it soon became known for its extravagance and surprising themes and ways to approach them - for example, in 1989 the school was heavily criticized due to a model of a vagrant christ the redeemer, and again in 1992 due to accusations of plain nudity.

in spite of all the criticism, it was soon noticed that beija-flor sported an incredible organization and imagery complexity - the parades became more and more complex, even when taking into account the ever raising bar of carnival parades.