Lorin Hansen grew up in Utah and has spent close to two decades studying Samba- a dance form associated with the Afro-Brazilian religion, culture, and history many centuries old. She started a nonprofit in Salt Lake City, Utah: SambaFogo.org, where she teaches Samba drumming and dance, and brings home the party and the lessons of her Brazilian mentors and teachers, cultivating the growing Utah Samba community.  Lorin, a “Sambista,” is now deep into a 20-year effort to connect Utah, where she is from and feels deeply rooted, to Afro-Brazilian Samba, the dance, drums, people and culture, and what she describes as one of the true loves of her life.

In the following two modules, Lorin introduces us to the rich beauty and culture of Afro-Brazilian Samba through drums and dance.  Her tutorial videos comprise  the arts integration activity in both modules, one teaching Samba drumming and the other Samba dance. Lorin  also teaches us the important history behind Samba, having emerged as an act of resistance during the Portuguese Black slave trade. Lorin tells stories of this earthbound tradition, weaving folklore and mythology together with Brazil’s contemporary street scene, Rio Carnival, and her own personal journey that brings it full circle and all the way home to Utah.