Last month we were informed that one of the Top Carnival Queens of Rio de Janeiro, Shayene Cesario, would not represent the tradtional Estacio de Sa Samba School for the 2012 Carnival. As you will read below, Shayene was an excellent queen and was authentically born and raised in the Estacio Community. Her family as well, was raised there. Her mother represented the school in the early days, as a passistas too.

We are sure Shayene, who is finishing her Law Degree, will find new opportunities both because of her charisma and also because of her great Carnival and samba skills. As homage to Shayene, we will reproduce below two videos of Shayene, so carnival lovers can see her again. The horizons for this beautiful Brazilian are open wide and she deserves all the success possible to her personal and professional life.



We send our best wishes to the new 2012 Carnival Queen for Estacio de Sá, Vania Love, which is also a devoted samba lover and dancer.



Below the 2 videos, we posted a small Bio of Shayene, extacted from Brazil Carnival Ooah! Site.

Let´s get to know this Carnival Goddess a bit more: Shayene Cesário is a 27 years old model and law student born in Rio de Janeiro. The lovely Brazilian brunette has indigenous, European, and Afro-Brazilian roots, which clearly constructed that extraordinary look.
The Carnaval Goddess was raised in the traditional São Carlos neighborhood and started to parade at the early age of 8 with Estácio de Sá Samba School in Rio. Last year, after being considered a muse for the soccer team “Botafogo”, one of her other passions, Shayene Cesário found about Carnival Rio Girls Queen and Princess Contest promoted by RIOTUR, by a friend. Shayene rightfully enrolled at the conquest since she knew she had a good “samba dance routine” and loved carnival too.



When the Official Rio de Janeiro Queen and Princess Contest was over, Shayene Cesário could never imagine she would be crowned the Official Rio de Janeiro Carnival Queen, winning over 12 other contenders. The decision was made by a judging panel that considered several attributes for the final scores, including samba dance, overall charisma, sympathy, body elegance and facial expressions.

In 2011, Shayene became the official Estacio de Sa Queen of Carnival Drums, which lasted for one year.

How do real samba dance costumes look on professional performances? This is the topic of this new post we decided to write, per request of one our readers. Samba dance costumes for professional wear are supposed to be at the same time creative, have an “impacting look”, comfortable, but mainly durable. Feathers falling from the samba costumes, for example, are not supposed to be seen on the catwalk / or stage, not say the beads or crystals incrusted in the bikini tops or other adornments. This is an item where many suppliers don´t pay much attention. As we have written in other articles, samba dance costume quality made should last since some of the touring samba show may last for months!! To help us illustrate our point, Belavista-Rio posted below some real video footage (filmed in Rio de Janeiro ) to assist our readers understand and see how samba dance bikinis or costumes look on a stage, samba rehearsal, or in a parade. On this post, we selected three videos where different kinds of samba dance costumes and samba bikinis costumes were used in the Brazilian carnival for different purposes.




The selected videos are not long and truly help samba dancers and carnival lovers not only to see how the costumes are presented on the Brazilian carnival, but also how they are “maneuvered” by the famous “passistas”. We hope you will get a glimpse of these samba costumes features and inspire yourself not only to “invent” your costume but also to review some of the most fabulous Brazilian samba dance routines on the planet, roots based, in the home of samba: Rio de Janeiro. In this selection of samba dance & samba bikini costumes, you will see the real “passistas” – the Portuguese word which defines professional samba dancers, in most common scenarios where they are used to present themselves. We will explain in the caption above the video.

Samba Dance Costume Video 1: Samba "Quadra" Rehearsal:



This first video above shows more than a dozen of samba passistas from Estácio de Sá Samba School in a presentation. You will be able to notice you simply don´t see glitter, beads, stones, feathers on the floor of the samba-school "quadra, even though the samba dance routine is very energetic.


Samba Dance Costume Video 2: Indoor Presentation:



On this second samba dance video, the two samba dancers use a different kind of samba bikini costumes, which have part of their arms covered to add glam and elegance. You will also see the the abundance of feathers and the amazing samba routines which enchanted the spectators of the Porto Bay Hotel in Copacabana, in their traditional Carnival Feijoada- Carnival Beans Stew. Still, the costumes "stood firm and still".


Samba Dance Costume Video 3: Queen Presentation:



<b>This last samba dance costume, is a different kind you are used to see. It is normally more elaborate, with more stones, beads, and embroidery work, and used by Carnival Queens, Princesses, and Muses. It´s certainly glamorous, and adds a special elegance to a presentation. In this case this samba dance costume is a dress, sparkled with Svarowski Cystals. Is was used by the famous Shayene Cesário, Queen of Rio de Janeiro Carnival 2010, and Queen of Estacio de Sa Samba School in 2011.