The article deals with the project of a "Samba City," built in a central area in Rio de Janeiro. The barracoes (warehouses and workshops) of the biggest 'samba schools,' members of the Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba (Samba Schools Independent League), are set up in those buildings, where the allegorical floats and some of the costumes and props for the carnival annual parade of these schools are made. In the square there is a stage for both musical and dancing samba shows aimed at tourists visiting Rio de Janeiro. The analysis considers not only the social, economic, and historical aspects involved in the project, but also the samba school members' demands, since they are all interrelated. Thus, the frontiers that separate employment and working practices from leisure activities are tenuous or may end up being broken, and the same can be said of those which divide daily life from festivities in the city.
Rio de Janeiro; Tourism; "Samba schools"; Work; Festivities
