BrasilFest

Chorando na Chuva

Formerly known as Choro Tocando, Chorando na Chuva (Crying in the Rain) likes that their new name suits the Seattle weather.

Chorando na Chuva digs deep into the roots of Brazilian music, expressively playing and singing classic choro tunes like no one else. They pour decades of musical exploration and travel to Brazil into their upbeat interpretations of this style that blends African rhythm and European forms.

Fernan Rock

Fernando Rocha is an actor, singer, director, and theater teacher. He got a Master's Degree in Theatre. From a very early, committed himself to the Performing Arts. He studied with great masters in Brazil and eight different countries, among them Japan and Germany. He practiced the art of mime, of the dances he tried a little of each, of the classical ballet, passing through the modern and contemporary dance and pausing with a little more emphasis on the Brazilian folk and the Japanese butoh dance. He recently began researching American hip hop and Indian Kathakali theater.

Founder of the Teatro Ritual Group in 1996 in Brazil and the Sonhus Space in Goiânia, a small theater dedicated to the theater of experimentation and projects involving the Art and Education of young people. He has published the book The Art of Actor in Group - The Training of Actor as Collective Culture and several academic articles on the creative work of the actor as well.

Raiz Brazil

Raiz Brazil Dance Company had its debut in February 2008 at the Sambala Carnival Ball at the Vault 350 in Long Beach by its founder Jonia McClenney.

Jonia is from Brazil and she wanted to make art and entertainment come together exploring the Brazilian rhythms like samba, axe, samba-reggae, frevo and fusing them with other traditional dance techniques like ballet, jazz, modern and hiphop.

They bring fun, sexy and classy entertainment, fascinating the audiences with the culture and art behind the glitter and the sultry moves.

Drummer Andre Hobson, guitarist Doug Jones and vocalist Nilza Lessa blend the sounds of world music, especially Brazilian, Reggae and Jazz. Playing together since 2014, they bring a variety of backgrounds and experience to the music they share.

Jônia was born and raised in Brazil and she has danced her whole life, from Brazilian folk dances to classical styles like ballet, jazz, contemporary and hip hop. She is the creator/founder of Raiz Brazil Dance Company. Jônia has been performing Samba professionally for 16 years and she is the current "Samba Queen USA 2016/17".

Jônia also has accomplished other samba competitions and titles over the years, like "Queen of the Drums" for Sambalá Samba School 2008-2011, "Santa Barbara Brazilian Carnival Queen 2014", "San Diego Brazil Carnival Queen 2014", "Hollywood Carnival Queen 2015".

Food Demo: Sandra Rocha - "Tapioca

Sandra was born in the Bahia region of northern Brazil. She was introduced to the kitchen at a young age while assisting her mother in the small bed and breakfast she operated. She learned about fresh foods from her father since they had to grow vegetable themselves.

When she was teen, she moved to the metropolis of São Paulo, and experimented recipes using her friends as subjects by preparing meals for small dinner parties. Later, she started a small take-out business called “Feijoada to Go”, preparing the most traditional Brazilian dish.

She lives in the Pacific Northwest near to Seattle where she intensified her interesting on prepare seafood.

Show Brazil!

The soul of the Brazilian Culture in high energetic performance. Internationally recognized and respected Show Brazil!, well known throughout the Northwest, has delighted audiences in the United States, Brazil, and Canada for over twenty years.

Show Brazil!’s bandleader and Music Director Eduardo Mendonça, a native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, traces his lineage to a royal African family bearing the hereditary title of Mamabeka ("prophet of the royal court"), Eduardo is also the Music Director for iBuildbridges Foundation, and had the honor to play for Pope John Paul II’s, Nelson Mandela, and Dalai Lama.

Eduardo performed with Geraldo Azevedo, Guilherme Arantes, Jorge Benjor, Alcione, opened the show for Ana Carolina. Eduardo was also featured in a Paul Simon documentary video in 1991.