Maria Luisa Oliveira Eleoy

  　RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Enchanted by the magnificent scenes of the carnival and glory of "the Carnival Queen," 14-year-old Maria Luisa has participated in the country's samba carnival parade annually since she was seven.

Photo taken on Oct. 5, 2009 shows Maria Luisa poses in front of her home in Rio De Janeiro of Brazil. (Xinhua/Song Weiwei) Photo Gallery>>>

    The girl who takes American singer Beyonce Knowles as her idol, has made up her mind to work hard to improve her samba skills and become "the Carnival Queen" herself one day.

    Maria's ambition is deep-rooted.

    Known as Brazil's "national dance," samba is very popular in the South American country. Whenever the cheerful samba music sounds, almost every Brazilian will follow the beat and dance along, so do the small kids.

    In fact, Brazilian children have their own stage. As an important cultural activity, the country's annual samba carnival parade usually features children's performance at the first day.

    In the 2009 carnival, 40,000 children, aged from five years old to teenagers coming from 16 children's samba schools participated in the parade, which lasted seven hours.

    Born in a samba family, Maria started to learn dance from her mother and elder sisters since childhood. Besides, her two sisters, who have been elected as "the Carnival Queen" for several times and participated in around-the-global performances, are her role models.

    "With such a family tradition, I must be 'the Carnival Queen' for at least once, and by the time everybody would cheer for Queen Maria Luisa," she said.

    Maria's mother, however, never insists that her daughters have to inherit the family mantle. She said she was pleased that her daughters liked samba, but if Maria decided to make her living by dancing in the future, as her two sisters do, she should study hard.

    For a gifted child like Maria, samba may mean a way of life and an opportunity to see the world, while for many other children, the dance seems more of a pleasure and a healthy environment for growth.

    According to Rio Children's Samba Schools Association Chairman Marinho, samba schools are not just art institutions, they also play the role of public welfare organizations, which not only serve the purpose of selecting talents for adult samba schools, but also provide venues for after-school activities for children of nearby communities.

    Tomorrow's Mangueira, the school where Maria learns samba, is located in the slum area of Mangueira near the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janerio. It is one of the dozens of such Children's samba schools in Brazil.

    Generally from poor families and with poor schooling, children here are more prone to be affected by criminals as they are long exposed to surroundings characterized by frequent drug trafficking and shooting incidents.

    According to Tomorrow's Mangueira school staff Eleoy, the school offers samba lessons for children from seven to 17 years old every week and has more rehearsals and lessons before the carnival, which attract a lot of children.

    "This helps reduce juvenile criminal rates," Marinho said.

    In the 2009 carnival, a total of 2,800 children from the school participated in the parade.

    According to Marinho, the annual carnival parade, in which every child wants to participate, is an important stimulus for the children to learn samba.

    What is more, in Brazil, "everyone was born to dance samba," as the national dance is in line with the happy nature of the Brazilians, he added.

    Indeed, samba, originated in Africa, is now deeply rooted in the South American country after being combined with European and South American indigenous art.

    When Maria put on her small pink skirt and danced barefooted in the narrow street of Mangueira, where even taxi drivers are afraid to go due to poor security conditions, a dozen children jumped out from nowhere and joined her.

    None of them danced as "professional" as Maria, with no one wearing shoes, but everyone wore a happy face, enjoying the simple pleasure.

Special report: Global News Day for Children 

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