Today we’d like to introduce you to Deanna Hartman.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Dancing has been one of my biggest passions ever since I can remember. In the late 90s, I started taking ballroom dancing classes, and in 2001 I began training capoeira. Through capoeira, I was introduced to Brazilian culture, music, language and samba and afro-dance. There was something about the batucada drum beats that spoke to me and filled me with amazing positive energy. At first, as a white American girl, my hips didn’t move much, and my samba dance skills weren’t that great, but my love for the Brazilian culture, music, and dance inspired and motivated me and I was determined to learn. My first samba teacher was Mestre Marisa; former dancer/performer for Oba Oba in Brazil and current capoeira master in the U.S. She began teaching me the basic steps at a capoeira batizado in Chicago. I also took samba lessons in Kansas City for several years from Renata “Morena” Pinto; to whom I owe my samba style. She taught me how to analyze the different rhythms in the batucada, how to present myself on stage and essentially how to dance the samba on a professional level.
I have been performing professionally since 2009. One of my proudest moments was when I competed in a national samba competition in 2013 and won the title of Samba Princess. A few of my most memorable samba performances in South Florida are the Pre-World Cup 2014 party in downtown Brickell, Miami, the Singles for Switchboard Annual Bachelor Auction in Brickell, Miami, and the Broward County Centennial Celebration in Ft. Lauderdale. I currently perform in corporate, community and cultural events, weddings, birthday parties, and other celebrations and shows all over the U.S. and internationally. I also perform in samba shows to celebrate Brazilian Carnaval every year in February/March and have modeled costumes, competed and danced in the Miami-Broward Carnaval that happens each year in October. You can also see me dancing in my blue samba costume in the music video “Wepa” by Angel y Khriz on YouTube.
My complete dance repertoire includes not only samba but also flamenco, salsa, cha-cha, swing, waltz, afro-dance and other Brazilian musical genres/dances such as axé, funk, oxúm, pagode, sertanejo, and forró. In addition to dancing, I also began modeling for various promotional photo shoots in the U.S. and internationally since 2009 until the present and have been a singer of classical music my whole life in large choral ensembles all around the world. Over the years, I have had the honor to sing with Andrea Bocelli, Janelle Monae and Placido Domingo in concerts and events in Miami and internationally.
Please tell us about your art.
I dance samba professionally. I was introduced to samba and other Brazilian cultural dances through training capoeira and through this training became inspired to learn more about Brazilian history and culture. I learned Portuguese as well during my capoeira and samba classes so I could understand the meanings of the musical lyrics, names of movements and what my teachers were saying when speaking to each other. All of these studies have helped me to develop my samba dancing professionally and add different movements, songs, and stories to my repertoire. Through samba, I hope to express, inspire and share multiple things:
1.) Samba as a part of Brazil’s cultural, musical and historical identity – I hope to educate others about Brazilian history and culture through my dancing. I want them to know that although many people link samba singularly with overtly-sexual dance movements and scantily-clad costumes worn and performed only during Carnaval in Brazil, samba actually has many forms and costume styles. Some outside of the Brazilian music and dance community may see modern female samba dancers as vulgar or overly sexual, only trying to attract the attention of men; but this is incorrect. They are a representation of Brazilian music, dance, and culture. Samba is considered one of the most popular Brazilian cultural expressions and has become an icon of Brazilian national identity. Configuring Samba as a symbol of Brazilian-ness was possible thanks to the cultural exchange between the working classes and the intellectual elite. Samba has roots in Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions, particularly from Angola and the Congo. There are various forms of samba in Brazil with many popular rhythms originating from drumming. The ‘samba de roda’ genre began in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia and samba as a musical genre originated in Rio de Janeiro. In some styles of samba, white linen shirts and pants are worn while others use full dresses or brightly colored feathers and jeweled costumes. That said, I want to showcase samba not only as a beautiful, popular music and dance style but also as an important part of the Brazilian national identity, history, and culture.
