Winchester series offers a taste of Brazilian Carnival

Cooking, drum show planned for Sunday

Audience members clap while Cristiane Ripari, lead dancer with Mocidade Rebelde, performs.View file photo Special to ViewThe Brazilian troupe Mocidade Rebelde features local percussionists and dancers. Advertisement

The Brazilian Carnival is coming to Las Vegas on Sunday when the Winchester Cultural Center hosts a Brazilian drumming troop and a Brazilian cooking demonstration.

The World Vibrations concert series at the center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive, will take a turn to the South this February with a drumming show by Mocidade Rebelde.

Kurt Rasmussen started Mociade Rebelde, meaning "new generation rebel," at UNLV in 2004. Rasmussen, who is currently a percussionist for the Cirque du Soleil show "O," has made multiple trips to Brazil and was even inducted into an "Escola de Samba," a Brazilian musical group.

"I'm very passionate about this form of music and have a lot of respect for it having been immersed in the culture," Rasmussen said. "We are the only group in town that performs this type of music, and I do it with a lot of respect and passion for the music, and the presentation is as authentic as I can make it."

The show will be performed by a group from Rasmussen's UNLV class, which numbers more than 40 students. The performance will include more than just drummers. Rasmussen said there also will be vocalists, accordions and guitar players, some of whom also are performers from Cirque du Soleil.

"I'm performing several styles of music ... and I want them to hear what the music sounds like with the traditional instruments used," Rasmussen said.

There also will be films of Brazilian Carnival and two groups of dancers. One of the groups is the Samba group that performs with Mociade Rebelde at most of their shows. The other dancers, from the Mandinga School, will perform a dance called Capoeira. This dance looks very beautiful onstage, but also is a deadly martial art.

The audience will not stay in their seats for the entire show. They will be invited to dance with the dancers and have a chance to play the drums with the band.

"We will be putting on a mini-Carnival in the Winchester Theater," Rasmussen said.

Carnival would not be the same without authentic Brazilian food. That is why the Winchester Center is starting a new tradition, combining the World Vibrations concert series with a cooking demonstration series called World Cuisine. The demonstrations will be put on by master chef Timothy Welc of Masterpiece Cuisine. He has hosted local events for celebrities and will bring an extensive portable kitchen to the Winchester to teach a group how to cook authentic cultural foods.

"I'm going to be making a Brazilian feijoada. It's a bean-type dish, it's the equivalent to American soul food. It's the country's national dish. It's the most popular dish in Brazil," Timothy said. The menu also will include arroz blanco and falada tropical, a salad with avocados and hearts of palm in an olive vinaigrette dressing. He also plans to teach the class to make brigadeiro, traditional candy from Brazil, and Brazilian lemonade, which is actually made from limes.

Timothy wants the class to be able to take what he teaches them and use it in their busy lives. That is why he plans to offer a meal they will be able to prepare in under an hour.

"(I want to) show them how to make simple, everyday dishes from different countries that are easy to make at home in less than 45 minutes," Timothy said. "The stuff sounds fancy because it's from different countries, but it's really very simple."

The cooking demonstration, like the musical part of the day, is intended to be interactive.

"It will be a rare opportunity in Las Vegas to be able to experience the sounds and sights of Brazilian Carnival and get a taste of Brazilian food, culture, and music," Rasmussen said, "and to take part in Carnival."

The World Vibrations performance starts at 2 p.m. on Sunday and tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for seniors and students. The cooking demonstration begins at noon, lasts until 1:30 p.m., and is $15. Those who arrive early for the musical portion can eat for $10 while the food lasts. For more information, visit www.co.clark.nv.us/parks/Winchester_Theater_and_Gallery.htm.