SAMBA QUEEN & KING CONTEST 2025 OFFICIAL RULES AND REGULATIONS
Welcome to Samba Queen 2025! We are so happy that you are participating in this event with us! This will be our 14th Samba Queen Contest. We encourage contestants to value community over competition, and go into this planning to support, and be supported by your fellow dancers! We do this for the fun and for the love, and we try not to get too serious about things along the way. However, there are a few very important rules / details that all contestants need to be aware of:
1. Contestants may register in any of the following categories:
-Pro Queen: for Intermediate/Advanced Samba Dancers (Queen, Princess, Muse)
-Semi-Pro Queen: for Beginner/Intermediate Samba Dancers (Queen, Princess, Muse)
-King: For men / male-style samba dancers (King, Prince, Duke)
-Groups (two or more dancers)
2. Dancers in all individual categories will perform a two-minute solo set to live batucada drumming. You will be provided with a practice track upon your registration. Groups will perform to a recorded track of their choosing. Group registration fee is $150 no matter the number of dancers in your group.
3. All costumes need to be approved by Samba Fogo Artistic Director, Lorin Hansen, before the day of the event. Under Utah law, no contestant is allowed to show “the cleft of the buttocks.” This is basically the sacrum area or “top of the crack” ;) This means no T-strings or see-through outfits. It’s OK to show the bottom of your cheeks, (Thongs, Cheekies, Shorties, Regular Bikini-cut), but if you wear a thong, it must have a triangle of cloth covering the cleft (can not be a t-string, with no triangle). Also, we need to see you actually shake and dance in your costume before the event, to make sure it’s going to stay on!! You can send in a video if you are coming from out of state.
4. Each contestant will get a total of two minutes on stage. The band will play slow, Rio-style samba for your first minute. At 60 seconds in, the band will stop and come back in at a faster tempo. You will be supplied with a practice track upon entering the contest.
5. There will be a group rehearsal, optional for contestants, on Friday, January 24, 9:00pm at the SLC Arts Hub, 663 W 100 S. This is an opportunity to practice your solo with the live drummers, and meet some of the other contestants.
6. The stage will be a stable, raised platform with a thin layer of rubber on the surface. The shape of the stage is approximately 16’ wide x 12’ deep, with a 16’ long, 4’ wide catwalk coming off the front of it.
7. The dressing room will be located upstairs at the Metro Music Hall. Upon your turn to perform, plan come down the backstage stairs, then emerge from backstage and walk up a few stairs to get onto the stage.
8. Contestants should plan to arrive to Metro Music Hall at 615 W 100 S by 7:00pm on Saturday, January 25. We will have the stage set up by about 6:00pm that night, if you want to come early and give it a try between 6:00 & 7:00pm.
9. Dressing Room: The dressing room should be big enough to accommodate all of the contestants, but try to consolidate your costuming to one small area of the room, to give others room to change and get ready. No friends in the dressing room – CONTESTANTS ONLY!
10. Judges will be told to rate each contestant on the following focuses: (all equal priority)
Musicality and Expression
Power and Energy
Costume and Presentations
Technique and Difficulty
Authenticity / Depth
11. Audience Voting: we are involving the audience in the vote for Samba Queen! Audience members can donate to Samba Fogo to place a vote for their favorite dancer(s). Each $1 donated in support of you will give you one extra point (maximum of 100 points). Dollar proceeds from audience voting goes to Samba Fogo. Points go to you (maximum of 100 points - see below for more on point system). This means that the more friends you have at the event, the more extra points you can potentially earn, so invite your friends to the event! You can walk around in your costume and ask audience members to vote for you. There will also be volunteers offering audience members the chance to vote for every contestant, throughout the evening. (There is no audience voting factored in for groups – audience can only vote for individuals)
12. At the end of the each contest category, each dancer will return to the stage, in costume, together - to remind the judges and audience of the complete lineup throughout the evening. Contestants will do a final parade, and then stay on stage and dance together for a few minutes. After that, the judges deliberate and cast their votes. Each judge will submit their individual vote for first, second and third place. If a dancer receives a vote for First Place from any judge, they get 100 points. A vote for Second Place from any judge counts for 75 points, and a vote for Third Place from any judge counts for 50 points. All the votes will be tallied, then the audience voting points will be added onto the judge’s votes. In the event of a tie, there will be a two-minute “dance-off”, where tied contestants will dance on stage together. A winner will then be selected by a combination of judge votes and audience participation.
13. If a contestant wins first place in a particular category two years in a row, they must sit out / perform an exhibition the following year. They are welcome to enter the contest again after that.
14. HAVE FUN! BE SUPPORTIVE OF EACH OTHER! DON’T GET TOO SERIOUS ABOUT ALL THIS!! Remember that we are doing this for fun, and the more fun you have on stage, the more fun the audience will have watching you!!! Your having a good time is our first priority in this event!
Thanks for entering! Have A BLAST out there!!!
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have ANY questions