Susie Smith here – aka. Samba Sooz as many of you might know me.
I would like to invite you to become an Umbela Brasil member so that together we can grow and celebrate the Afro/Brazilian, or as we like to call it, the Br-AUSSIE-leiro culture in Australia.
For more than 20 years, Umbela Brasil has hosted and participated in cultural exchanges, performances and workshops between Australia and Brazil and the wider Brazilian diaspora in the USA, UK, Japan and Indonesia. Since 2017 we recognised that as a conduit to Brazil we had a role to play in the professional development of Australian teachers wanting to connect to the axé, alegria, ginga, and cultural conexões of Brazilian arts.
Then 2020 pushed us to explore new ways to do this. For the past two years we have run a highly successful online training program with Rosangela Silvestre, teaching Orixa symbology movements and Silvestre technique directly from Brazil.
This year, we were officially recognised as a Charitable Cultural Organisation enabling us better access to grants, as well as Department of Immigration recognition as an official visa sponsor for the next five years, and tax deductible donations. This solidified the already strong board of Directors, with local industry leaders such as Gianne Abbott, Mestre Val Boa Morte, Talita Fontanha, and Silvi Milans.
The evolution continues and we invite you to be a part of it. We are thrilled to be launching a membership program that will include:
Weekly online training such as musicality, language, samba history and culture, and dance and capoeira from both Brazil and Australia
Discounts on quarterly / annual events led by Umbela Directors in your state
Updates and articles on the latest academic and cultural insights direct from Brazil
Mentoring and professional development for teachers
Collective access to insurance to reduce your costs
Media, promotion of schools and the opportunity to interview for our documentary "Under the Samba" about the history of Samba in Australia
Premium access to our cultural exchanges - first choice access to private and group classes and bate papos (chats) with our artists on cultural exchange from Brazil.
We believe that offering this ‘expansion program’ for school directors, teachers as well as passionate students, will support our strong community (100+ academies) and help with your retention as well as advancement of students, in this post COVID world.
We are launching a pilot membership program in early April 2022 and invite you to be a part of it. It will include events and classes hosted by our Directors, leading up to a cultural exchange with a famous Brazilian artist (COVID pending) in August that also coincides with the filming of my PHD documentary "Under the Samba" – about how Samba came to Australia.
Membership to this pilot program is $35 per month. It’s a six month program with a 14 day free trial. To find out what’s included and for a program of current events click below.
During this pilot stage we are opening membership to teachers, Directors of schools, and students with keen and enquiring minds, who want to deepen their sabedoria and apreciação cultural of Samba and Brazilian arts.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Até logo!
Sooz