The Grêmio Recreativo Cultural e Social Escola de Samba Vai-Vai (Recreational, Cultural and Social Guild Samba School Vai-Vai) is a samba school from the city of São Paulo, founded by a group of notable samba musicians in the Bixiga neighborhood, within the Bela Vista district. It calls itself the "People's School". It is one of the largest associations of Brazilian Carnival and the greatest champion of the São Paulo Carnival with 15 titles (1978, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2008, 2011 and 2015), in addition to 10 runner-up finishes (1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1997, 2006 and 2009).
History
In the early 20th century, in the Bixiga neighborhood on Marques Leão Street, there was a soccer team called Cai-Cai, which used black and white colors, part of which was a choro group and played on the Lusitana field, near the intersection of Rocha and Una streets, in the Saracura River region.
Around 1928, a group of friends led by Livinho and Benedito Sardinha, among them Henrique Felipe da Costa (Henricão), Frederico Penteado (Fredericão), Lourival de Almeida (Seo Loro), helped liven up the games and parties held by Cai-Cai, but were always seen as intruders and troublemakers, being jokingly nicknamed "the Vae-Vae gang". Expelled from Cai-Cai, they created the "Bloco dos Esfarrapados" (Ragged Ones Block), and in parallel, the Carnaval Cordão and Sports Vae-Vae, which was officially established in 1930.
Vae-Vae adopted the colors black and white, the colors of Cai-Cai inverted, as a way of mocking the cordão they had separated from. Its first banner was made of black satin adorned with white fringes, having as its central symbol a drawing of a Crown with two coffee branches and below the branches, the name of the cordão, followed by the foundation date.
Its first composer was Henrique Filipe da Costa, Henricão, who composed the 1928 samba: "Quem vive aborrecido distrai no Bloco Carnavalesco Vai Vai" (Those who live bored get distracted in the Vai Vai Carnival Block). Also his authorship was the 1929 samba, which said "O Vai Vai na rua faz tremer a Terra / Quem está ouvindo e não vê / Chega a pensar que é guerra" (Vai Vai on the street makes the Earth tremble / Those who hear and don't see / Come to think it's war). In the 1980s, Henricão would become the first black King Momo of the São Paulo carnival.
Fredericão was the mentor of Vae-Vae's coat of arms, consisting of a crown based on two coffee branches. The first official parade of the Vai Vai cordão took place in February 1930. Its theme was São Paulo and the samba was again composed by Henricão: "Salve São Paulo, tens o céu cor de anil/ Possui a riqueza e a grandeza, és o coração do Brasil" (Hail São Paulo, you have an indigo sky / You possess wealth and greatness, you are the heart of Brazil). The costumes were free, and black and white predominated. The first songs performed by the association in its parades were composed by the trio Tino, Guariba and Henricão.
In the second parade, in 1931, a samba exalting the cordão itself was sung. The year 1932, due to the Constitutionalist Revolution, was the only one in which the Cordão did not parade. In 1933, Vai-Vai returned with a theme honoring the Brazilian Navy, with all the dancers dressed as sailors.
In 1934, the then GC Vae-Vae won the second edition of the contest held by the Frente Negra Brasileira (Brazilian Black Front), parading with more than 100 members on Carnival Tuesday.
Vai-Vai started competing in official parades in 1935, competing against 34 other associations, 15 of them cordões, all in a single contest. From 1935 to 1965 Vai-Vai did not have a samba-enredo, but exaltation sambas, which were sung during the parade and always composed by Tino and Gurariba. From 1951 onwards, after being a drummer and whistle-blower (when he made the drum beat of Vai-Vai similar to that of Mangueira), Sebastião Eduardo do Amaral, the famous Pé Rachado, became the first official president of the cordão, a position he held officially until 1973. In the mid-1960s, a fight between Pé Rachado and Romulo, son of Dona Iracema, caused a dissidence in Bela Vista: the cordão Fio de Ouro. Besides Fio de Ouro, São Geraldo, from the Penteado family, and Geraldino appeared. The only branch that still survives is Barroca Zona Sul.
Djalma Branco, together with Carioca, elaborated great themes in the 1960s, such as "The second marriage of Dom Pedro I", in 1966. Due to lack of funds, in 1967, the cordão repeated the theme and won the title, which caused great confusion among the competitors. In 1968 the theme was: "The arrival of the royal family", where Vai-Vai had as its costume designer the highest ranking in haute couture of the time, the stylist Denner. His arrival revolutionized the world of São Paulo samba. Still as themes, Vai-Vai had, in 1969, "Aleijadinho", in 1970, "Princess Leopoldina" – the entity's last title as a carnival cordão – and, in 1971, "Independence or Death", with Zé Di being the composer of the last samba of the cordão era, who later became famous in Acadêmicos do Salgueiro.
