Brazil tourists dance even if Carnival out of reach

(4 Feb 2022) Samba lovers from around the world have flocked to Brazil to learn how to gyrate and shake to the drum-driven rhythms of samba. Many of these Carnival tourists attend classes at dozens of schools and academies in Rio and other cities around the country to prepare. Not even the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic was enough to dampen their enthusiasm for learning the dance with many still hoping they can show off their newly acquired skills when the carnival festivities kick off this coming April. This year many will be disappointed by a truncated Carnival celebration, reduced in scope and size by the pandemic, with restrictions on mass gatherings and parades, for a few weeks this April. Dozens of aspiring foreign samba dancers, some of them coming from as far away as New Caledonia, a French territory in the far South Pacific Ocean, Europe, Asia and the Americas, are attending classes at the Tiuiti Samba School located in the Historic District of Rio. For many this is the dream of a lifetime and not being able to participate because of the changes makes it all the more difficult to accept. "I have to go back to work, so I can't be at the Carnival this year," said Simone Carl, a German samba dance student taking classes at the Paraiso do Tiuiti Samba School while vacationing in Rio. "I'll just watch it on TV back home in Germany." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...