After the rigorous reconnaissance of last year, the six of us returned home to Wellington and effused, emoted and excited others about the promised land of samba. Religious fervour could have taken a leaf out of our book. We thought an application for 2016 would buy us enough time to get people interested and financially committed to represent Wellington on the world stage. However, the organisers challenged us, by asking us to putt our samba chops where out mouths are and sign up for 2015.
Surprising even our own optimistic selves, we ended up with 25 sambistas throwing their natty hats into the ring for the trip. We also invited a few friends who lived in Europe, the amazing Mancunians from Global Grooves and rounded up a few other enthusiastic locals to join us on the journey.
We decided to bring a decidedly New Zealand flavour to proceedings with the use of Maori instrumentation and welcome for the start of each performance, sliding into Candomble style singing before our attempt to dazzle folk with a run through our smorgasboard repertoire. We've got heaps of material, so we split our favourites into two different sets. We got some cool feedback, which was really humbling and confidence building. Being stuck on the arse end of the world, away from the huge European samba community, validation and support from other performers was a real accolade.
Most importantly: We drunk lots of delicious German beer, met loads of old and new friends, and had a complete blast.
A proud moment indeed.
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