Third day of Rio samba school parades divides opinions

The incorporation of a third day for the Rio de Janeiro Special Group samba school parades divided opinions. The decision was announced by the Independent League of Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro (Liesa) on Monday (6). The parades of the group considered to be the elite of the Rio carnival, in March 2025, will be on Sunday (2), Monday (3) and Tuesday (4).

The order of presentation has yet to be defined, but it is already certain that Unidos de Padre Miguel, champion of the Gold Series this year, will open Sunday's parades. On the second day it will be Unidos da Tijuca, 11th place this year. On Tuesday, Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel, 10th place this year, will be the first to parade.

The president of the Independent League of Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro (Liesa), Gabriel David, highlighted that the decision, as usually occurs in the entity, was taken in a plenary meeting composed of the presidents of the samba schools. In addition to another day of parades, the plenary decided that the score maps will be closed at the end of each day of presentations.

“No decision on regulations, both the creation of a third day and the closing of notes after each day of parades, is not a decision made by one person at Liesa. Those who make regulation decisions are the 12 presidents of samba schools. Only the 12 presidents vote. If there is a tie, then the president of the League has Minerva's vote, which was not the case in any of these decisions. All historical regulatory decisions over the last 40 years, since Liesa has existed, are decisions taken in plenary, so it is nothing different from what happens in the history of carnival”, explains the president of Liesa to Agência Brasil.

Against

Journalist and writer Fábio Fabato, author of the synopsis of the plot “Ask for caju that I give…Pé de caju que gives!”, with which Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel performed this year, does not agree with the creation of another date for the parades.

“In my opinion, a dangerous change, which radically alters the very competitive nature of the parade. How can we compare, for example, the first school on Sunday with the last one on Tuesday, already on Ash Wednesday, with a distance of 52 hours between them and the maps being closed each night?”, he asked.

For Fabato, the format of Sunday and Monday of Carnival allowed a relationship between the two days. “It hurts the very structure of the 'dawn saga within the party', part of its particular cultural concept, different from fixed festival line-ups, for example. The two days talked to each other, since Carnival is a competition. Now, they feel like disconnected shows,” he pointed out.

The journalist is among those who criticize the measure because he understands that the search was for greater commercialization of cabins. “My fear is that, in the eagerness to be part of the parade, the schools will become supporting actors in the show itself,” he said.

Fabato also does not agree with the way the measure was taken. “A decision made hastily, without debate with samba dancers and extremely poorly communicated. Since 1984, there has not been anything so traumatic in the sense of structural change in carnival. More dialogue was needed”, he argues.

In favor

Researcher and journalist Leonardo Bruno is favorable to change . For him, the decision is one of the moments that changes the history of carnival, as was the construction of the Sambadrome.

“At first it seems like a good idea to increase the show by one day. We will have more repercussions. The competition gains in intensity. It just seems to me that four schools per night doesn't seem like much. Perhaps the ideal would be five parades each night, totaling 15 schools in the Special Group. Let's see what this experience will be like. Schools will still adapt, they will still understand this new development that will certainly be a milestone in the history of Rio’s carnival”, he assessed.

In Leonardo Bruno's understanding, the closing of the score maps each night of the parade undermines a pillar of judgment applied until this year, which was the comparison with the conclusion only after all 12 schools performed.

“Now in 2025, what we will basically have is a comparative judgment within that day. This will mean that the result of the carnival will be a dispute between the best schools of each day. This will radically change the form of the trial. As nowadays the trial faces many problems in that it is comparative, but the jurors have, in a certain way, a more benevolent look at Monday schools and not at Sunday schools, I think it is a way of try a different proposition to see if you can better balance the dispute between days”, he explains.

“I don't know if it's the best model, but it's an attempt to make a more balanced judgment,” he commented, adding that if the experiment doesn't work out, he can return to the current model.

Liesa's position

Regarding Fabato's criticism, the president of Liesa compared the form of decision to decisions of this type that occur in all leagues around the world. “It’s like that in basketball, football, American football leagues and so on. Decisions are made by the league, the organization that takes care of that trial and that competition. We understand that all changes have a first negative effect. It’s super normal and happens in all the scenarios I’ve reported”, he argues.

