Parade Evolution Criterion - "Evolução"

At this section, we will rapidly summarize another very important judging criterion of the carnaval parade contests in Rio de Janeiro: evolução in Portuguese, or parade evolution.  The evolution concept within  carnaval show members of a Samba-School involve essential aspects to the parade, like wing integration, harmony, elegance, choreography and the singing of the theme-samba.  Let´s take now a quick look at other aspects of this concept. 

Evolução is the way the dance is presented, as well as its progression during the parade.  Members from the samba-school have to be creative, stimulating, and vibrating all through the Sambadrome runway.  They cannot leave blank spaces (known as buracos) which are not a good view for who is watching the parade. The buracos, as well as members squeezing, must be avoided in the wings and in the trims.

On this excellent HD Carnival Video below, we will be able to see exactly what we are trying to explain regarding the Evolution criteria: Here we see Mary Cavalcantu which was Musa ( Diva ) for São Clemente Samba School , coordinating a section. 

See the way she moves, is carefully in harmony with the wing just behind her.  Good or above average parades, we almost dont see "blank" spaces.  Evolution Criterion and specially "Harmonia", has a lot to do with the avoidance of the "blank" spaces.  Although the video below was shot in what is called in Rio Carnival "the technical parade", with no costumes, all samba-schools take profit exactly of these rehearsals (each Top samba school is granted to have 2 official rehearsals, and the second league ( minimally one ), with the purpose to practice how the parade wings flow, adornments and parade floats size, samba dancing choreographies, distance between wings and "floor highlights" , the baianas movements and so forth.

The Passistas section for example,  (samba dancers) shall pay attention to their performances, since mixing one wing to another is also a score losing item.  Integration of one wing to another makes each of them losing identity as well as the beauty of each wing, since they are separated by different colors and different costumes.

As you can see below on the photo, there are no blank spaces or "buracos" at the parade.  This shows a good coordination and Evolução Score (as well as a "Harmonia" score ).

Photo Credit; Agencia FOTO BR / Alex Vidal

Passistas (samba dancers) shall pay attention to their performances, since mixing one wing to another is also a score losing.  Integration of one wing to another makes each of them losing identity as well as the beauty of each wing, since they are separated by different colors and different costumes.

Some wings have natural blanks, like comissão de frente-opening wing, mestre-sala and porta-bandeira, in addition to special choreographies.  

Below we see a Samba Dancers section and their harmony within the Sambadrome.

 Photo Credit; Agencia FOTO BR / Alex Vidal

Another important aspect to observe is the synchronicity in the singing during the parade.  This issue is a vital element to be considered for the harmony evaluation, that is, the group needs to sing in a single tone.   School members shall sing the samba together with the lead singer.

The rehearsals for Evolução criterion aim at nobody singing out of the samba rhythm, and following the drums rhythm, otherwise, the Samba-School may lose scores.  In case there is a sound system interruption, the incident is not considered as score problem by the jury, since it´s caused by the organization of the parade and not the samba-school itself.   If this happens, the samba-school must feel motivated enough to sing even without the leading voice of the amplifiers.  The drums must help as well maintaining the rhythm and the show