Dodô Da Portela
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Maria das Dores Alves Rodrigues, better known as Dodô da Portela (1920 — 2015), was a famous flag bearer for the Portela
samba school A samba school ( pt, Escola de samba) is a dancing, marching, and drumming (Samba Enredo) club. They practice and often perform in a huge square- compounds ("quadras de samba") and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an Afro-Brazilian ...
, the most successful school in the annual
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
Carnival in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.


Early life

Maria das Dores Alves Rodrigues was born on 3 January 1920 in
Barra Mansa Barra Mansa is a Brazilian municipality located in the south of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is in the microregion of the Paraíba Valley, within the mesoregion of the South Fluminense. It is located at latitude 22º32'39 "south, longitude 44 ...
in the Paraíba Valley in the south of
Rio de Janeiro state Rio de Janeiro () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of ...
. One of nine children, three of whom were adopted, she moved to Rio de Janeiro at the age of four, together with her mother and some of her brothers, living in
Morro da Providência Morro da Providência ("Providence Hill") is a favela located between the two Rio de Janeiro districts of Santo Cristo and Gamboa. It has an altitude of 115 metres and is located in the port area of the city (currently the subject of a major rev ...
, while her father and her other siblings stayed in Paraíba. Shortly before turning 14, she got a job as a packer in a cardboard packaging factory, where she met Doralice Borges da Silva (Dora), known as the "Queen of Portela", who recommended her to be the school's flag bearer. Dodô married Aloísio, a dockworker from Mangueira. They had no children.


Portela samba school

Dodô debuted as flag bearer at the age of fifteen in the 1935 Carnival, when Portela won its first title. Portela won eleven championships with Dodô as first flag bearer, before Vilma Nascimento took over her role. She went on to parade as second and third standard bearer until she retired from the flag-bearing role in 1966. In all, Portela, which was the dominant school in the early days of the championships, won 18 times when she was parading. In 1972, the president of Portela, Carlinhos Maracanã, bought Dodô a small store, close to Portela's school. A fervent
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, she took responsibility for organising religious events at the school. In 1986, she won the, ''Estandarte de Ouro'' (Golden Standard) awarded by the ''O Globo'' newspaper, which is considered to be the equivalent of the
Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for the carnival parade. In 1991 she became president of the ''Ala das Damas'' or Ladies' Wing and in that year the Portela ladies also won an ''Estandarte de Ouro''. In the 2004 Carnival, she paraded as Godmother of the Drums with Portela, winning the ''Estandarte de Ouro'' for being "Personality" of the Carnival. In 2005, a motion was approved in the Legislative Assembly of the state of Rio de Janeiro, congratulating Dodô for her contribution to the Brazilian carnival. In 2009, she was honoured, along with other samba personalities, in the documentary ''Velhas Guardas'', by Joatan Berbel.In 2013, the book ''Eleven Incredible Women of Rio Carnival'', by Aydano André Motta, featured her story in the first chapter.


Death

Maria das Dores Alves Rodrigues was admitted to hospital on 22 December 2014 and died on 6 January 2015 from dehydration and malnutrition. She was buried on the following day at São João Batista cemetery, in
Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood ('' bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of ...
, in the south of Rio de Janeiro. Numerous tributes were paid, including from members of the Portela samba school, as well as from the mayor of Rio de Janeiro,
Eduardo Paes Eduardo da Costa Paes (, born 14 November 1969) is a Brazilian politician who was the mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro from 2009 to 2012, re-elected for a second term from 2013 to 2016 and returning elected again in 2021. He is currently t ...
. At her request, the wake was not held at the school's headquarters, which she considered should always be a place of joy. In 2015, Dodô was featured in a mural about 20 meters long and 5 meters high, on Rua Ebroino Uruguai, one of the main entrances to Morro da Providência, where she had lived.


References


External link


Television news item on the death of Dodô da Portela
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodô Portela 1920 births 2015 deaths Samba dancers Afro-Brazilian people 20th-century Brazilian women Brazilian Carnival Rio Carnival Brazilian Roman Catholics People from Rio de Janeiro (state)