Queen of Drums: Understanding Musicality & Movement to the Bateria with Denise Kayan & Rob Arcari - Adelaide Samba Encontro

Adelaide Samba Encontro is proud to present:

Queen of Drums: Understanding Musicality & Movement to the Bateria, with Denise Kayan & Rob Arcari

Once a year or so, Denise & Rob teach a workshop aimed at dancers, with the intention of untangling the intricacies of what makes a great dance performance to drums, great. Their experience leading the dance and drum teams of Melbourne’s Bloco 3K give them a unique insight as to how these two disciplines intertwine, and what works. 

Did you ever see a video of some Rainha de Bateria slaying in front of the drums, hitting every beat, perfectly in sync? These are the techniques to get you there. 

This musicality workshop is designed to teach dancers to understand both how the drums function in an Escola de Samba, as well as how to move to them. The result will inform your dancing to allow you to be more synchronised, and to anticipate what the music will do ahead of time.

This workshop will be beneficial for dancers of all levels, and will be accompanied by live drums. This year they're stepping it up a notch with fresh moves, new techniques, and some great new material that you won’t want to miss.

Bring water, comfortable clothes & runners.

ABOUT YOUR TEACHERS:

Mestre Rob has been spearheading the Melbourne Samba scene for the last 10 years. He’s mestre de bateria of Bloco 3K (Melbourne) and Unidos da Cacatua (Aus/NZ).

For the past 8 years he’s been making an annual pilgrimage to Rio where he parades playing with numerous baterias. A regular ritmista with Imperatriz Leopoldinense and Acadêmicos da Rocinha he’s also paraded with Paraiso da Tuiuti, Império da Tijuca & Estacio de Sá amongst many other schools.

Locally Denise is Rainha de Bateria and dance coordinator for Bloco 3K as well as Director of Dance for Unidos da Cacatua. She’s well known in Rio where she is a passista with Vila Isabel since 2020, and was previously a passista with Mocidade from 2017 to 2019.

Over the years she has held the title of Rainha da Escola and Princesa da Bateria at Unidos da Ponte, as well as holding various Musa positions at numerous schools. She’s no stranger to holding her own in front of a bateria.

TESTIMONIALS:

"I’ve been lucky enough to do the dancing to live drums workshop with Denise and Rob twice now, and both times I have gotten something new out of it I could take home and apply to my dancing.
As dancers, we rarely get to practice with the drummers. We learn the elements of freestyling, but we do not learn how the music is put together, which makes it hard predict and dance to. Rob and Denise do a great job of explaining the different rhythms and roles of each instrument. After the workshop, I have found that I can anticipate the breaks and the turns of live drums, even if I have not danced with that bateria before."

"Denise and Rob, your workshop was inspiring and gave real takeaways to help us learn.
You taught us to connect with the drums, close our eyes, feel it in our bodies. You taught us the HOW, but also the WHY. What made your workshop unique was learning about each instrument and sound. Including Rob's insights as a musician and how we, as dancers, can work together in harmony with the Bateria. It was much more holistic. I'm still thinking about it. Outside of going to Brasil, it's one of the best classes I've attended since returning from Rio. I was so inspired"

"Honestly today's drumming workshop was really transforming for me today. I can't believe how much clicked for me today, the light bulb that went off, and also how much I don't know and HAVEN'T learnt!! From not having access to the Bateria.
I am still buzzing from it"