A taste of Brazil in Camden Town: Spiritual Caipirinha

Tucked away on a side street in the bustling, strutting heart of Camden Town, Spiritual Caipirinha is a gem of a restaurant- bar, known to few. The tiny venue is intimate and trendy, squeezing in a few tables in front of a bar that boasts a bottle collection and cocktail list worthy of the Brazilian cocktail the place is named after. Our fifteen-seater table for the occasion filled most of the restaurant and proved quite an obstacle once the bar got busy, with chatty Latinos and trendy North Londoners squeezing round us to get through.

Could Brazil’s landslides have been prevented?

Since the Rio de Janeiro region of Brazil was hit by severe flooding and landslides on 12^th January after a prolonged period of heavy rainfall, more than 13,000 people have lost or abandoned their homes. From the towns of Nova Friburgo, Teresopolis, Petropolis, Sumidouro and Sao Jose do Vale do Rio Preto the death toll has reached 676. The rescue effort has been criticised as people have been forced to wait so long for food, medicines and water it is feared they may resort to drinking the muddy flood water. In Teresopolis the city council has been forced to bury the dead before they have been identified as the mortuaries are filled to capacity. Some remote mountainous areas have been cut off for five days, and it is feared that more bodies could be found there.

Teresopolis after a landslide on 12th January

But could these floods, or the level of destruction caused by them, have been prevented? Brazil’s rainy season is often aggressive with rivers bursting their banks and a certain number of deaths. In January last year heavy rains killed dozens of people living just south of the towns currently affected. More planning and management might not have prevented this disaster, as a month’s worth of rain fell in just eight hours, but it surely would have limited the number killed and left homeless.

Ballet, the Brazilian Way

Next month London’s West End will learn how to dance ballet the Brazilian way as the hit show Balé de Rua comes to the Peacock Theatre. This dynamic dance show, best translated as ‘street ballet’, traces Brazil’s history all the way back to its African roots through a line-up of hip hop, African dance, samba and capoeira. Those who go expecting classical ballet beware; there’s not a tutu in sight. Instead you’ll see semi-naked painted bodies, dancers clad in sunflower-covered apparatus and a set that captures every colour of the rainbow. The show promises to be a high-energy, eccentric adventure, described by the Daily Express as ‘breathtaking’.

The cast is made up of 15 dancers, 14 of which are men (if the guys out there were hoping to see scantily-clad females) and two singers who present the dance as a celebration of life, love and all things Brazilian. This is their first performance since finishing a triumphant international tour that covered France, Switzerland, Germany, Bahrain and Canada, and ended with a two-week sell out stint at Sydney Opera House.

Suzanne Walker, Head of Programming at Sadler’s Wells and the Peacock Theatre, said: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming Balé de Rua to London’s West End. This is the biggest Brazilian show we have featured for years and promises to be a highly entertaining evening of dance and music that originated in the streets of Brazil. It’s a colourful winter treat and very timely considering the growing popularity of all things Brazilian in the recent past.”