(3 Feb 2014) Dancers, musicians and performers paraded down the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, polishing their performance ahead of the annual carnival.
The rehearsals in the Sambadrome allow the samba schools participating to check everything is in place for the official parades in early March.
It also gives performers a chance to experience the samba runway away from the glare of judges.
On Sunday, the Mocidade Samba School sashayed down the parade runway, with dancers practicing their moves and the band perfecting its rhythms.
"Today is very important because today we see the placement, the position, the mistakes, the hits. So today, which is the 'technical rehearsal', is a very important day," said Samila, one of the main dancers of the Mocidade Samba School.
The dancers, queens and kings are all important, but as Andrezinho, the director of the "bateria" orchestra, pointed out, the music is equally important.
"(The bateria) is the soul, the heart, that marks the rhythm, it (the school) needs the bateria like it needs people, without the bateria it has nothing," he said.
Thousands participated in the technical rehearsal, in the presence of King Momo, the king of carnival.
The rehearsal was performed in front of a huge crowd of fascinated onlookers who took the opportunity to experience the spirit of the carnival in advance.
Even though the schools don't get dressed up in the elaborate costumes of the carnival for the rehearsals, people can still get a feel for what it's going to look like on the night.
"The carnival for me is the air I breathe," said Rio resident, 56-year-old Isabel Ferrer, who watched the rehearsal on Sunday night.
The Rio de Janeiro carnival begins on February 28 and lasts five days.
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