Brazilian music, dance and martial arts come to Hollywood Beach
By Richard Snyder
Metromix
Not to be outdone by the annual Calle Ocho Hispanic Cultural Festival further south in Miami, Hollywood’s Community Redevelopment Agency decided to deliver an answer to that long-standing festival, and they did so in Portuguese.
The free Brazil on the Beach party ran from Friday, March 20, to Sunday, March 22, on Hollywood Beach, from Connecticut Street to Polk Street. It was privy to such things as a concert by Brazilian samba-rock singer Daniela Mercury, a competition by capoeira martial artists from the MMBAI, as well as professional footvolley athletes, playing a Brazilian hybrid of soccer and volleyball. On Saturday, Mother Nature herself even decided to drop by and turn the whole thing into the area’s largest impromptu pool party, to pretty much everybody else’s chagrin.
Nevertheless, such an obnoxious party guest was nowhere to be seen on Sunday, where the only moisture to be had at Brazil on the Beach stemmed from the coconut drinks offered under one of the festival’s tents. And so did the people return in notable droves and the concert, capoeira, footvolley and more went on without significant incident.
