GRES Beija-Flor de Nilópolis

The Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Beija-Flor is a Samba school headquartered in the municipality of Nilópolis, Baixada Fluminense, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In total, Beija-Flor has won 13 parades of the Carnaval of Rio de Janeiro; as general champion in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2015. It was the overall runner-up and vice champion school in 1979, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. With the departure of Joãosinho Trinta after the Carnaval of 1992, the school featured Maria Augusta and the young Milton Cunha as carnival producers. Only with the creation of the Carnaval Commission in 1998, could the school return to win championships. Nowadays, Beija-flor's Carnaval Commission of is composed of Laíla, Alexandre Louzada, Fran Sérgio, and Ubiratan Silva.

The Beija-Flor Samba School was formed on December 25, 1948 by a carnivalesque blocos of Nilópolis. The name was inspired by the ranch Beija-Flor that existed in the city of Marquês de Valença. The idea emerged from a group formed by Milton de Oliveira (Negão da Cuíca), Edson Vieira Rodrigues (Edinho do Ferro Velho), Helles Ferreira da Silva, Mário Silva, Walter da Silva, Hamilton Floriano, and José Fernandes da Silva. But it was the mother of Negão da Cuíca, Dona Eulália, that suggested the name of the school. Because of that, she became admitted as the founder of the school. Only in 1953, the bloco, that became victorious in the neighborhood, was renamed G.R.E.S. Beija-Flor de Nilópolis. The school then first paraded officially in 1954 for the Second Group, where it obtained first place.

The history of the school, that has as its symbol the hummingbird (which in Portuguese is called Beija-flor), could be divided into two part; before and after Joãosinho Trinta. Joãosinho Trinta took on the school in 1976 with the samba-enredo (plot) in honor to the jogo do bicho (illegal type of gambling in Brazil). The parades signed by him became so anthological that even when he did not win he left a mark in the avenue. That is what happened in 1989 when the school, known by its luxurious rows and floats, surprised the public with the plot Ratos e urubus, larguem a minha fantasia ("Rats and vultures, release my costume") bringing to the Sambódromo cars and rows full of trash, beside the famous covered Cristo Redentor. It was on that year that Beija-Flor became vice-champion, but Joãosinho was considered by some people the righteous champion of the parade..

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