At the start of each year, we begin preparing to impress the crowds & judges in the Carnaval San Francisco Grand Parade. At the largest multicultural festival on the West Coast, the parade is a celebration of Latino, Caribbean and African Diasporic traditions of the Mission District and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Sambaxé earned 2nd place overall in the Grand Parade in 2024 and we’d love you to join us at the parade in 2025! All levels, ages, gender identities, and backgrounds welcome.
What to expect for the Carnaval Season
How to participate
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Main Section Dancers (Adults)
Estimated cost: $535+
$100+ registration
$235+ costume
$200+ dance rehearsals
Work trade scholarships available. -
Main Section Dancers (Teens)
Estimated cost: $0
Teen registration, rehearsals, and costume will be FREE of charge thanks to our 2025 Carnaval Partnership with Youth Art Exchange! -
Baianas Section (Adults)
Estimated cost: $350+
$50 registration
$300+ costume
FREE dance rehearsals
Work trade scholarships available. -
Kid Dancers + Drummers
Estimated cost: $TBD
$TBD registration
$TBD costume
$10 per family per rehearsal
Scholarships available. -
Spirit Section (All ages)
Estimated cost: $20-$35
Each Spirit Section member must have a 2025 Sambaxe t-shirt. Even babies :)
New in 2025
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Free participation for teens
This year, we are excited to have an official 2025 Carnaval Partnership with Youth Art Exchange, our favorite youth arts non-profit, to offer FREE participation in Carnaval to San Francisco teens, ages 14-18. Saturday Carnaval rehearsals and costumes will be provided free of charge.
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Parade float-building program
YAX is also leading a youth architecture program to design and build our parade float this year. A group of young designers spent the 2024 fall semester designing and this spring they will build a 20 foot float in partnership with the construction and trades program at John O'Connell High School. SFUSD teens are invited to join the free Spring 2025 youth architecture program and walk with us in the parade.
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Drumming classes for youth & families
We invite kids and families to drum with us in the Carnaval Parade! Drumming class is scheduled for the same time and place as dance rehearsals, so bring the entire family for a fun Saturday morning routine. Join us as we make music in the parade, or just stop by to learn fun beats. All instruments provided. Scholarships available.
Carnaval Season with Sambaxé
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Practice, practice, practice
Main Section Dancers: We’ll have weekly Samba no pé rehearsals from February through May. You’ll learn choreography to 2+ songs. Leading up to the parade at the end of May, we’ll set lines so we’re ready to dance in the street! No experience is necessary. We welcome dancers of all levels. We’re here to have fun sharing the tradition of samba!
Baianas Section Dancers: The "ala das baianas" is considered one of the most important wings of a samba school parade, and preferably composed of ladies dressed in clothes that refer to old aunts of the first groups of Bahia samba of the early twentieth century. In Brazil it is mandatory for all samba schools to have a baiana ala. They provide samba schools a spiritual blessing. Dancers in the Baianas Section will learn traditional and spiritual moves. The choreography will be simplified and include graceful freestyle moves.
Kid Dancers + Drummers: Kid Dancers will learn a modified version of the Main Section Samba no pé choreography. Drummers will learn their beats and join the dancers later in the season.
Spirit Section: Just practice your smiles and waves for the crowd and join us on the day of the parade!
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Dress to impress
Creative Director, Raffaella Falchi-Macias, designs new costumes each year. She builds on ideas from Rio Carnaval and we get certain pieces made in Brazil!
Costumes for the Main Section include a bodysuit or similar, headpiece, accent pieces, and optional components like feathered wings. We host costuming workshops so you can construct your headpiece and bond as a community. You can also add extra details to your outfit to make it all yours! You’ll have the option to order dance shoes from Brazil or find shoes in the same color scheme.
Costumes for the Baianas Section will embody the roots of Bahian tradition through dance and clothing, like large skirts accompanied by a headscarf.
Costumes for Kid Dancers and Drummers will follow the theme for the year and will be announced in the spring.
Spirit Section members will wear a new 2025 themed shirt designed by Raffa. Stay tuned for this year’s design!
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Fundraising
Each year we work as a group to raise funds to keep our costumes and participation in the parade as affordable as possible.
Raffa offers scholarships and work trades to those who need it, and we need your help reaching out to the community to help us fund this gap. Your participation in fundraising helps us keep the joy of Carnaval possible for everyone in our community, regardless of financial means.
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Showtime then celebrate!
We’ll provide all the details to get you ready for the parade before we hit the road, including where the judges sit so you can shine even brighter as we dance by.
After the exhilaration of the parade, we gather for lunch before checking out the festival or going home to rest our feet.
The day after the parade, Monday of Memorial Weekend, we have a celebration potluck to reminisce, share photos, and appreciate all our hard work. Save the date to join us in this tradition!
Sambaxé’s 2025 Carnaval Calendar
Rehearsals - Dancing and Drumming
Saturdays Feb 1 to May 3
11:30am-1pm
La Scuola San Carlos Gym - 741 South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94110Saturdays May 10 + 17
11:30am-1:30pm
John O’Connell High School - 2355 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Costuming Workshops
Saturdays after rehearsals - Dates TBD
Fundraisers
Stay tuned!
Grand Parade
Sunday May 25
San Francisco Mission District
Celebration Picnic
Monday May 26
San Francisco Location TBD
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Registration Fee:
Now - Feb 22: $100
Late Registration: Feb 23 - March 15: $150
Participant sign ups after March 15th are welcome to join our Spirit Section
This year's registration fee includes rehearsal fees for the final 2 rehearsals on May 10 + May 17.
Dance Rehearsal Fees:
$25 per rehearsal, due at time of rehearsal
Or $300 class card to cover Saturday rehearsals Feb 1-May 3. May 10 + 17 are included in registration fee.
