2008 Women's Conference Wrap-Up!

**More pictures will be added. Check back soon!**

The 10th Annual Women's Conference in Washington, DC was a great success!

The conference started on Monday with the opening of the Malungos photo exhibit at the Mocha Hut Cafe. On Tuesday, we had a screening of the movie, "The Shape of Water" and a talk by Sylvia Robinson, founder of the Emergence Community Arts Center (where FICA-DC makes its home) and distinguished FICA-DC member. On Wednesday night, we heard from women martial artists, inlcuding Paulinha and Janja, in a very informative panel discussion.

Anne, T Andrea, T Gege, & CM Cristina

The conference opened on Thussday night with a presentation by renowned activist and singer Luci Murphy, accompanied by Isa Angulo. Following this, we had a roda... and the capoeira pretty much kept rolling til Sunday night.

M Paulinha

M Janja

Invited guests M Janja, M Paulinha, M Cobra Mansa, CM Cristina, T Gege, & T Andrea gave great classes. M Juradir was also in attendance, on his way to Seattle, and CM Silvinho stopped by for a bit. M Cobra Mansa gave a 6:00 am training. On Friday there were 6 people, on Saturday there were 35 people, and on Sunday there were more than 50 people- definitely a record for the 6 am training in DC.

Boys came too. M Cobra Mansa & Jamel

We had a great discussion session during the conference. Five topics of interest were selected, and people gathered in groups, each group discussing a topic for about two hours. After the discussions, everyone came together and heard a short presentation about the discussion by a member of the group. It was very successful.

The event ended with a closing roda that was a lot of fun. See for yourself:



During the conference, we also had a photo exhibit celebrating women in Capoeira Angola at the FICA-DC space, as well as the Malungos exhibit at Mocha Hut. And we put together another issue of the renowned Capoeira Angola literary magazine, Caxixi. Thanks to everyone who submitted works. It looks great!

Special thanks to everyone who joined us and contributed to this energetic and joyful event. We welcomed capoeiristas from Hawaii, Oakland, L.A., Seattle, Chicago, New Orleans, Kentucky, Atlanta, Richmond, Philadelphia, New York, Maine, Ohio, Indiana, and Japan!! (I am sure there are even more locales that I am forgetting...)

Everyone!

Check out this photo album to see more of the fun! Photos from T Gege, Javier, and others.

Still can't get enough? Visit the official "I Came Here to Play" 10th Annual Women's Conference blog for more conference details, including discussion summaries, post-conference reflections, and a glimpse of the Malungos photo exhibit.

Photos by Sylvia, from Universal Capoeira Angola Academy in Washington, DC.