The Madeiran Flower Parade: Designing a Fantasy

Many thanks to Angela Cleary for this fascinating ‘behind the scenes’ article about the upcoming flower festival

Close your eyes and imagine a magical island paradise, and moving towards you, as far as the eye can see, a parade of brightly coloured exotic flowers, performers of all ages dressed in beautiful costumes, dancing to the beat of joyous music in front of cheering crowds.   No, it’s not a dream! 

The Flower Parade showcases Madeiran culture to perfection, reflecting community, harmony and joy. It has developed over time into a spectacular televised event which takes months of planning.  It’s breathtaking to watch, with every group of performers displaying their beautiful costumes and dance routines.   

So much for the polished end-product; but how does one create a fantasy?

I set out to investigate how this amazing floral-dance-fantasy becomes a reality, by spending time with one of Madeira’s top event creators.

I was fortunate to have an exclusive sneak peek behind the scenes with the multi-talented Ricardo Mendes, CEO of the successful events company, Weee.Lda. 

Ricardo’s style is exciting and adventurous; always looking to showcase Madeira in captivating and unusual ways.  For example, he was the first designer to employ material made from cork in his costumes. He explains that the design illustrates the fabled Portuguese ‘Heart of Viana’, a stylised heart which symbolises enduring love.

Ricardo is involved in various events on the island: “We have two main parades here in Madeira; Carnival which takes place in February involving adult performers and the Flower Parade in May where children and families take centre-stage”.

He explains that the two events are very different: “Carnival is rather Brazilian in style” However, it evolved from a very different celebration. Ricardo laughed: “In the beginning everyone threw tomatoes at each other!” 

As the event grew, so hotel ballrooms were used for dance rehearsals and costumes were adorned with locally sourced chicken feathers!

“We used everything we had to hand!” laughs Ricardo. A far cry from the extravagant, sequined costumes and exotic feathers nowadays. 

Ricardo has been actively involved with the Flower Parade for about 12 years and is the creative energy and driving force behind his troupe ‘Sorrisos de Fantasia’ (‘Fantasy Smiles’). 

However, turning a dream into reality can be both stressful and extremely hard work!  For a start, the timescale is incredibly tight as Ricardo explains:

“The overall theme of the Flower Parade is set each year in September by the Madeiran Tourist Board.  Then I have only 2 months to create and submit a comprehensive proposal, detailing the specific theme for our group”. 

This year’s overall theme for the Parade is ‘Madeira, A Dream of Flowers’.

Ricardo shows me a copy of his proposal which is a work of art! It illustrates to perfection his background, not only as an accomplished dancer and choreographer but as a Fine Arts university graduate.

The comprehensive document includes detailed illustrations of his costume designs and colour schemes for young children, teenagers and adult performers, the choreography, choice of music, the design of the float and even the varieties of flowers to decorate it!  

Ricardo explains that the overall costume design for his group consists of long dresses, skirts and ruffles which overlap in different layers. Underskirts, in stiff fabric, provide volume. However, although the costumes share the same basic colour-scheme there are subtle differences for each group of performers and also for the models and children who ride on the floats.

Once the proposal has been submitted, there follows an anxious wait before the successful proposals are announced in March.

“This gives us only six weeks to prepare!”  exclaims Ricardo.

The costume designs are immediately sent to Portugal where the patterns are created and where the materials are sourced.  These are sent to Ricardo for assembly by his talented team of dressmakers.

The costumes are key to the success of the parade and great care is taken to choose the right materials, fabric design and colours to reflect the over-arching theme of the parade. 

“This year I have chosen a colour palette of red, orange, blue, yellow, green and white.”

Ricardo explains: “My artistic style is very conceptual and different.  I have entitled our performance ‘Flower Dreams’ because the Flower Parade is a mixture of Fantasy and Creativity. 

This year I am using the Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo, as my muse, which I portray in my costume designs and colour schemes. The fabrics I designed reflect a poetic interpretation of the fusion of Mexican culture and the work of Frida Kahlo with various flower patterns in vibrant tones”.

A major part of the Flower Parade is the dance routine and as many rehearsals as possible need to take place in the tight timeframe between the acceptance of the proposal and the date of the Parade. 

I was privileged to be invited to watch rehearsals of Ricardo’s performers, one Sunday morning at a large, outdoor municipal area of Sao Martinho parish council, located just outside central Funchal. 

