three carnaval kings from their ranks. she is working at a preschool and is the way mother. today, we honor korea for being an ambassador -- we honor maria for being an ambassador of brazilian culture and dance for the san francisco bay area for 25 years. [cheers and applause] now, i believe we have a plaque for you, but i do not have it. give me one second, ok? uh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh.

hold on one second. we are having technical difficulties. come help me. i am not sure where the plack is. i am going to give you some flowers, and i am going to pretend that i am handing you a plack -- plaque. now, next up is the group? ok. are you dancing? ok. sure. >> i would like to say thank you to all of you and for all of the carnaval organization for

letting us to brazilian carnaval here. thank you very much. [applause] all right, next up, we have a performance by a group, led by, trained by, maria and accompanied by a group. ♪

in her place, to take her award, zoie. she has been a student since age 6. let me just tell a little bit about this. she was born in a small town in

brazil. she studied folkloric dance, jazz, and ballet, and in the 1980's, she moved to san francisco and form her own dance groups. besides being the choreographer, she is also the director of little butterflies, the first and only brazilian dance troupe for children in the bay area. in 2007, they founded a nonprofit organization with the goal of promoting cross-cultural exchange between the united states and brazil and preserving and promoting traditional brazilian music and dance. today, we honor them for a quarter-century of dedication in preserving brazilian arts and culture and promoting exchange between the united states and brazil. i have some flowers for you.

we will have a plaque to present, so let's give a warm round of applause. [applause] >> yes, i just wanted to say thank-you for having us here today. she raised me in this brazilian culture, and i know everything to her, so thank you. -- i owe everything to her. [applause] 7 next up, i think we are going to have -- are you guys performing, or no? you guys are ready to go? -- so next up.

i will wait for you to get down the stairs, and we are going to have a performance by --- brazil. ♪

>> [singing in foreign language]

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[applause] >> again, ginga brasil. supported by -- [applause]

i can dance samba. i will not do it in a bikini, and i cannot do it in high heels on a slick floor. you have no idea how hard that was. [applause] so i have got three quick announcements, and then i will have a board member announce our new king and queen. first, i just want to give two quick fade use, because there are a couple of unsung heroes -- i want to give a couple of quick thank-yous. there is our producer and our contingent's coordinator, and those are nice titles, but they do so much brightwork, and we really, really do appreciate that. next, one of our board members is not here tonight, because his father passed away, so we want

to send our prayers to rudy and his family, and lastly but not least we -- leastly, but dannty -- danny glover, he has agreed to be one of our grand marshals this year. we are very pleased to have danny. so without further ado, i want to introduce isabelle barassa. isabelle? >> sorry, i just got lipstick on him. he is all pissed now.

i am not been with microphones, but i do want to give a shout out. everybody works very, very hard, and they are getting ready for a beautiful carnaval parade. pass the word around. it is the best show on the west coast. i also want to say hello to the mission cultural center, which is the contingent's i will be dancing with. without further ado, we have a wonderful king and queen of the carnaval contest, and i want to introduce them. one has been dancing hula professionally for five years. i am sorry, i will pronounced this as best as i can. under the direction of patrick.

he has been practicing yoga for six years and is a certified massage therapist. he participated in his first carnaval with latin dance grooves at the mission cultural center. a dancer and teacher in the san francisco bay area. she holds a bachelor of arts degree from san francisco university and recently won the isador dunkin award for performance. they are sponsored by the rhythm and motion contingent's, so without further ado, i want to introduce our king and queen for 2011.

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