Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival festivities have come to a close, but the city can’t resume regular life until “the count” of scores from the parade competition is completed and a victor is proclaimed.
The Carnival parade is billed as the world’s biggest party, yet scarcely anyone outside Brazil realizes the flashy floats and extravagant dancers are more than spectacle. It has complex, constantly changing regulations and dozens of judges. In recent years, the samba school league has adopted changes to limit subjectivity, but skepticism about scoring remains — not least because of its checkered past.
