Photo by Marty Sohl	The Directors : Mary Dollar and Fernando Sanjines 13

Mary Dollar and Fernando de Sanjines have been performing together since 1987, and collectively have been directing Samba do Coração since the group’s founding in the summer of 1992.

"Longtime members of Chalo Eduardo’s Escola Nova de Samba, Sanjines and Dollar are Bay Area cultural treasures."
(Bay Area) Express

Mary

Mary Dollar has been studying and performing Brazilian dance since 1981. She has trained with numerous teachers here in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as master teachers in Brazil. In 1984, she performed with Batucaje, the first samba school of the San Francisco Bay Area, co-directed by Jacque Barnes and Jose Lorenzo. She has also danced with Benny Duarte from Rio de Janeiro and was a company member of the San Francisco based samba school, Escola Nova de Samba, co-directed by Josephine Morada and Chalo Eduardo, for seven years, from 1986-1992. She has also trained with master Candomble drummer and dancer, Jorge Alabe from Rio de Janeiro and many master teachers in Brazil, including, Gilberto de Assis, Charles Nelson and Walter Ribeiro of Rio de Janeiro. In addition, she has studied with several dancers from grupo Olodum and Muzenza in Salvador da Bahia and with "Bale Folclorico da Bahia" company dancers and choreographers, Jose Ricardo Sousa and Nildinha Fonseca and with Mestre King, also from Bahia. Traveling to Brazil six times to study and also to participate in Brazil’s Carnaval, she has also participated in many of Brazil’s Carnaval festivities, including Salvador da Bahia’s 1991 and 1998 street carnavals with bloco-afro grupos, Olodum and Male de Bale, in Recife and Olinda’s during their 1996 & 1998 Carnaval and in Rio de Janeiro’s parade of samba school’s with two of Rio’s most famous samba school’s, "Beija Flor" and "Imperatriz" in 1995 and 1997. In San Francisco, she has also participated and choreographed dances for the San Francisco Carnaval for twelve consecutive years, receiving First Place Awards in Brazilian Dance in 1994 and 1997.

Fernando

Fernando de Sanjines was born in La Paz, Bolivia. Playing drums professionally since he was fifteen. He is one of the pioneers of mixing jazz and Bolivian Andean drumming.
In the early seventies, he met his first Brazilian master teacher, percussionist Paulo Farias; together founded the first Brazilian samba school in La Paz, "Sambalivia".
He was invited to the Berlin Jazz Festival 1982 in Germany with "Intersouthamerican Drums All-stars", directed by Gerry Brown from the U.S.A. (Lionel Richie, George Benson, Stanley Clark and Stevie Wonder).
In the early eighties, Fernando established himself in the San Francisco Bay Area, and studied with well-known local drummers such as Sandy Mckee (Cold Blood), Scott Morris (Richie Cole), and Mike Curotto. Later, he met percussionist Chalo Eduardo (Sergio Mendes) and became part of his group Escola Nova de Samba. Since 1992, Fernando co-directs with his wife Mary Dollar, their own Award Winning samba school and performing company, "Samba do Coração".
Fernando has also performed and recorded in Bolivia with well known artists and groups such as Bolivian Jazz pioneer "Johnny Gonzales", well known group "Wara" and "Sol Simiente Sur". Fernando has also performed and toured with Mike MacMullen Trio, Jazz for Fun, Sikus, Inkuyo, Eddy Navia and Sukay, Escola Nova de Samba, Samba do Coração, Liza Silva Voz do Brazil, Debra Knox Band, Kalamarka (France and Bolivia based well known Bolivian band) and arising Bolivian star Gisela Santa Cruz.
Fernando and Samba do Coração play REMO "Brazilian Collection" Percussion Instruments.