Success in So Many Ways!
To quote the well known phrase: what is the true measure of success? In the case of the 12th Annual Brazilian Street Carnaval, it was a success at many levels with so many to thank.
The turn out was very good and people were very happy to know that a portion of the ticket purchases went to children's charities. The Self Enlightment Institute was there with volunteers and will receive a check from the event from all of you who bought your ticket. We thank you for your participation and patronage and we thank the Self Enlightment Institute and Paulo for their incredible charity work both local and in Mexico and Brazil.
This event would not happen without the hard work and dedication to the SambaLa Samba School family of members. There are so many to thank.
Renni Flores who inspired everyone this year for our Rio-Style parade with her beautiful poetry and music in this year's theme song. She inspired so many beautiful costumes and voices to sing her song. To Gabriela, Christina, Samantha, and Danniela for all their hard practice learning and singing the song so beautifully in the studio and in the parade (see photo below).
To Jason Brancazio, all the SambaLa bateria, and the Campbell Hall bateria who learned Jason's tough break this year for the song and pulled it off "on the Avenue" (na avenida) in spectacular form.
To Pedro Ha, our Bahia bateria director who gave a one hour children's drum class that was simply amazing. Pedro's way with children is truly wonderous and we really want to have him teach children's classes in the near future.
To Valeria and all the SambaLa dancers who worked and practiced many many days to get ready for the parade, the stage shows, and their choreographies. They put on one amazing show one after another and looked gorgeous while doing so.
Thanks to our new titled dancers including Rainha Jonia McClenney our Rainha, Gina Amato our 1st Princesa, and Laura Costa our 2nd Princesa who are probably one of the most beautiful and talented group of dancers we have had in these positions for a long time.
A special thanks to all our performing groups who gave it their all and made this year's performances some of the best in our 12 year history including Michael Ruggieri, SambaJah, Made in Bahia and their great Trio-Electrico parade, Campbell Hall Bateria, Contra-Mestre Mumia and Grupo Capoeira Brasil from Long Beach, and of course SambaLa Samba School, Renni Flores, Carlinhos do Pandeiro, and the SambaLeza Dancers and Bateria.
And thanks to our sponsors and supporters including Brazil TV and Carlos Siqueira, Verizon FIOs, Rio Joe's and those great caipirinhas, the Blue Cafe and Andrew Nguyen and Cat, and the Mayor's office for sending the key to the City to our Rio VIP guests.
Some special thanks to some of the SambaLa members who went the extra mile: Raphaela Martins, Vitemar Arnold, William Dalzell III, Luzia Arnold, Leila Furumasu, Helena Lewak, and Geoff Hunter who always put extra time and energy into the event this year before and on the day.
Also thanks to Remi, the Brazilian cook who kept over 200 performers fed with her delicious Brazilian hotdogs while cooking the entire week for our VIP guests from Rio.
Finally, I want to thank three people who without them, this would not happen at all.
To Valeria and Michael of RioBela productions. They put in countless hours of work despite their heavy workload at the "real" job. Their help in publicity, music, and dance was simply amazing. Thank you so, so much.
And finally to Doris de Hilster. What can any of us say about Doris. She does more than all of us put together making all the incredible costumes for the Rio Parade and for the children, doing publicity, putting in countless hours in preparation for the event, being the event director on the day of the event taking care of the "business" end, being host to our many guests, and being mom to everyone in the school costantly listening to problems, solving conflicts, and generally keeping the psychological state of the school in balance. Doris is one in a million. We have no words that could ever thank you.
And finally, thanks to the public. Despite the move inside and a small area outside, the 12th Annual Brazilian Street Carnaval was a resounding success. I heard compliments all day long and those I accept with great pride because it is truly a community effort that makes SambaLa one of the great Brazilian organizations in the Los Angeles area. We all can be proud in the local Brazilian community that we put on in my opinion, the best Brazilian event on the west coast - bar none.
And you too can join SambaLa as a member and be part of this great community and have Rio Brazilian Fun! Just go to http://membership.sambala.org and learn more about our non-profit organization.
Finally, we have a taste of some of our photos from this year's event by professional photographer Antoine Themistocleous. Look forward in the coming weeks to many more photos from Antoine and videos from the event from Brazil TV.
photos.carnaval.org
We hope our event will have made the world a better and more fun place for not only a day, but for many more for the children to be helped by your patronage and contributions. Let's continue to make this world a better place and give our children a bright and happy future.
Parabens para todos!
-David de Hilster
SambaLa President
