Rio de Janeiro Samba school is a club or dancing school. They practice and sometimes perform in huge square-compounds devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an African-Brazilian dance. The schools are habitually associated with a particular neighborhood, often shanty towns.
Throughout the year the samba schools have different happenings and events, most important of which are rehearsals for the main event which is the yearly carnival. Samba Schools are not teaching institutions. A Samba School is mostly an association of people from the same neighborhood, generally a working class community in most cases located in a suburban area. They get together on a normal basis for samba nights and rehearsals at their samba court. Samba schools provide very useful jobs to the community that is employed year-round in the production of costumes and floats.