Carnaval came to Madison this weekend for a two-night party at the Majestic Theatre. The venue welcomed celebrants of the 2000-year-old festival that has achieved world recognition for its mind-blowing spectacle.
Although the theater could not hope to contain the towering floats that parade through the streets of Rio every year, the frenetic energy of the occasion enveloped the crowd. The dance floor was packed with people of all ages doing their best impressions of the samba.
One party-goer wore a pink button-down shirt that lent him the appearance of a millionaire on a Cuban vacation, an image only strengthened as he showed a group of college-age students how to dance the samba.
The Majestic made sure to bring in a lively crowd, offering a discount on entrance to those who donned the flamboyant garb associated with Carnaval. A posse of decked out retirees dominated the front of the crowd, twirling and shaking while sparkling under the bright lights of the ceiling.
On Saturday, the Handphibians and Massamba Dance were in charge of keeping the party lively. Both groups offered a danceable assembly of tropical rhythms and sunny melodies that made the brisk February night seem a little bit warmer.
The bands were incredibly skilled at keeping the audience entertained and involved in the performance. The singer of Massamba called for the crowd to repeat simple choruses ranging from “aye aye aye aye” to “oh oh oh oh.” The humorously meaningless words felt so right in that setting, one where any kind of noise is a welcome addition to the melting pot of energy that is Carnaval.
Most concert crowds are clearly divided into sections – there are the dancers and there are the standers. That night, though, everyone on the floor was squinting through beads of sweat as they grooved to music none of them would probably play on their own stereos.
While the music was solid and gave the event a positive and vibrant atmosphere, the true strength of Carnaval was the crowd. Ever-smiling, ever-moving, the people squeezed inside the Majestic that night were there to have nothing less than a good time.
At normal parties and bars you have the people who are just trying to drink until they start having fun. There are those people who get angry along the way to fun and start making trouble for the people around them. None of this was present at Carnaval.
Maybe because of the prohibitive drink “specials” ($5 for a can of Pabst, puh-leeze), or maybe because it was an all-ages show, there were no drunken scenes of misguided revelry. There was just dancing, dancing and more dancing.
By the end of the night, people were leaving with their coats clutched under their arms. After pretending to be in Rio for five hours, the heat of the theater matched that of any tropical clime.
While it may not have been the sort of life-changing extravaganza people say of the original Carnaval celebration, the Majestic’s strong attempt at recreating this festival led to a night of fun matched by no other event in town. Because when you get down to it, the reason one goes out to bars, to concerts and even to movies, is to get that feeling that the crowd got that night on Carnaval.