In the early 1970s, the category of carnival cordões was already decadent, and all started to transform into samba schools. In 1972, Vai-Vai officially became a samba school, with the name Grêmio Recreativo Cultural e Escola de Samba Vai-Vai, debuting in the Special Group. After Pé Rachado's departure, Chiclé took over the presidency. The first title as a samba school came in 1978, six years after the change. Other titles were won in 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987 and 1988.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the school lived its best phase, when, after winning the title in 1996, it was four-time consecutive champion between 1998 and 2001, although the last three titles were shared with other schools.
On the eve of the 1999 parade, the Confederação Israelita do Brasil (Israelite Confederation of Brazil), the Israelite Federation of the State of São Paulo and B'nai B'rith of Brazil protested against one of Vai-Vai's wings, whose costumes featured accessories with the swastika design, with the intention of representing the supposed prediction made by Nostradamus, the title character of that year's theme, about the rise of Nazism, in which the Jewish entities recognized a possible apology to Adolf Hitler's party. Sólon Tadeu, the school's president at the time, apologized to the representatives of the three entities, arguing that the school only wanted to represent Nostradamus's prediction and had no intention of causing offense. Even so, Tadeu determined that Vai-Vai would parade with the controversial accessory covered by black tarpaulins, to avoid negative interpretations.
The following year, celebrating its 70th anniversary in a carnival where all schools presented themes related to the 500 years of the Discovery of Brazil, Vai-Vai presented the theme "Vai-Vai Brazil", dealing with the period from 1985 to 2000. That year, it obtained its 11th title with carnival designer Flávio Tavares.
In 2001 the school was four-time champion with the theme "The Path of Light, Universal Peace".
In 2002 the school was the fifth to parade on the second night of parades with the theme "Locked with Seven Keys", which showed legends and superstitions about the number 7. The following year, in 2003, it was the sixth school to parade on Friday with the theme "Among Marches, Gallops and Rides". On both occasions, the school finished in 5th place.
In 2004, a thematic Carnival for the 450th anniversary of the city of São Paulo, the association honored the Bixiga neighborhood and, after some problems in the evolution of the parade, obtained the third worst result in its history: 11th place.
The following year, in 2005, as the third school to parade on Friday, with the theme "I Am Also Immortal", the school came "bitten" but finished in fifth place. That year, the drum section protested against some of the scores and decided not to attend the champions' parade. After that, the president decided that the school would not participate in the parade.
In 2006, it came closer to the title with the theme "São Vicente, here began Brazil", but lost by half a point to Império de Casa Verde.
In 2007, already under the command of Tobias and with Vaguinho as singer, Vai-Vai finished in third place. The new president, right after the parade, did not polemicize about the result, recognizing the victory of Mocidade Alegre, although he said he would like to see the justifications for some of the theme category scores.
After Carnival, the school was prevented from continuing its rehearsals on the streets of Bixiga, as it had done until then for not having a sufficiently large headquarters to host them. This happened because a group of residents, who for years had protested against the inconveniences brought by the rehearsals, managed to get the city hall to forbid the association from rehearsing on the street. Permission would be obtained again a few years later.
In 2008, after seven years without winning, Vai-Vai paraded with the theme "Wake up Brazil, the way out is to have hope", about education through music in Brazil, and won its 13th title.
In 2009, the school bet on a parade that was more technical than exciting, with the theme "Mens sana et corpore sano – The millennium of overcoming", in which it addressed the history of health. The front commission "In search of the Vitruvian man" represented a duel between good and evil; the opening float, "Black Death", represented smallpox; the Baianas wing symbolized "Microbial Globalization"; and the drum section, coming from "Black Death" and "Wolf-Man of Man", represented the unhealthy conditions of the 14th century. The school finished in 2nd place, half a point less than the champion Mocidade Alegre.
In 2010, without Chico Spinosa, but endowed with a Carnival Commission, Vai-Vai presented a theme that addressed the 80 years of the FIFA World Cup, making a parallel with the eighty years of the school itself. Due to the scores obtained in the Evolution and Front Commission categories, the school finished in 3rd place, three-quarters of a point less than the champion Rosas de Ouro.
On 20 April 2010, the president of Vai-Vai, Thobias da Vai-Vai, ceded the presidency to Darli Silva, Neguitão, and was named honorary president of the association.
In 2011, Vai-Vai bet on a parade considered exciting, with the theme "Music Won", a theme that took to the sambadrome the life and work of the maestro, pianist and conductor João Carlos Martins. The front commission, "Delirium of Dalí", presented a synthesis of his biography, where the 16 members were dressed as characters from music, politics and football, as women and as representatives of other moments of his life. The opening float symbolized the "Divine Procession – The Gods of Inspiration", the first couple represented Orpheus and Eurydice, the baianas represented "Pythonissis – The Prediction of the Future", and the drum section paraded with the costume "Our Samba Orchestra". The school finished as the champion of the São Paulo carnival, this being its 14th title.