Manchester School of Samba - Since March 1995
What is MSS?
Manchester School of Samba is Anthony Watt trading as "Manchester School of Samba (click here for office contact details)". Manchester School of Samba (MSS), the first Samba School in the NW of England, formed in March 1995 to foster the appreciation
of Brazilian Carnival culture through rhythm, melody, dance and simple costumes.
MSS have provided an often life enhancing introduction to percussion and dance for hundreds of people as well as an opportunity for some to build on their knowledge and strengths, be inspired and make it part of their life. We currently have 70+
fully fledged members including dancers and drummers, and
for special occasions also like to recruit a brass section and puppeteers. We focus on Brazilian Carnival Art forms, and teach rhythms & dances from different parts of Brazil at all levels from beginners to advanced and are open to all people.
Scroll down this page for more information including pictures and even more videos!.
Hire Us!
With over a decade's experience of providing crowd stopping shows, inspirational workshops and courses for schools and colleges, and motivational team building for a range of corporate clients if you are organising a function or event or perhaps want your workforce to enjoy an activity as a team, we are sure MSS can help to provide that magical moment! For more information scroll down for videos or click here...
Can I Play?
Come along and find out!
As always a warm welcome to anyone who has just encountered MSS. We hope you like what you see and consider joining us!
We hold sessions twice a week during term time, and for the 10 week Summer School, so as to hopefully give you more of a chance to make MSS part of your busy life...
Today Wednesday the 16th May we will be revising and preparing our set at Sacred Trinity Church situated behind the traffic lights on the junction of Chapel St and Blackfriars Rd (an easy way to reach there from Piccadilly is just to continue down Market Street/St Mary's Gate and over Deansgate until you walk over the bridge thats Blackfriars Road and you'll see the Church between the railway viaduct and the traffic lights) looking from Manchester city centre, between 7.00 and 9.30p.m. (with a brief pause around 8.30) for our various performances during this year's season . There will be a particular focus on the pieces and steps for our part in The Manchester Day Parade this year!
The penultimate session of The Beginner's Class will run on Monday the 21st May at The International Society, 327 Oxford Road, Manchester from 7.30 till 9p.m. Join now to be part of The Manchester Day Parade and a rhythmic Summer!
You can join at any time throughout the year but it's best to do so now before the Carnival Season gets underway! We provide all necessary percussion and a dance space, to any potential enthusiast over the age of 16 (children can come under the supervision of their parent or guardian)!
For the remainder of this half of the term we will finish covering how to play our core styles in the Beginner's Class. We suggest you attend both, the Beginners Course at The International Society on Mondays in May, and the main rehearsals on Wednesday nights at Sacred Trinity Church (which carry on through most of the year regardless) till you are up to speed and confident in performance.
I Wanna Dance!
If you just fancy an exciting way to work out or want to become one of our dancers in performance and part of MSS, then come down and join now!
The dance class runs as part of the same class as the drumming, an integral part of every rehearsal each Wednesday at Sacred Trinity Church (see the box above for directions), from 7.00 till 9.30p.m. and on Mondays at The International Society from 7.30 till 9p.m. (not on Bank Holidays).
We suggest you attend both the classes at The International Society, 327 Oxford Road, Manchester on Mondays that form part of the Beginners Course (next one Monday 21st May from 7.30 till 9.00p.m.and the following week), and the main rehearsals at Sacred Trinity Church on Wednesdays (today the 16th May 7.00 till 9.30p.m.), till you are up to speed. Experienced Members please make a special effort to attend every Wednesdays during May whilst we will consolidate our existing pieces and work towards material for The Manchester Day Parade, even if you are strapped for time!
Pushed under the doors to the rehearsal space at Sacred Trinity Church a few weeks ago and brought a tear to my eye...
N.B.Next main dance and drum rehearsal? The 16th May!
Can I Watch?
Wednesday 22nd June MSS played for Wastebusters (and will do so again in Sheffield) at The Eco Schools Show! MSS are always available for workshops in for example schools, and in fact any location, just contact us to discuss your requirements using the office details above!For Tony's musings on aspects of Brazilian culture take a regular look at his
Keep an eye on this box for details of some of our public performances.
For some 
see "News" below.
Tweet
News
You can catch a glimpse of us in this teaser for the Derby on Sky Sports News (405) which ran up until the match in this video on YouTube (don't ask me why it's upside down but it plays the right way up)!Sunday 19th June 2011 MSS was proud to play The Manchester Day Parade (see videos below)!
Read this article from Manchester Evening News 22/3/08
Express your support for busking continuing in Manchester (especially if you live nearby) in an e-mail: busking@sambaman.org.uk and subcribe to our e-mail list to be kept updated. In 2008 (and 2011) we were seen on Britain's Got Talent and locally towards the end of February that year on Channel M's Zeitgeist programme (Channel M Sunday 24th at 10p.m.) and you can watch it again by going to Zeitgeist Online (many thanks to Alison Moore for Producing the clip!). You can also see our part in a programme about one of our members Michael Browne on the BBC web site or catch glimpses of us playing on Deansgate, Manchester as part of The Manchester Day Parade, Sunday 20th June 2010 in the first video above, some footage of us in this year's Manchester Day Parade 2011 (29 seconds into the second for a minute, and from above for the whole clip in the third) in the next two clips, working with Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich's "Love Canon" in the fourth video and slide show of images from one of our Wednesday night rehearsals at Sacred Trinity below that: