Valeu Brazilian Arts strives to enable individuals within a workshop setting to experience and explore the buzzing energy and dazzling world of samba, initially focussing on drumming, dance and costume. It was set up with the sole aim to educate anyone and everyone about the authentic world of Brazil’s carnival culture.

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Workshops

Our primary focus is to present dynamic workshops of the highest quality for the benefit of schools and institutions of all kinds. We have carefully structured our programmes enable to meet the interests and needs of a full spectrum of curriculum ages, but equally reach out to wider communities of children and adults alike. We also offer a unique service suitable to corporate entities or large school based projects. Bespoke packages can be built to combine exciting and inspiring performances, workshops and parades, tailored to appeal to participants of all sorts.

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''Community, where 'Every Child Matters'

Valeu's strand of local youth work, based in SELondon, stemmed as an idea during the peak of whole class 'wider opportunities' instrumental teaching. This approach to music education  aimed to provide every child with the opportunity to learn an instrument. It is still taught widely in primary schools. Samba itself became a medium that proved to be beautifully accessible for children of all ages and abilities. The instruments were relatively affordable respective of school and music service budgets, and the children had great fun because they could easily just pick up stick and drum and make satisfying noise, and sometimes music! But when the one year programs came to an end, skills had been learnt and music was flowing, often there wasn't a convenient place where the children could continue their valuable musical learning. And so the seed for Valeu's first strand of work was sown, a local community samba group open to all children and young adults.

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Cultural Authenticity

One of our most important objectives for Valeu is to produce artistic output demonstrating a high level of cultural authenticity, a quality that we consider to be unique to the service that we offer. Samba drums are now widely used in musical learning here in the UK due to their accessibility, and the stylistic rhythms are beginning to be explored and shared in classrooms and community settings more and more. It is less common that the samba instruments are used within the  traditional setup of ‘the bateria’ while restoring the authentic driving rhythms and rippling swing from Rio style samba and other Brazilian grooves. Our programs are expertly structured, lead and supported to produce an experience that keeps these traditional elements firmly glued together to produce a ‘true’ samba experience. We strive to produce a spectacularly powerful workshop, for all round high energy participation that throbs with the colours, sights and sounds of Brazilian carnival culture.

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