The first Sunday of technical rehearsals by the Special Group of samba schools in Rio de Janeiro will feature the traditional Império Serrano and the irreverent Paraíso do Tuiuti at the Rio de Janeiro sambódromo. Admission to the stands at Marquês de Sapucaí on the days of technical rehearsals is free, and the public can also bring food and drink that they wish to consume. 
The technical rehearsals will be broadcast live on YouTube by the Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba (Liesa), with a presentation by carnival artist Milton Cunha, one of the personalities of the Rio carnival.
Império Serrano starts the rehearsal at Marquês at 8:30 pm, but the gates of the sambodrome will open to the public at 5 pm. The plot of the Madureira school will pay homage to the sambista Arlindo Cruz, who suffered a stroke in March 2017 and, since then, faces motor and speech sequelae.
The plot departs from one of Arlindo Cruz’s great successes, the song My placewho declares his love for Madureira, the neighborhood where Império Serrano and Portela were born.
After the green and white, Paraíso do Tuiuti enters the Sambadrome at 10 pm. The school will tell about the buffalo’s curious arrival on Marajó Island, their relationship with the spice trade and the prominent space that these animals have come to occupy in the local culture.
So that the public can leave the technical rehearsals, the MetrôRio company has extended its opening hours until midnight for boarding at the Central do Brasil and Praça Onze stations.
The next technical rehearsals will be: Imperatriz Leopoldinense and Unidos da Tijuca, on January 22nd; Mocidade and Mangueira, January 29; Salgueiro and Portela, February 5th; Vila Isabel and Viradouro, February 11th; and Beija-Flor and Grande Rio, on February 12th.
The Série Ouro, former Grupo de Acesso, also started its technical rehearsals for the 2023 carnival, and took the Lins Imperial, Inocentes de Belford Roxo and Estácio de Sá schools to the Sambódromo last night (14).
