The Seven Mystic Sisters are kicking off our favorite day of the year! It’s officially Mardi Gras Day, y’all! pic.twitter.com/4iOtp9ogmv
— Visit New Orleans (@VisitNewOrleans) February 13, 2024
They call her the muse of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival. She insists she’s a missionary https://t.co/0HanhUfre4
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 11, 2024
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Standing 9 feet tall, Raquel Potí regularly graces the front pages of Brazilian magazines and newspapers, and on Saturday the artist donned a lavish feathered costume and lacquered her body in gold glitter. At one point she charged the length of the street party, sweeping her rainbow wings like she was about to take flight. It was the latest of her charismatic stilt walking performances that has prompted some media to call her the muse of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival.
But on a recent weekend, she had reduced herself to her natural, petite size and patched jeans. During a class outside Rio’s modern art museum, she instructed a group of students to lock eyes with a partner. Each pair recalled someone who shaped them and shared their dreams. Then they hugged. Some wept, one while recounting how her grandmother taught her to smile.
“You weren’t tricked,” Potí, 40, told them. “This IS a stilt walking class. And it has already begun!”
The class is at the center of her outsized footprint in Rio, which includes managing several government-funded social projects to teach stilts, theater and performing arts, running a production company and recruiting members of her ever-expanding network for event appearances…
Click over for some fantastic video… and also, the Blocao Dog Parade!
Venice likes a good party, just not the crowds https://t.co/u3zpi3j1OD
— Washington Post Travel (@WaPoTravel) February 13, 2024