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The Vai Tolworth! Brazilian Festival took place on 28 - 29th September 2019 at King George's Field, home of Corinthian-Casuals Football Club.
Generously supported by Arts Council England.
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The Festival
Vai Tolworth! is a Brazilian Festival for South-West London celebrating the largely unknown link between amateur football club Corinthian-Casuals, based in Tolworth, and Brazil.
Explore the website to find out more about their amazing heritage, and find out how the community celebrated the Vai Tolworth festival in September 2019.
Saturday 28 September saw CCFC play at home where they were visited by our 2 commissioned puppets designed by Mandinga Arts. Members of the local community had been trained in how to bring the puppets to life in sessions prior to the festival.
Sunday 29 September saw an explosion of sound, colour and creativity transform the Club grounds with Brazilian food, drink and craft traders, alongside performances and workshops. There was such a buzz in the Club grounds and it was fantastic to see so many people sharing creatives ideas and experiences.
There were performances from:
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Barulho
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Kinetika Bloco
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Kinetika
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London Latin Collective
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London School of Samba
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Taru Arts
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PMC Capoeria
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UDM Samba
The stage came to life with rhythms and dancing from professional and school groups, whilst in the grounds there were opportunities to learn Capoeira, drumming and creating silk screen notebooks with Kinetika.
The Festival also welcomed local Brazilian traders and artists to have a stall to promote their products and crafts. One trader said: "Being part of such a festive and joyful event was a great privilege and experience and I thank you for the opportunity."
Local primary schoolchildren who had taken part in workshops throughout September performed on the day, demonstrating some fantastic new skills and beautifully designed recycled costumes, made in workshops with Taru Arts.
About Mandinga Arts
Mandinga Arts researches, designs, creates, and delivers extraordinary and innovative artistic experiences using custom-made costumes and puppets, engaging communities in lively processions and performances throughout the UK and Europe, and as far afield as China and Colombia.
Mandinga is known for its distinctive style bringing together live music, carnival, street costume, puppetry, and dance, drawing on diverse influences from Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
Community Puppet Training
Puppet training took place at various sites in Tolworth including Tolworth Station and at the Festival Launch on the Broadway and a local park.
Learning how to store the puppets safely and understand their movement and flexibility will ensure their use at community events for many years to come.
Tolworth's puppets
The Community Brain worked with Corinthian-Casuals Football Club and the local community to create the concept for two puppets for Tolworth. The idea proposed was to design two characters to represent the link between Tolworth and Brazil, which could come to life at the Brazilian Festival and take part in future events in the area.
Mandinga Arts created the puppets, exploring flexibility of movement so they can be used in multiple poses and situations. The puppets' outfits take inspiration from the colours and themes of local football team Corinthian-Casuals, and the Brazilian team Corinthians Paulista.
Why hold a Brazilian Festival in Tolworth?
It all started with the Corinthian-Casuals Football Club.
England’s Most Famous Amateur Football Club. Based in Tolworth, South London.
Corinthian FC was founded in 1882 with the aim of bringing together the best amateur footballers from England’s schools and universities. Within four years there were nine Corinthians in the England team and on two occasions, the national first XI consisted entirely of Corinthian players. They also took football round the world, helping to popularise the game throughout Europe, South Africa, Canada, the USA and South America.
In 1910, after a visit to Sao Paulo in Brazil, the locals were so impressed they founded a Corinthians club of their own. Today, Corinthians Paulista is one of the most successful clubs in South America!
In 1988, Corinthian-Casuals were invited to Brazil by Sao Paulo Athletic Club (SPAC) to help celebrate their centenary. SPAC had been the club of former Corinthian Charles Miller, the man credited with introducing football to Brazil. It was Corinthian's game against SPAC during their Brazilian tour in 1910 that had led to the formation of Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.
The Casuals were founded in 1883 with membership restricted to the Old Boys of three public schools, Charterhouse, Eton and Westminster, although this was soon changed to include all ex-public school and university players. Casuals were a strong force in the early amateur game - runners up in the first FA Amateur Cup Final in 1894, founders members of the Isthmian League in 1905, and winners of the FA Amateur Cup in 1936.
In 1939, these two great clubs merged to form Corinthian-Casuals FC. The club has always maintained its 100% amateur policy and continues to promote the proud traditions of fair play and sportsmanship. They currently compete in the Isthmian League Premier Division and are the highest ranked amateur football club in England.
Notable Facts:
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The only football club to have provided the entire starting XI for England (on two occasions)
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No other club has provided more players for the England team (86)
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Britain’s first black footballer, Andrew Watson played for Corinthian FC in 1884-85
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In 1902, Real Madrid, inspired by Corinthians, adopted their white strip, and continue to wear the colour to this day.
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In 1904, Corinthians defeated Manchester United 11-3. A record defeat for the Red Devils which still stands to this day.
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Corinthian FC’s 1910 tour to Brazil inspired the foundation of Brazillian side SC Corinthians Paulista, one of the largest football clubs in South America. Such greats as Rivelino, Dunga, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Socrates (who once turned out for CCFC in 1988), Ronaldo and Tevez played for SCCP.
School workshops
Creative workshops took place in 4 local primary schools throughout September 2019 due to the generous support of Arts Council England.
Grand Avenue, St John's, Knollmead and our Lady Immaculate Primary Schools took part in visual arts, drumming and dancing workshops, with over 250 students taking part.
The sessions culminated in performances at the Vai Tolworth Brazilian Festival.
The sessions were led by professional carnival arts groups: Kinetika, Taru Arts and Kinetika Bloco.
We have received the following feedback from some of the students that took part:
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‘When it was our turn we walked out onto the grass and lined up; drummers behind the dancers and an electric guitar playing behind us.’
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‘When we put our costumes on I just couldn’t believe we made everything from scratch; it was great seeing what we could accomplish working together.'
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‘It was really fun – there was food, facepaint and a lot of other things.’
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‘There were people dressed up all over the field, parading. It was a lot of hard work, but it all paid off at the end of the festival.’
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‘The reason for the festival was that 100 years ago Tolworth’s Corinthian Casuals club brought football to Brazil. (Now Brazil are famous!) I loved performing at the festival. Go Brazil!’