(25 Feb 1998) Portu/Span/Nat
Brazil's best known carnival ended on Tuesday in outlandish fashion with the weird and wonderful star-studded Gala Gay Ball.
The event is a risque cult parade of Rio's glamorous set and its drag queens where anything can happen.
The whole carnival has -- as usual -- captured the attention of the nation as thousands of dancers, drummers, singers and flag bearers marched, sang, danced and paraded through several nights.
Tuesday's Gala Gay Ball is one spectacle few in Brazil could fail to miss.
The event ends the four days of carnival in Rio De Janeiro and draws a celebrity
crowd -- although drag queens steal the show.
Their outlandish costumes are the star attraction for the crowds who gather in front of the Scala ballroom to watch in fascination.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"They are very beautiful. They dress up very well and are beautiful."
SUPER CAPTION: Maruja Ugaz, tourist from Peru
SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese)
"At the end of the day everything is work, work, work. We need some happiness sometimes and that is what they (the drag Queens) bring us. The spirit of being happy."
SUPER CAPTION: Nilomar Marques Dad Cunha, military official
Macho attitudes prevail in Brazil but the the glamour of the Gala Gay Ball and the sight of so many camping it up has turned it in to the country's biggest gay event.
Make up artist Antonio Carlos da Silva Monteiro is among the many who seize the opportunity to parade in drag.
His act can earn him up to one thousand Reais (1,000 U-S dollars) when asked to appear at private functions.
But it's no easy thing to do in such a country.
SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese)
"It is different from being an American or European drag queen, you see? Here things are not too easy and to tell you the truth you need to be very macho..very masculine, to live the life of a drag queen you see? It is getting better but it is very complicated."
SUPER CAPTION: Antonio Carlos Da Silva Monteiro, make up artist
The ball was broadcast live to the whole country with press cameramen massed outside the entrance to Scala.
Several thousand spectators cheered as guests arrived while inside the ballroom the party gathered pace until the late hours of Wednesday morning.
Among those attending was Miss Brazil Gay, originally born a man.
Musicians played samba -- last heard in the "Samba Dome" during the spectacular carnival parade on Sunday and Monday.
It was as if the entire parade had ended under one roof.
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