EEDS recently performed at the DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville, IL. Check out some photos of our performance, a great time was had by all!
Category Archives: Event
Carnaval Event Photo Recap
All about the 2013 EEDS Carnaval Celebration
EEDS CARNAVAL CELEBRATION 2013
In honor of Carnaval this year the Evanston Escola de Samba is having a big celebration and you’re all invited! We have a lot in store for this event, in addition to some great music and dancing, of course. There will be crafts, face painting, dance and drumming lessons and more!
When: February 16th, 2013 from 10am to 12pm
Activities start at 10 AM
Concert Starts at 11 AM
Where: Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston (1490 Chicago Avenue).
How Much: Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids and a $30 maximum per family. $5 With a Student ID.
Check out the event on Facebook
Relive the 4th of July Parade with EEDS
Video
This just in: check out some video footage of our award-winning Evanston 4th of July parade. You can enjoy the pageantry, music and dancing all over again, but this time without the 104 degree heat! Special thanks to our official EEDS videographer, Conor.
Evanston 4th of July Parade: The Results Are In!
Zenaida Saez, 2012 EEDS Porta-Bandeira at the Evanston 4th of July Parade
Congrats to the Evanston Escola de Samba for an incredible showing at the Evanston 4th of July Parade! Not only did we win 1st place in the category “performance,” but we were one of three overall parade winners. EEDS was awarded the “Pelton Plaque” for “Outstanding Neighborhood Group” (see complete list of Parade winners here).
Thanks to all the EEDS performers, especially to those who danced and carried drums in the incredible inferno (103 degrees!) that was this year’s parade. There are so many people to thank we are not sure where to start! We want to express gratitude to EEDS Board chair Matt Rarey and EEDS members Kirsty Montgomery, Lindsay Fullerton, and Elyse Fineman for helping to conceive of the parade and for doing the incredible amount of hard work to get it done, and believe us, it was an incredible amount of work. Thanks to all the EEDS students who have been with us throughout the year and have maintained a strong core that made it possible to bring the overall level of our Escola up several notches since last year. Thanks to all the EEDS dancers, especially our flag bearers, Zenaida Saez and Jaime Angeles, and our dance leaders, Diane Berrios and Ariel Barbick, who set the tone for the whole group and kept us all alive with their amazing energy and poise. It goes without saying how much everyone at EEDS loves our friends from Bloco Maximo who came in to make our bateria sizzle!! Special thanks to Reed Flygt and Andrew Green for donating so much time and energy to the cause. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped build and decorate our float. Thanks to Michael Kormanik and our partners from Greenwise Organic Lawn Services who provided wonderful support before, during, and after the parade. Thanks to our professional musicians Marcos Oliveira and John Beard who have dedicated their amazing talent, time, and energy to the EEDS. Thanks to the volunteers who helped keep our dancers hydrated during the parade, and thanks to Conor Montgomery and Dana Hasselbring for taking video and photos. We will be releasing photos and video over the course of the coming week. Thanks to our sponsors, Campagnola, Contemporanea, and the Evanston Arts Council, and finally to our major partner, the Music Institute of Chicago without whose support the EEDS would simply not exist.
In the coming days, we’ll be posting lots of photos and videos from the parade so you can catch some glimpses of our award-winning performance. Now it is on to the Thanksgiving Day Parade. And rumor has is we plan to win it!
Today’s the big day – Happy 4th of July!
Today is the big day! Please join us at Evanston’s 4th of July Parade at 2PM today. After months of preparation and practice, it’s time to showcase all of our hard work. Thanks to everyone who volunteered and came out to play percussion and dance. It’s going to be hot outside today but it’s never too hot for samba – hope to see you there!
July 4th Countdown: Rainha da Bateria, Mestre-Sala, and Porta-Bandeira, Revealed!
The big parade is finally upon us! Tomorrow, we will showcase all our hard work at the Evanston 4th of July Parade, or what we are calling our 4th of July Spectacular. Yesterday we gave thanks to all the people who helped us this year. Today we finally are ready to reveal the identities of the most exalted positions in the parade!
Our 2012 Rainha da Bateria will be none other than EEDS’ own Ariel Barbick!
The 2012 EEDS Mestre-Sala will be Jaime Angeles, a longtime dancer in the Chicagoland samba scene and an amazing performer!
And finally, our 2012 Porta-Bandeira, carrying the EEDS flag proudly, will be Zenaida Saez!
These three amazing dancers, along with the rest of our talented dancers and percussionists, will all be in action at the July 4th Parade tomorrow on Central Street in Evanston. And if you want to see their costumes in person, you will need to come to the parade – we aren’t revealing them here.
Thanks to everyone for following our progress leading up to July 4th, and we will see you tomorrow at the parade!
July 4th Countdown: EEDS O Amanhã Video
Just 3 days until the big parade! With so much still to do before the 4th of July Spectacular, things are getting pretty hectic here at the Escola.
For your enjoyment, we took some time out to make our first official videorecording of O Amanhã! Special thanks to all our guest musicians in this piece: Andrew, Reed, and Harji of Bloco Maximo; our puxador Marcos Oliveira, and John Beard on cavaquinho. Extra special thanks to Andrew Green for working so hard on the sound mixing and editing. Enjoy!
July 4th Countdown: Our Exalted Parade Team
Only four days to go until the main event! Today we reveal the team that makes it all happen: the rundown of the identities of our equipes (teams), cabeças (heads), mestres (masters), and carnavalescos (parade organizers).
We are lucky to have Marcos Oliveira, one of Chicago’s finest Brazilian sambistas, as our puxador; and John Beard as our master cavaquinho player! Members of Chicago’s own Bloco Maximo will be leading some of our percussion sections, and as always (as in the photo above!) Diane Berrios will be heading the dancers.
But wait – what of the identities of the three most exalted positions – the Mestre-Sala, the Porta-Bandeira, and the Rainha da Bateria? Those are still secret, and will be revealed each day as we move closer to our 4th of July Spectacular!
Equipe do Dança:
Porta Bandeira: TBA
Mestre Sala: TBA
Rainha de Bateria: TBA
Cabeça do Dança: Diane Berrios
Os Músicos:
Puxador: Marcos Oliveira
Cavaquinho: John Beard
Diretor: Chris Hasselbring
Equipe de Bateria:
Mestre de Bateria: Avo Randruut
Cabeça de Percussão: Andrew Green
Cabeça de Percussão: Reed Flygt
Equipe de Carnavalescos: Lindsay Fullerton, Chris Hasselbring, Kirsty Montgomery, Matt Rarey
July 4th Countdown: Porta-Bandeira Costume, Revealed!
Now just five days until the big parade – can you feel the excitement?
Today we reveal a drawing of the costume for our Porta-Bandeira! 
With our newly-designed flag and a flashy green and gold costume, she is really going to steal the show! Remember, stay tuned every day for another revealed aspect of our 4th of July Spectacular!
Second City Samba 