STUDIO & ONLINE CLASS
WEEKLY OPEN LEVEL CLASS_ Improvers to Advanced class. BOOK HERE
STUDIO & ONLINE CLASS
STUDIO & ONLINE CLASS
WEEKLY Samba Technique CLASS. Beginners are welcome! BOOK HERE
STUDIO & ONLINE CLASS
ONLINE CLASS
STUDIO & ONLINE CLASS
WEEKLY OPEN LEVEL CLASS_ Improvers to Advanced class. BOOK HERE
STUDIO & ONLINE CLASS
STUDIO & ONLINE CLASS
WEEKLY Samba Technique CLASS. Beginners are welcome! BOOK HERE
STUDIO & ONLINE CLASS
Samba de Rainha (pronounced |ˈsæmbə diː haˈiɲa|) is a Brazilian samba dance class for anyone who wishes to learn
Brasilian culture through music and Samba no pé.
“Rainha” means Queen in Portuguese, and Samba de Rainha translates as Samba of a Queen. The name reflects both our home in the United Kingdom — A Terra da Rainha, as Brasilians affectionately call it — and our belief in empowerment. Samba de Rainha is a movement that encourages everyone to discover confidence, self-expression, and inner strength through Brasilian dance.
Awaken your inner Queen with Samba de Rainha.
In class, you will improve your samba technique while building confidence, self-esteem, and body awareness. You will also learn elements of Portuguese language and Brasilian cultural expression through music and movement. Whether your goal is to become a professional samba dancer, take part in Carnaval in Brasil or Europe, or simply improve your fitness and wellbeing, Samba de Rainha offers a welcoming and inspiring space for all levels.
Students who wish to perform may join Sambistas da Rainha, my performance team. Each year, there are opportunities to take part in shows, festivals, and Carnivals in London, across Europe, and in Brasil.
I am deeply proud of Brasilian popular culture (Cultura Popular Brasileira) and passionate about sharing genuine Brazilian samba, with its technique, emotion, and cultural roots. I teach and develop core samba skills — from fast Samba no pé and samba walks to poses and floreios — using a wide range of traditional and contemporary samba music.
Above all, Samba de Rainha is a supportive and friendly community where people connect, grow, and celebrate together.
Samba de Rainha Classes – Pineapple Dance Studios
Wednesday – 6:25 PM (Studio & Online)
Friday – 6:30 PM (Studio & Online)
Live Online Samba Class
Sunday – 11:00 AM (Online only)
Online Samba Technique Courses
Learn Brazilian samba at your own pace with structured online technique courses.
Seasonal courses focusing on technique, musicality, and cultural expression.
School of Brazilian Samba Império da Rainha –
Classes & Rehearsals with live drums
For shows, workshops, and collaborations, please get in touch.
Obrigada, Abraços e Axé!
I’m Liani Devito, originally from Santos, a coastal city in São Paulo, Brazil, where samba is less something
you learn and more something you grow up breathing.
My dance journey began in my teenage years through Capoeira, training with Mestre Fábio Parada, while building a strong connection with Afro-Brazilian culture and rhythm. Later, I moved to the United States, where I taught Latin Ballroom at Arthur Murray Dance Studios in Houston, Texas — an experience that gave me strong technical foundations and shaped the way I teach movement today.
Since 2010, London has been home. I trained intensively for four years at Pineapple Dance Studios in Jazz, Latin, Commercial and Samba, and since 2021 I have been proud to teach there as the resident Brazilian Samba instructor.
Over the years, I have performed across the UK and internationally, appearing at festivals, cultural events, TV productions, and music videos — including work with Basement Jaxx. My performances and teaching have taken me to France, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Australia, and the United States, and I have also featured in BBC interviews discussing Brazilian samba culture.
In London’s carnival scene, I was part of Paraíso School of Samba from 2016 to 2023 as a passista, later becoming Rainha de Bateria (Queen of the Drums), joining the teaching team, and leading my own ala for four consecutive years at Notting Hill Carnival.
To keep my teaching connected to the highest level of authentic samba, I travel to Rio de Janeiro every year,
where I train and parade as a passista with leading samba schools:
Training and parading across different schools and directors has given me deep insight into samba’s culture,
discipline, and performance standards. Being part of Salgueiro — under the direction of Carlinhos Salgueiro
— reflects a level of excellence I continuously bring into my teaching.
Alongside dance, I am also a Senior Lecturer in Biosciences — which perhaps explains why I
teach samba with equal parts structure, detail, and joy.
For me, samba is culture, identity, essence, fitness, expression, and community all at once.
Start your journey today!
Vamos sambar!
Axé
Liani
Samba. The word itself is musical — rhythmic, percussive, alive.
Often described as the most Brasilian of all musical forms, samba emerged in the early 20th century as the dominant music of Rio de Janeiro, gradually replacing earlier popular styles such as maxixe and choro. As samba evolved, it increasingly foregrounded African-derived rhythms and percussion while incorporating European harmonic and melodic traditions. This fusion gave samba profound cultural meaning: a music born of mestiçagem — the blending of peoples and cultures — that is uniquely and unmistakably Brazilian. Over time, samba became closely tied to ideas of national identity, cultural belonging, and Brasil’s evolving concept of “racial democracy” (Walsh, 2010).
At its core, samba is a rich, syncopated rhythm rooted in the drums, dances, and spiritual traditions of Central and West Africa, particularly Angola and Congo. Brazil itself is a cultural crossroads, shaped by Indigenous, African, and European influences, and samba reflects this complex heritage. Within Afro-Brazilian religious traditions, samba is understood as a form of invocation — a way to connect with one’s Orixá, to honour and communicate with the divine through rhythm, movement, and collective energy.
Samba is not a single style, but a vibrant family of musical and dance forms. From the fast-paced, explosive samba of Carnaval — with its drums, movement, and visual spectacle — to the elegant partnered dance of Samba de Gafieira and the ancestral circular traditions of Samba de Roda, each expression carries its own history and meaning.
In my Brasilian samba dance classes, you will experience the Carnaval Passista style — the solo samba dance performed by highly skilled dancers in Brasil’s Schools of Samba — enriched by influences from Samba de Gafieira and Samba de Roda. A passista is more than a dancer: they are a bearer of tradition, technique, and joy. Samba dance is one of Brazil’s most valued cultural expressions and is often described as the heartbeat of Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Awaken your inner Queen with Brasilian Samba.
Let’s samba. Vamos sambar!
Samba de Rainha
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