Márcia Lage

Lage was born in Rio de Janeiro on 27 February 1960. She studied at the Escola de Belas Artes, where she was a student of great carnival organizers such as Fernando Pamplona, Maria Augusta Rodrigues [pt], Marie Louise Nery and Rosa Magalhães. In 1981, Márcia was invited by Rosa to work as an assistant in the historical carnival bloc Bum Bum Paticumbum Prugurundum (1982). She was also an assistant in Salgueiro and in Tradição. Márcia also worked as a set designer for television before meeting Renato Lage and beginning to work as his assistant in 1990.^[2] In 1992, Renato separated from his then-wife Lilian Rabello, with whom he took part in the carnival blocs of Mocidade and began a romance with Márcia. Afterwards, the two married. Despite performing with Renato since the start of the 1990s, Márcia only began to officially work with the carnival blocs since the 2002 Rio Carnival, her last year at Mocidade. In 2003, the couple moved to Salgueiro. In 2007, they took part in the carnival commission created by Império de Casa Verde. They won the A Access Group of Rio in the 2008 with the enredo Taí, eu fiz tudo pra você gostar de mim, by Império Serrano.^[3]

With the accession of the Império Serrano to the Grupo Especial at the 2009 carnival, the Lages could not participate with two samba schools in the same tier, and for the first time, Márcia signed with Império Serrano alone, while Renato stayed with Salgueiro. Império was demoted again, while Salgueiro, 18 years after their big success with “Peguei um Ita no Norte”, won the title. The following carnival, Márcia was about to be hired as a carnival organizer for Mangueira, but was let go by the school. She would return to be a duo with her husband in Salgueiro. She made carnival blocs with Vai Vai in 2016 and stayed with Salgueiro in 2017. In 2018, the couple left for Grande Rio, however, as the school had an enredo about Chacrinha,^[4] the school had problems, being the most well-known school to not enter the last float. Despite being demoted, LIESA simply decided that, for the second time, there would be no demotions from the Grupo Especial, which was controversial at the time. At the 2019 carnival with Grande Rio, the enredo Quem Nunca was made, making an allusion to the "Brazilian jeitinho for solving things" which was seen as a criticism of the turnaround of the decision the year prior. In 2020, 2022, and 2023, the Lages signed with Portela. The three blocs were not as successful, being that the enredo about the 100-year anniversary of Portela in 2023 ended with serious issues in its finishing, the understanding of the enredo, and a hole in one of the sections of the bloc. The school was embittered by being placed in one of the lowest places. In 2024, the couple "rested" from their careers, and just started to only watch the blocs. However, the couple began to return to their careers and had planned to make a return after 23 years to Mocidade.^[2]

Lage died on 19 January 2025 at 64 years old, the victim of leukemia.^[2] She was veiled and cremated at the Cemitério Vertical Memorial do Carmo, in Caju in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro.^[5]