The Brazilian Student Association at Southeast Missouri State University hosted its second annual Brazilian Carnaval Night on Friday, April 7, at Centenary United Methodist Church. The event welcomed guests into the culture of Rio once they walked in. Guests tried appetizers such as Păo de queijo, Mandioca and meat skewers, got their faces painted, took pictures in a photo booth, played foosball and learned more information about Rio.

The show opened with a performance from the band Samba Dom and Dill Costa followed by a tap dance performance. As the show went on a performance from Jose Mino took place. The Brazilian martial arts Capoeira group called Naçao Capoeira took the stage to perform and invited BRASA members to help them perform. Naçao Capoeira got the crowd involved by having everyone clap as they performed. The performers fed off the energy of the crowd.

There was a dining area provided where there were different drinks served and guests could see the food being prepared. The food was the talk of the night. The dinner was prepared by BRASA and consisted of a choice of traditional, chicken or vegan. The dinner also consisted of feijoada, white rice, farofa, lettuce and chopped tomatoes.

Cidney Spires, freshman and nursing major at Southeast Missouri State University, who attended attended a cultural event for the first time said she learned about the event through class and was curious to know what it was about.

“I hope to learn more about the country, the people and the different aspects about it that I didn’t know already,” Spires said.

Getting their culture across to everyone with their Carnaval Night was the goal, and Juliana Fujita, sophomore and secretary of BRASA, said their organization is small and this was a big event.

“We just want to show everyone that anything is possible,” Fujita said.

Samba Dom and Dill Costa began to perform again and brought out their carnival dancers who got the crowd engaged in their performance. They brought audience members to the dance floor to dance with them, including Southeast president Dr. Carlos Vargas. Their performance got the crowd more involved as they went around the room and danced with different people and got people out of their seats.

Gabriel Andrade, sophomore and social coordinator for BRASA, said the event required a lot of hard work and he hopes the Rio culture got through to everyone. He said he wouldn’t change anything about the event.

“I want people to recognize that we are a lot more than just beaches, women and parties. There’s so much more to our country and culture,” Andrade said.