It's not just soccer at the World Cup, there's culture too.
Before all the games there are performances from both local and international artists, and before the Brazil-Turkey game yesterday there was folk dancing.
PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
Dressed in the sort of costumes more often associated with middle Europe hundreds of years ago, most of the audience were a little bemused by the Brazilian performance.
PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
"We are bringing a different kind of Brazil to South Korea," said Regis Eduardo Bastia, of the CTG Guapos Do Itapui folk dancing group.
"Of course, we are famous for our football and samba and most people expect this from us and look a bit strangely at first, but then everyone enjoys it."
Bastia said the Gauochos from Brazil were similar to the gauchos from Argentina and originally came from Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
Also appearing in short trousers, white stockings and bells were the men in the Turkish folk dance group from the Izmit region (where there was a devastating earthquake in 1999), which leader Ahmet Atacan said had won Turkey's folk dancing cup final this year.
"Yes, we are the best," he said. "This is official. It has been a great opportunity to bring our culture to here for everyone to appreciate."
While there was serious appreciation of the folk dancing, some Danes were attracting attention for their singing and because they were men dressed as Valkyries.
"We're red, we're white, we're Danish dynamite," they sang repeatedly. When asked why they sang in English they said no one would understand them if they sang in their own language.
A Turkish fan who overheard this conversation butted in with, "They just sing in English to get attention. We have a song like this too. `We're red, we're white, we're Turkish dynamite.'"
At this point everything stopped, as the official Brazilian Cheerleading Team passed by.
Danes, Turks and Brazilians all flocked to have their picture taken with them, but the leader of the group cleared them away so the Taipei Times could take an "exclusive" picture.
When I asked them if they could smile a little more, the leader said, "I'm sorry, but this is not possible because otherwise maybe the girls' makeup will crack and they must be looking their best."
Apparently, "looking their best" is a responsibility the official Brazilian Cheerleading Team takes very seriously.
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