I'm going to Rio (4th time) on january. Never been in a samba show, I'm looking for a good show. The most popular is Plataforma, though I've read several reviews about it's too expensive for the quality of show. Does anybody know alternative and cheaper but good shows?

If you want a more authentic experience, you should consider attending a real samba school practice instead of one of these touristic samba shows. It will be much cheaper -- although you will have to arrange transportation -- more interesting, and probably much more fun.

There are several lists available. One of them lists Samba and Choro (literal translation," crying" which is a form of Brazilian popular music that originated in the late 1800's. This list covers the whole country but includes a number of places in Rio de Janeiro.

As Makanmata said they samba schools are the traditional best place to go. Almost every favela and neighborhood has at least one of them and they'll be quite lively preparing for Carnival when you arrive in January. The samba school visits can be coordinated by any hotel. The schools are major operations that run all year preparing for the Carnival parades. These are the real thing, not put on for tourists, but tourists are very welcomed.

This link, in English describes all the major samba schools and tells about them:
http://www.rio-carnival.net/samba_pa...ba_schools.php

http://www.samba-choro.com.br/casas

Thanks, I'll check them and see what are the best available for foreigns.

Ginga Tropical (www.gingatropical.com) is a more complete dance show about Brazilian culture and folklore. Highly recommend to watch it!