When temperatures soar to over 30 degrees Celsius in Montevideo in January, the most intense time of the year begins for the city’s inhabitants. “We spend the whole year anticipating Carnival,” says Xamila Suarez, who is currently rehearsing with her candombe troupe in a sports hall in the south of the Uruguayan capital. The heat is palpable in the large hall. Little wonder, considering that more than 70 drummers are already there. “Candombe is an ethnic, rhythmic, and spiritual symbiosis,” Xamila explains. The young woman dances gracefully in front of the drummers. Only her upper body and arm…

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