You do not have to be registered for the parade to drop in to classes
Costume Fee Estimates:
There will be multiple options for costumes, and pricing will be shared as designs are finalized. (Masculine costumes TBD)
Main Section Option 1: $350 (Order deadline: 2/22)
Main Section Option 2: $235 (Order deadline: 3/15)
Optional gold samba heels: $175 (Order deadline: 3/15)
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Registration Fee: Free
Dance Rehearsal Fees: Free
Costume Fee: Free
Make sure to register through YAX to ensure free participation. Ages 14-18.
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Registration Fee: $50
Dance Rehearsal Fees: Free
Costume Fee Estimate: $300+
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Registration Fee: $TBD
Dance Rehearsal Fees: $TBD
Drumming Rehearsal Fees: $10 per family per rehearsal
You do not have to be registered for the parade to drop in to classes
Costume Fee Estimate: $TBD
Ages Kindergarten to 13 years.
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Costume (2025 Sambaxe T-shirt) Fee Estimate: $20-$35
Participation Fee Details
Submit payment for classes and costumes through Venmo to Sambaxe Dance @sambaxe
No one will be turned away due to funds. We can discuss reduced fees based on a work trade. Email Kirsten at sambaxe.kirsten@gmail.com to discuss financial aid options.
Registration fee and any attended rehearsal fees are nonrefundable.
East Bay Choreo Clinics
This Carnaval season Ann and Zoya will offer optional choreo clinics at Sundays in the East Bay. These are intended as extra practice outside of Saturday rehearsals.
Sundays March 9 to May 11
11:30am - 12:45pm
Shawl-Anderson Dance Center
2704 Alcatraz Ave, Berkeley
Cost: $15, payable to @Sambaxe on Venmo. You can also pay by credit card/Square.
Sign up by expressing your interest in the Sambaxe East Bay Choreo Clinics WhatsApp group by 9am on the day of class. Class will be cancelled if not enough people RSVP.
Carnaval Conditioning Class
This Carnaval season we’re partnering with DarlingFit to offer an optional conditioning class immediately after Saturday rehearsals.
Saturdays 1:30pm - 2:15pm, starting March 1st
15 minutes of stretching
30 minutes of toning
Bring a yoga mat and light hand weights
Cost: $15, payable directly to James
Sign up by emailing james@darlingfit.com
We must have at least 5 attendees each week to take advantage of this private class.
Can’t stay after rehearsal? James holds class at ODC Saturday mornings as well.
Sambaxé’s 2025 Carnaval Theme
Sambaxé’s theme for 2025 is top secret for now! Join us at rehearsals to learn more before the parade!
About Afro-Brazilian Religion/Beliefs
Orixas (deities) are worshiped in the Afro-Brazilian religions Candomblé, Umbanda, and in several other offshoot religions. According to Yoruba peoples (concentrated in the southwestern part of Africa), after the world was created, each orixá received a divine energy called Axé, giving the orixás the ability to govern certain aspects of the material world. Each orixá also represents different aspects of nature, both inside and outside the religious context. For example: Oxalá corresponds to the air we breathe and Oya/Iansã to the winds. Iemanjá is found in the oceans and seas; Oxum can be found in rivers and waterfalls.
The concept of Axé is an affirmation of faith in the divine power of the universe as a place where human beings can derive strength and energy from the celestial world of the orixás. In the Candomblé philosophy, axé is also defined as the power to make things happen! It is the power to invoke, to create light, or a pathway of positive energy.
A History of Carnaval
Carnival originates from ancient European Festivals in the 1500s. In Catholic tradition, it happens every year the week before Lent (6 weeks before Easter).
Carnival therefore represented a last period of feasting and celebration before the fasting period/spiritual rigors of Lent. Traditionally, a Carnival feast was the last opportunity for common people to eat well, as there was typically a food shortage at the end of the winter as stores ran out. Until spring produce was available, people were limited to the minimum necessary meals during this period.
During Lent, no parties or celebrations were held, and people refrained from eating rich foods, such as meat, dairy, fat, and sugar. Carnival can thus be regarded as a rite of passage from darkness to light, from winter to summer: a fertility celebration, the first spring festival of the new year.
*The word "Carnival" is thought to come from the Latin phrase carne levare, which translates to "to remove meat". This is a reference to the practice of abstaining from meat during Lent, a period of repentance and abstinence in which many Christians do not eat meat.
Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro
The first Rio Carnival festival was held in 1840. Today there are about 70 samba schools. They bring together people who belong to the same neighborhood. Every year, these festivities bring hundreds of thousands of people to the parade and attract millions of tourists. The date of this event is set in relation to the date of Easter.
The carnival brings together a dozen samba schools which parade one after the other according to a precise calendar and theme. For several days, starting at night, music and dance overflow the streets of Rio de Janeiro. The carnival highlights Brazilian culture the parade is also a competition, where a school is crowned the winner.
Carnaval in San Francisco
Originating in the Mission District in 1979 with a few local Latino performance troupes parading and reveling in Precita Park, Carnival has blossomed to a weekend celebration that closes off Harrison and Mission Street from 16th to 24th Streets and includes nearly 100 contingents representing the four major ethnic groups of the Americas and was attended by approximately 75,000 spectators.
Because Carnival is celebrated during Memorial Day weekend, it signals the beginning of summer.
Although the scale and commercial pressures have expanded greatly, both the parade and festival still remain the rightful domain of the Mission District. The Grand Parade features the diverse Latin American, Caribbean and African Diasporic roots of the Mission District and the San Francisco Bay Area, and is televised. The festival covers 17 blocks in the Mission District, with five main stages, 50 local performing artists, 400 vendors, international food, dancing, sampling sites and entertainment for all.
