Samba in the Streets workshops celebrate Afro-Brazilian music

Samba in the Streets brought drums, music and dance to Birmingham with two weeks of workshops and concerts to share Afro-Brazilian musical heritage.

Samba in the Streets is led by the Viver Brasil dance company, based in Los Angeles. Their trip to Alabama, which includes trips to Selma and Lowndes County, is part of a free dance "residency" to educate residents and make music.

"Everybody's happy when they're here and they're participating," said Joan Burroughs, a Birmingham resident and anthropologist of dance.

A workshop at St. Paul United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 1, brought together kids and adults to learn the basics of drumming and perform songs and dance together. Linda Yudin of Samba in the Streets said some workshops had up to 75 people in them, and the goal of the free events was "honoring ancestral and contemporary blackness."

Yudin said coming to Birmingham was particularly special to Viver Brasil because the civil rights movement was part of the inspiration for a similar movement in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

The dance company's time in Birmingham has included performances at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Ramsey High School, Huffman Middle School and the Birmingham Housing Authority's Black History Program. There will be one more Samba in the Streets workshop on Friday, March 2, from 6-8 p.m. at St. Paul United Methodist Church, 1500 6th Avenue N.

Next week, Viver Brasil will travel to Selma and Lowndes County to host more workshops, school performances and perform at the Jubilee Bridge Crossing re-enactment on Sunday, March 4. See the full schedule on their Facebook page.