rio de janeiro is an immense city, accounting for about 12 million residents in the greater region - and its large size means that some neighborhoods are quite distant from the center.

for these districts, this distance also means being far from the changes in the cultural landscape, and having a limited impact in their evolution.

consequently, some of the most distant neighborhoods took some time to create their own samba schools, and even more time to have any participation in the main parades in central rio - the g. r. e. s. acadêmicos de santa cruz (academics of santa cruz) is probably the prime example of this.