Angoleiros came from all over - Chicago, Madison, Hawaii, NY, Oakland.... but it was Mestre Jurandir who brought the sun to Seattle for a Pastinha weekend full of energy!
FICA Seattle and the Evergreen State College in Olympia combined our annual Afro Brazilian Festival with Pastinha weekend. The drumming, dancing, singing, playing, sweating and eating all combined to provide an exceptional type of communion.
Treinel Daniel set the pace Friday night when he packed a one hour class full of movements and concepts, especially impressive considering that he was asked to teach 5 minutes before the class began. The opening roda that followed grew steadily and kept momentum for hours, the event was off to a promising start.
Of course, a few grueling workshops were tossed into the mix. Treinel Baba Jan and Contra Mestre Chorão teamed up on Saturday morning for a class that pushed us all to our limits. Some of the topics covered in the class were eye contact and focus, repetition to the point of exhaustion, and various types of sapinho.
Then, our friend Awal Alhassen taught the traditional "Sala" dance from his native Ghana. Through these movements, translated as "human", he reminded us that our ancestries are interconnected. Like capoeira, the conversation between drummers is a key component of West African dance.
Mestre Jurandir led the afternoon workshop, teaching a number of movement combinations that none of us had ever seen before, many of them centered around his particular knack with rastiera.
Throughout the weekend, everyone’s energy was sustained by nourishing food planned and prepared by our own nutritionist, Dona Leika (CM Silvinho's wife).
On Sunday morning Mestre Jurandir led a berimbau workshop in familiar fashion, teaching variations and listening to each person play individually around the circle. A question and answer session around song lyrics followed.
Next, to relax a bit, our friend Dora Oliveira engaged us in shaking it down, Samba style.
The closing roda was opened by the youngest Angoleira around, at two years, reminding us all that the essence of capoeira is natural and instinctive.
Our Northwest trio - Seattle, Olympia, and Portland were pleased and honored to host such an amazing event.
Thanks to all who came, especially those who persevered breakdowns and delays, and brought so much axe!!!!!
And many thanks to Criss from FICA-Seattle for the pictures and the great report.
Have an event re-cap or pictures that you would like to share with the worldwide capoeira community? Send it to: ficadcarchives (at) gmail (dot) com
No comments:
Post a Comment