The first part of the rehearsal involved children with an age range from about 6-11 years.  Parents and children greeted Ricardo warmly and after a formal rollcall to check who was present, Ricardo set up the speakers. The children immediately ran to their allotted places ready to begin.  This was only their third rehearsal, and these young children had to learn and perfect two co-ordinated dance routines in time to the rhythmic music. 

Some teenagers have been involved in Ricardo’s group since they were six years old.  Now, at 16 years of age, some help Ricardo teach the children the steps.  Ricardo was also ably supported by long-time friend and fellow-dancer, Sonia, who assists with the choreography and the rehearsals.   

Parents watched their children with pride and clapped and cheered as they completed their final ‘run through’.

The second group to rehearse that day involved teenagers and adults.  They had to master more complicated dance routines to the same music as the children.  Ricardo explained that he varies the costume designs and choreography for the different age groups to make their group’s routine “…more interesting and varied for the audience”. 

Ricardo patiently demonstrated the steps to each group of performers, then watched them carefully as he clapped in time to the beat and counted each step.  He repeated each segment of the routine until he was confident that the majority were following his lead.  Then he played the loud, rhythmic music, on two large speakers watching the entire group from a raised area.

Creating a Fantasy requires vision, imagination and talent.  But equally important is the need for an organised mind, great attention to detail, boundless energy and a loyal team to bring the dream to reality!!

There was added pressure on Ricardo, as many families were away during the Easter holidays, so they were unable to attend all the rehearsals. Ricardo therefore created a WhatsApp group to coordinate all the participants and their parents, providing key information and sending them videos he had taken of rehearsals, identifying where improvements could be made and enabling the performers to practise the steps at home. 

Each year Ricardo assigns various groups of mothers to look after the children during the Parade and to keep the performers hydrated and energised with supplies of water and candy along the Flower Parade route.   

“There are rarely any problems. The children have so much energy, they keep going until the very end and they are still ready for more!” laughs Ricardo.

Over the years, Ricardo has attracted a loyal group of supporters who assist him in a variety of ways.

Arminda, who attended the dance rehearsal, will be 80 years of age later this year and has been making costumes for about 45 years. She works on outfits for the older performers and her friend, Maria, makes costumes for the children.  

Also watching the rehearsal was Humberto. He is Madeiran but spends half his time in Belgium. As Ricardo explains “Humberto is my right hand and Sonia is my left hand!” Humberto focuses on making skirts for the older performers but as he modestly says “I do a little bit of everything!”

I was fortunate to be invited to visit the nerve-centre of Ricardo’s enterprise.  In fact, it is his parents’ large garage which used to be the venue for family parties.

However, with the help of his father, Joao, it has been re-designed.  Now it’s a hub of activity!  Racks of costumes are suspended from the ceiling; shelving supports bolts of brightly coloured materials, large cardboard boxes overflowing with all manner of accessories including multi-coloured ribbons, elaborate headdresses sporting exotic flowers and large colourful earrings.

At the rear of the space is a discreet changing room. I hear the unmistakable whirring sound of electric sewing machines and, hidden from view by rows of colourful costumes, I discover a work area equipped with overhead lighting, where Humberto and 74-year-old Fatima, who has been helping Ricardo for about 11 years, are busily sewing colourful materials.  

Great attention is given to the smallest detail. Even the accessories are carefully chosen to reflect the Mexican / Spanish theme.  Ricardo shows me one of the headdresses, based on a Sevillanas’ comb and adorned with a combination of brightly coloured ribbons, complemented with dried and realistic velvet flowers. Ricardo explains that they must be attractive, secure and comfortable to wear.  

The sound of an approaching car signals the arrival of Sonia for her costume fitting.   Ricardo demonstrates one of the exotic headdresses on Sonia and I can now see what Ricardo envisaged all those months ago. 

The spark of an idea in Ricardo’s imagination is now a reality.  The beautiful floral headdress clearly reflects the Mexican / Spanish colour and culture of Ricardo’s inspirational muse, Frida Kahlo. 

Sonia tries on her dress and emerges from the changing area totally transformed. From the one-dimensional drawing, on the pages of a document, emerges a vibrant, joyful costume.  As Sonia twirls, the full skirt and voluminous petticoats swish softly and the brightly coloured material dazzles in the Madeiran sunshine!  Fantasy becomes Reality!