.

The drummers and dancers will then parade through the centre Liverpool city centre via Bold Street, Slater Street, Wood Street, Concert Square, Fleet Street, Duke Street and Great George Street, finishing at the Chinese Arch in Chinatown at about 10pm.

The party will continue into the night at a carnival show at The Picket on Jordan Street. No Fakin DJs, fresh from collaborating with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Vasily Petrenko, will be providing sounds, along with Mangueria.

Tickets are £5. Go to www.carnival.org.uk for more details.