Carmelo’s Captures the Spirit and Rhythm of a Rio-Life Event

As a kid, I visited Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. Unforgettable. Even the sidewalks seemed to pulsate as dancing revelers packed city streets, crowding so close together I was nearly swept off the perch I struggled to retain atop my father’s back.

In my mind, Corona del Mar couldn’t be further from Brazil. But a recent trip to Carmelo’s restaurant elicited memories of Rio’s sensual, pounding rhythms and its pre-Lent, sardine-can crowds celebrating like they’d been waiting all year for the chance--which many had.

When it’s empty, the dance floor at Carmelo’s tiny lounge looks so small it’s hard to imagine any devout club dancer giving it a second thought. But that’s where the Latin American sensibility comes in. Excuse the generalization, but as I recall, Brazilians have a mighty different concept of personal space. And cramped quarters didn’t prevent anybody, including experienced samba dancers, from going all out at Carmelo’s on a recent evening.

Native Brazilians as well as locals patronize the lounge on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. (Tip: Tuesdays are less crowded.) That’s when Marcos Santos and his Vai-Vai (Go-Go) Brazil band play hot rhythms that range from a slower bossa nova to a pure, up-tempo samba to a reggae- or Afro-flavored beat.

The Rio-born Santos, late of San Francisco, sings an abundance of Jobim standards in Portuguese. His silken voice is backed by his band of electronic keyboard, bass and percussion.

Dancers of all ages match a frenzied drum solo with their frenetic feet, perform hip gyrations on bended knee, shimmy their shoulders and do a suave, pelvis-friendly lambada (yes, it lives!). They commonly exit the lounge and invade the restaurant’s adjacent foyer for more space.

During band breaks, a deejay plays music suitable for salsa, cumbia, merengue, cha-cha and other Latin dances.

The mood, besides “to sweat is to live,” and “to smoke is OK” is joie de vivre, and regulars are warm and welcoming to newcomers. Don’t worry about knowing specific dances, either. A chunk of the eclectic crowd (wearing Levi’s, polyester, you name it) opts for freestyle. Nearly everybody joins a conga line that snakes throughout the eatery as the evening peaks.

Three times a night, Santos’ Sambadancers--three beautiful young women with dazzling smiles--perform the best of all possible hip swivels. The scantily clad entertainers, also Brazilian-born, make their own neon-bright, sequined costumes and tall feathered headdresses. Remember the glitzy touring show “Oba Oba”? Think along those lines, only you get to sit closer.

Now don’t go all feminist on me. Bared bodies are part and parcel of Carnival, replete with “thousands of beautiful naked women, beautiful fantasies, colors, sounds and hearts beating in the same rhythm of the samba,” writes Tania Carvalho, who works for Brazil’s Criativa magazine.

To guarantee a seat in Carmelo’s darkened lounge, make reservations for dinner (expensive Italian) and expect Old World elegance. Otherwise, it’s first-come, first-seated. A bar menu includes a green salad ($3.25), pizza and pasta ($7.50 to $8.95).

A Caipirinha Brazilian cocktail mixes lime, sugar and ice with something called cachaca. It’s $5.25. The club has a $10 drink minimum, but it’s rarely enforced.

Incidentally, Santos, on drums, will accompany a Brazilian dance class starting Saturday at Chorus Line Dance Studio, 3100 E. Coast Highway in Corona del Mar. (714) 640-5256. Classes, 1-2:30 p.m., are $7 each.

CARMELO’S

* 3520 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar.

* (714) 675-1922.

* Marcos Santos and the Vai Vai Brazil Band with Sambadancers perform every Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 p.m.-1:30 a.m.

* No cover. $10 drink minimum.