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A February fire destroyed famed 84-year-old Portela samba group's 3,255 outfits entirely or partly.
Portela has won the samba competition 21 times - more than any other group.
The last time, in 1984, it shared the title.
But the group is still dancing.
"We know we can't win," said a member. "But we're going to be gorgeous, and the people will see that and they will judge us on our strength and our determination."
The governing body recognized that there was no way that the 3 groups- Portela, Academicos do Grande Rio and Uniao da Ilha do Governador- could recover, so they will not be judged.
Most importantly, it means they won't be sent to the second-tier samba competition, the fate of each year's last-place finisher.
