She is the Shirley Temple of samba, a seven-year-old named to a coveted Carnival role normally reserved for barely clad models who have undergone more plastic surgeries than Julia Lira has seen birthdays.
Naming the girl drum corps queen for the Viradouro samba group is raising eyebrows — even in a city that has seen everything during the annual mega-party that begins next week.
A judge is considering blocking Julia’s participation. A state agency that defends children’s rights says she’s too young to take on a traditionally sexy role. But the girl’s father, who is president of the Viradouro group, says Julia is a natural who can easily samba through the 80-minute parade route in Rio’s sweltering summer heat.
“Any man who looks at a seven-year-old child and feels any sort of excitement should go see a doctor,” Marco Lira said before rehearsal this week. “She has the aptitude to be a drum corps queen — you’ll see it tonight. She has a seriousness inside of her when she is on the stage.”
At the delicate core of Julia’s case is the queen’s traditional role in Rio’s Carnival: that of sexy muse. Unlike other participants, she is usually not bare-chested and wears more than just glitter. But queen costumes would be considered revealing by any estimation.
Brazil has long had a problem with sexual exploitation of children, especially in the lawless Amazon region. Allowing Julia to be a drum corps queen “would increase the treatment of children as sexual objects in Brazilian society,” said Carlos Nicodemos, director of the Rio de Janeiro state Council for the Defense of Children and Adolescents.
“We’re not against kids participating in Carnival,” Nicodemos said. “What we can’t allow is putting a seven-year-old girl in a role that traditionally for Carnival has a very sexual focus.”
The competition among the 12 top-tier samba groups is fierce, and the winners are hailed by fans across Brazil. Viradouro, which won the title in 1997, is no stranger to controversy. In 2008, a judge blocked the group’s use of a dancer dressed as Hitler on a float loaded with naked people representing Holocaust victims after the display caused an international outcry.
Julia’s fate is now in the hands of a family court in Rio. The judge examining the case has declined to say when she will make a decision.
Marco Lira said the judge requested information about the girl’s role, when the group was scheduled to makes its presentation and what Julia would be wearing.
Some Carnival fans don’t see how Julia could be considered for the role.
Jaquelene Oliveira, a 19-year-old college student, said: “The role of the drum corps queen is to inspire the drummers to play hard for 80 minutes. It is an innately sexual role and to put a child in that position is wrong.”
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