Gabriel David believes that, despite all the criticisms made about the changes, 99%, if not 100%, are not true. “It is not true that it was a commercial change. It is not true that it is for the sake of profit. We need to remember that Liesa is a non-profit institution and schools are non-profit organizations and that both president and vice-president and all directors at Liesa are workers without salary, without remuneration. This change does not financially change the lives of anyone within Liesa,” he states.

Gabriel David also contested the criticism that there should be a greater number of schools per day, above the four defined in the changes. “At this point, this would also affect the access group. They ask that there is no need to go from six to four parades a day, there could be five. These are discussions that need to be discussed in the future. We cannot change the format of a league, who goes up and who goes down, after results already achieved as occurred in the last carnival”, he said.

The president of Liesa recalled that in 1984, when the parades took place over two days and no longer just one day, the change also generated criticism. “We need to remember the great controversy that occurred when Carnival was extended to two days. They said that it was absurd, that it would never work. I'm sure that if today we were to discuss carnival for just one day, no one would ever accept or consider this idea even remotely plausible. Changes have effects that are sometimes misunderstood by an audience that is not there observing, mainly, the backstage of this party, but I am sure that in the very near future these people who are criticizing today will understand the needs and importance of these changes”, he concluded.

Reasons

Gabriel David listed 11 reasons to explain the positive impacts of the new distribution of dates, which include greater public presence; democratization of the show with cheaper tickets; more protagonism with extended programming; greater financial return for the state and the municipality with the movement of tourists; more security for paraders in school gatherings, which will be closer to the entrance to the avenue; better logistics for transporting the floats to Sapucaí with a smaller number of associations per day; and more money for schools through financial transfers.

“If this results in a larger surplus correlated to carnival ticket sales, it is money that is directly passed on to schools that are non-profit organizations, and consequently they will have more money to spend on carnival and on the people and artists of carnival. The objective is to bring more and more money to the samba dancers who actually make carnival happen, who are in the sheds and on the courts bringing to life what we see every year passing through the avenue,” he said.

The president of Liesa also highlighted, among the positive points, the balance in the competition, because all schools will be able to perform before sunrise, and thus, use more of the stage lighting that has been highlighted in the last two years.

“To protect the competition, we cannot run the risk of having a school having its entire parade in daylight. This directly impacts the competition and the way each school will compete. They have to have the most similar scenarios possible so that it really is a neutral competition and the best one wins,” she explains.

The positive factors still include, in Gabriel David's view, more respect for rights because the companies involved in the show will be able to make less exhausting shifts for their employees.

Junior schools

Another point highlighted by the director is to guarantee the future of samba schools, transferring the presentations of junior schools to the day before Saturday of the Champions (8). “With the change in Carnival Tuesday, previously dedicated to children's parades, Liesa will be able to act as co-producer, in support of Aesm-Rio [Associação das Escolas de Samba Mirins do Rio de Janeiro], incorporating the event into the official Rio Carnival calendar. This will bring even more visibility, resources and, above all, greater possibilities for the development of young samba dancers, who are the future of Carnival,” he commented.

Presentations from junior schools take place on the eve of Champions Saturday – Photo: Eduardo Hollanda/Rio Carnaval/Rights reserved

The transfer of the day of the junior schools' parades is another of the changes planned for the next carnival decided at Liesa's plenary meeting. With a number of four schools on each Special Group parade day, the performance time per night will decrease, which will be used to hold shows on the avenue.

According to Gabriel David, this is another positive point because samba will be valued.

“Previously unrelated to the highlights of the parades, the popular sectors 12 and 13 will be honored by the great samba circle that will follow the four parades at Apoteose, always after the procession of samba dancers that accompanies the last school. With four schools, the schedule will also allow the groups to focus on warm-ups with more traditional sambas, dedicated to sector 1,” he said.

See photos of Viradouro, 2024 champion