Campina Grande’s Junina Moleka 100 Vergonha has moved into the final stretch before one of the city’s busiest festival seasons, with the group using the 10th Maior Pré-Junino do Mundo on May 23 and 24 at Vila Sítio São João to test the spectacle it will take to the 26th Festival de Quadrilhas Juninas de Campina Grande. The group is scheduled to return to the stage on June 9, one day after the festival opens on June 8.
For Duane Gonçalves, the work now is less about designing and more about finishing. He said the last two weeks before the festivals are reserved for retoques e complementos, after months of planning that began in September 2025. He described the recent presentations as technical rehearsals, a chance to put parts of the costumes, choreography, special effects and scenery under pressure before the full run of performances begins.
That pressure matters because Moleka is not a small neighborhood troupe trying its luck. The group says its spectacle involves 160 performers and about 250 people in organization, a scale that helps explain why the final adjustments take on so much weight. Campina Grande’s June calendar is crowded, with 34 quadrilhas set to perform during the month, including 13 groups from the city itself.
The city’s São João programming begins on June 3, and on June 4 the Junina Moleka 100 Vergonha is due back at Vila Sítio São João for an invited presentation. The Campina Grande groups will dance at both Vila Sítio São João and the Pirâmide do Parque do Povo, keeping the competition centered in the two venues most closely tied to the season’s biggest audiences.
Gonçalves said the group is treating this week as a final pass through the details, from scenery to costume finishings, because there is little left to plan and much to execute. He said the ensemble has already used parts of the wardrobe and tested parts of the choreography, the effects and the staging that were designed for this season’s show. The result is a performance that has been built in public, with each appearance serving as a check on what still needs fixing before the formal contests begin.
The path ahead is clear if Moleka qualifies. After Campina Grande, the group could advance to the state competition scheduled for June 15 to 18 at the Busto de Tamandaré in João Pessoa. That progression reflects the way quadrilhas are judged in Paraíba and beyond: local groups compete for awards that can carry them to state, regional and national stages, turning a June performance into part of a much longer circuit.
Gonçalves also placed this year’s show inside a broader tour plan. Moleka is part of the project Dançando Quadrilha Junina pelos Cantos do Brasil, sponsored by Petrobras via Lei Rouanet, and the group says it plans to perform in Mossoró, Fortaleza, Maceió and Brasília in the coming months. For a troupe that has spent months polishing one show for Campina Grande, the schedule points to a season that does not end when the lights go down in June.
What happens next is already on the calendar. Campina Grande’s June season opens June 3, Moleka returns for the invited show on June 4, the 26th Festival de Quadrilhas Juninas de Campina Grande starts June 8, and the group takes the festival stage on June 9. If it qualifies, the state round follows in João Pessoa from June 15 to 18, carrying the group from one contest to the next without much room to breathe.
