Performing Arts

There is always something happening at the Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura (Rua Dragão do Mar 81, Iracema, tel. 85/3488-8600, www.dragaodomar.org.br), which has a theater and cinema. It’s also worthwhile checking to see what musical and dance events are being performed at the opulent Theatro José de Alencar (Praça José Alencar, Centro, tel. 85/3101-2583, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 8–11:30 a.m. Sat., R$4).

The Centro Cultural SESC Luís Severiano Ribeiro (Praça Ferreira, Centro, tel. 85/3253-3332) is a cultural center housed inside what was formerly Fortaleza’s most glamorous movie palace, the vaguely art deco Cine São Luís. Crystal chandeliers and marble floors make this a grand place to take in a film.

Festivals and Events

Although Fortaleza has a Carnaval in the summer, it is nothing compared to the out-of-season “winter” Carnaval known as Fortal. Held during the last weekend of July, the festivities erupt along Praia de Meireles’s Avenida Beira Mar. The event draws hundreds of thousands of skimpily clad and inebriated souls bent on dancing the days and nights away to the ear-shattering pulse of Bahia’s biggest axé music stars.

© Michael Sommers from Moon Brazil, 2nd Edition