2.) Samba as a journey from self-consciousness and fear to self-confidence and self-expression – Samba has also helped me grow from being a self-conscious to self-confident dancer and person. My samba and capoeira teachers used to tell me that compared to people in the U.S., Brazilians are in general more comfortable and proud of their bodies, no matter if they are thin, fat, short, tall, white, black or mestizo. That being said, you will see Brazilians of any size, shape or color in bikinis on the beach or in samba costumes at Carnaval parties while people from other cultures may be more self-conscious and cover up if they feel they don’t have the perfect, skinny, model-like body. I started to observe this for myself throughout the years, and this part of the Brazilian culture was something I came to admire. My samba teacher helped my fellow dancers and I to feel comfortable and confident with our own bodies while trying on costumes and during our samba lessons and shows. I went from being someone who was a bit body conscious and would shake with fear and nervousness before going on stage (afraid to forget steps in a choreography) to having more self-confidence, proudly accepting my body and all its imperfections, and having no fear; not only when performing in front of large crowds but also in my life in general. This self-confidence is something I hope to transmit to others, and I hope to remind people to love themselves the way they are; imperfections and all. I want to inspire people to go out there, have the confidence and fearlessness to conquer every obstacle in life, no matter what comes their way.
3.) Samba as a community and exchange of energy and inspiration – As an extrovert, I love being a part of the dancer/musician community and the friendships and interactions that come from it. As a visual person, I love the colorful samba costumes and how it looks when the whole batucada and samba dancers come together to move in formation; with all kinds of colorful feathers and outfits moving around! The batucada drum beats and rhythms transmit such a powerful, positive energy to people and by dancing samba to these beats, I hope to transmit the same positive energy and emotions I feel to the people. I love being able to make people smile and inspire them through dance and positive energy.
After each show, people come up to me, ask to take pictures with me in my big, colorful costume and give me hugs; thanking me for the show and for having made them smile that day. After one pre-World Cup 2014 show in Miami, one young girl came up to me afterward, looked up at me with such admiration and was excited to show me a few of the dance moves she was learning to do. Then she asked if she could take a picture with me and if she could have a feather from my costume so we took a picture together and I gave her a feather from my headpiece. She became so excited and happy, thanked me and the little future dancer turned around and skipped all the way to the car holding her mom’s hand; going back home as one of the happiest girls in the world. At another event, a 70-year-old lady came out to the dancefloor when us samba dancers invited the crowd to dance with us after the show. She was the most eager, energetic, and smiley dancer of all of the people there; she never stopped the whole night. At the end, she came up to me, hugged me and said: “Thank you for that.” I replied, “No, thank you! You were the life of the party! Some people don’t want to come out and dance when we request people from the audience to get up and join us, and you did! You were the first person to jump up, and you kept going strong the whole night! How do you have so much energy at your age?!” She replied with a big smile: “I just recovered from a long battle with cancer, and this is my first time out in public since. Thank you for reminding me how fun this is and for making me feel so alive. I haven’t felt this alive in a long time.” We hugged one another again, and as I went back to the changing room at the end of the show, I struggled to hold back tears of joy; my heart overflowing with emotions. Sometimes people, both young and old, from all walks of life, put everything into perspective for you and remind you how important it is to dance, express yourself, have a bit of fun, be thankful and laugh often in life. Life is too short not to, after all!
These are the reasons why I dance; to make others happy, to inspire people to feel good about themselves and to remind them that they can do and be whatever they want; the sky’s the limit! For example, even a white American girl like me can become a professional Brazilian samba dancer! Also, I want to create the awareness that samba and dance, in general, can take many forms and express many things; it is all up to each person to interpret and define what they see and feel. I want to help people feel that they shouldn’t be afraid to dance whenever and wherever they want to; don’t worry what others think, let go and do what makes you happy! Lastly, find what you are passionate about, share what you love, always use your talents for good and inspire others along your journey!
Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
My best advice is to do your art on the side until you can make it financially into a full-time job. For many years, I worked a full-time job while building my professional samba dance business on the side. Having a stable income helped me to ensure that I always had enough money coming in each month to continue to pay rent and cover my bills even if I had a month or two where I didn’t get hired for as many gigs, shows, music videos, performances or whatever. During that time, I continued to build my network in the dancer/musician community, social media presence and reputation as a professional samba dancer in the area in order to book more gigs through word of mouth recommendations and by marketing my personal brand online.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
People can see my pictures, videos, photo shoots and information about shows where I perform on my Facebook business page: https://www.facebook.com/deanna.sambadancersoflo/.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deanna.sambadancersoflo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deanna.sambadancersoflo/
Image Credit:
Jorge Freire
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