Yesterday was the Batizado! I am sore after 4 straight days of capoeira. Here is a short rundown of the week:
- Monday – Class as usual, review for the things on the test, some folks showed up for the first time ever.
- Wednesday – The test! Coreba took us one at a time and asked questions on the history of capoeira. The students going for the first cordao had to go through individual kicks and defenses. I was made to do combinations thereof. I also had to play the pandeiro and sing. Unfortunately I only know the choruses. Got to work on that! There was another new student who came from Serbia. He now lives in Boston and will be training with us.
- Thursday – Rented a ZipCar and drove out to Marlborough with one other student from my class for the first workshop with Contra Mestre Ze Com Fome. Because traffic was so bad we were late and missed most of the workshop, but we were able to play in the roda after. Chocolate was not able to attend the weekend so she received her first cordao and her apellido! Got to meet some members of Capoeira Sul da Bahia in Quebec City.
- Friday – this workshop was conveniently in Chinatown at our usual space. Those of you who have seen Boston Ultimate Fitness know how big it is. It was FULL. (Well, full of capoeiristas. They take up a lot of space). Joao de Deus was the presenter. He is also from Sul da Bahia in Quebec, and there more people who had arrived from SdB in Washington, plus people from Connecticut, NYC, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara. m0xiee and I went to Taiwan Cafe after.
- Saturday – Started with a decent breakfast, late enough that I wouldn’t be too hungry during the say. Coreba called me in the morning and asked me to pick up two more guys from Grupo Ginga who were coming into Boston on the bus. I also stopped in Chinatown to pick up some things that had been left behind the previous night. We drove out to Marlborough Middle School, getting lost a couple times while talking about babies. The weather was warm and brutally muggy, so the middle school gym resembled a sauna at times. Mao Branca’s workshop was a lot easier to get through this year. It was mostly composed of work we had done in class, as opposed to last year’s grueling angola workshop. (Much respect to angoleiros with joints of handling that stuff!)
The Batizado itself came on the occasion of Coreba’s 20th anniversary of studying Capoeira, so Mao Branca presented him with a certificate. There were quite a few kids receiving their first belts, possibly some as young as three years old! They have no fear of muscular dudes twice their height waving their arms and legs all over the place, but they do need to be coaxed to go forth and kick.
Afterwards, dinner was the Old Station Steak House. Standard Brazilian BBQ fare, and super cheap! $10 a person on a Saturday night! Much better than the restaurant last year. We didn’t stay for the big dance party since we were completely exhausted.
Congratulations to incontango, hereafter known as Xis (pronounced sheess), sixpixee, Chocolate, Cebolla, Linguiça (heheh), and everyone else whose names I forgot.