page_title: Samba on Your Feet
section_title: Cast
hierarchical_section_title: Samba on Your Feet / Cast
caption_attribution_description: Tia Surica as seen on the documentary "Samba on your Feet".
context_page_description: Samba on Your Feet is a documentary film by Eduardo Montes-Bradley also known as Samba! reflections of Africa in Brazilian culture. The film goes behind the scenes of samba and Carnival to reveal the cultural and racial clash that gave birth to a new tradition in Rio de Janeiro.
context_section_description: Haroldo Costa. Historian, and writer. Costa has been involved in the cultural life of Rio de Janeiro since the early 1950s. He was better known as the protagonist of Orfeu da Conceição, a play by Vinicius de Moraes which paved the way for an Orfeu Negro (Black Orfeo). Today, Haroldo Costa is revered as one of the foremost authorities in carioca folklore, with particular emphasis in samba and Carnival.
  Xangô da Mangueira. Singer and composer. Xangô is living witness to the times when Carnival and samba met for the first time in the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
  Tia Surica (Iranette Ferreira Barcellos) (65). Active as a member of the Old Guard of her beloved Portela School of Samba. Her home, known as the "Cafôfo da Surica", is a fertile ground for musicians, and dancers seeking advice and support.
  Herminio Bello de Carvalho. Poet, producer, and composer. Herminio (70) is instrumental in understanding the movement known as MPB (Popular Music of Brazil). His name is associated with the history of Cartola, Pixinguinha, Nelson Cavaquinho, Carlos Cachaça, Elton Medeiros, Mauricio Tapajós, and Clementina de Jesus.
  Mart'nália. Singer and composer. Her name is referential to musicians in Europe and the US. She also is the daughter of legendary samba composer and singer Martinho da Vila.
  Paulo Barros. Carnivalesque. Paulo designs and conceives the motif that distinguishes Unidos da Tijuca Samba School during the Carnival. He organizes all creative aspects of parade and takes either credit or blame for the success or failure of the escola. In the three years that Paulo has been leading Unidos da Tijuca he has transformed the Carnival. In many ways, Paulo Barros is considered a revolutionary.
  Teresa Cristina. Singer. A true carioca, "one that will sing with her eyes closed in front of a wild loving audience in the night clubs of Rio de Janeiro where everything smells of samba and cachaça".
  Mãe Helena D'oxsse. Priestess in the Umbanda tradition. She introduces samba in her extreme religious practices. Mãe lives in one of the poorest suburbs of Rio de Janeiro where she entertains lower and working class followers of Umbanda and Candomblé.
caption: Production still: Tia Surica at home in Rio de Janeiro, May 2004
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Copyright": "Eduardo Montes-Bradley"}