September 03, 2014
Brazil is famous for its carnival festivals, where thousands parade the streets of the Rio de Janeiro, dancing to raucous samba rhythms. This summer, the beautiful city of Rio was the host city for the 2014 World Cup, meaning that the whole world wanted to get involved in the colourful carnival action.
Here at One Day, we were no different! This summer has seen us working with thousands of children across the country – Samba Drumming, Carnival Dancing and learning about the history and culture of Brazil.
All of the workshops we delivered were designed to excite young minds and to encourage teamwork, confidence building, healthy living and learning about new cultures. Pupils learnt about international culture and acquired new skills through active participation, creativity and fun.
Our aim was to bring a slice of Brazil into every school hall and boy did we deliver! Fully booked almost everyday, our directors drummed, danced and acted their little socks off to provide some of the most exciting workshops that we at One Day have ever experienced.
The Brazilian Dance workshops taught the children a variety of dance styles from Cha Cha Cha to Bolero, with some classes even learning the adventurous martial art dance, Capoeira. The feedback from our Directors was that this was particularly popular with the boys! The performances used masks, flags and Brazilian music to really bring the carnival atmosphere to life.
Teaming up with the mighty musicians from Rock School UK, the Samba Drumming workshops gave the children the opportunity to try out different types of percussion instruments including Surdos, Djembes, Tamborims and (a personal favourite) Agogo Bells. They learnt simple rhythms using memorable phrases such as “I like Fish and Chips” and learnt to call and respond on their instruments.
The ‘Ola Brazil’ workshop took the children on a journey of discovery through Brazilian culture, where they marvelled at the amazing history of a wonderful nation. With the whole country ‘football-crazy’ it seemed only right they took a look at the excitement around the World Cup and understood the importance of leading an active and healthy lifestyle! At the end of the day the children performed a play to their peers and parents, which was of such good quality you would be forgiven for thinking they had been rehearsing for weeks!
Now the term has sadly come to an end. However, I don’t think this is the last we will see of our Brazilian culture workshops. With some schools already rebooking next year and the Olympics in 2016 transporting us back to Brazil, I imagine the world will go carnival crazy once again. I, for one, can’t wait!
We are so pleased with our fantastic One Day team for their hard work this summer, but don’t take our word for it – see what our schools had to say…
“Thank you so much for your talent and organisation! It has really brought our Brazil topic to life and we thoroughly enjoyed both the dance and drumming workshops. I was absolutely delighted with the final performance and the children really pulled it out of the bag during the end of day performance. Parental engagement was fantastic and they commented on how well the children had participated. I was particularly pleased that the boys took part in the dance workshop as I was apprehensive about their engagement in that workshop. They got on board with the masks, and the director made it completely accessible for all.” – Boundary Primary School, Blackpool
“In terms of feedback, one word, fantastic! The Dance Carnival Brazil workshop on the Monday was fantastic, the reception children were still re-enacting the dances in class in the afternoon! The quality of the children’s dancing was amazing. The Ola Brazil drama days were also incredible and the staff and parents were very impressed with the resulting shows at the end of the day. Loved the content of the workshop and the humour of the show! Overall, we were very impressed with the content of the workshops and the ability and manner of your representatives. We would also like to note the great value for money you provide as we often feel that some of the companies we have used provide poor quality for ridiculous prices. As a result we will definitely be using your company again.” – Holy trinity C of E Primary School, Wimbledon, London
“A super workshop where all the children were involved. Clear expectations and rules were set out to children in a friendly manner. The director was very enthusiastic and kept the children on task and engaged throughout. The children were able to follow the instructions and get straight into the drumming. Everybody really enjoyed the Samba drumming! Both teachers and children said how great it was. Special thanks to the director or being adaptable around our whole school assembly, well-organised and motivated for every single group.” – Pendle Primary School, Lancashire