After my interview with Alex Tea, that same day I took Mia to check out a kids class at Au Capoeira. I knew this school existed but seeing it in person is an experience in itself! It is full of art and personality. Alex is also so great with the kids, and I am counting down the days till Mia is old enough to sign up. To be honest I was sort of jealous I couldn’t join the fun.
When did the school open? It opened in 2009 with Mestre Glauber–my teacher. He moved back to Brasil 4 years ago and we’ve been holding down the fort since
How did the capoeira thing start for you? I guess it was a bunch of things that coincided in my life and I found capoeira , or it found me. As soon as I recognized what it was I knew that I was going to do it.
So what is capoeira? It’s an art form created by enslaved Africans and their descendants in Brazil and it combines elements of fighting, dancing… the context is sort of the game of entrapment and using kicks and dodges and acrobatic moves, you are trying to weave a trap for your opponent/partner. It’s really magical. Since 2002 its been the main running theme in my life, it brought me to Brazil and back countless times already and met some of my oldest and closest friends through capoeira… a lot of the music I play is directly influence by… if not the sound but also the energy.
How cool are you?! Capoeira is really a wonderful thing. It’s the closest thing to religion I’ve ever found because its something that is way bigger than you and it’s really empowering and humbling. When you take on the role of teaching to kids too.. it’s a huge responsibility. What’s cool about capoeira is that it is so open and so receptive to new people…It’s an insight into the deepest part of Brazilian history. While you are learning capoeira you are learning about the culture. Like if you learn about America through early Jazz and Blues you get an insight into what America is about; the beautiful and the ugly sides. For me capoeira was very much that, and we have so much in common with everybody in the world and its an art form that is based on the body and very simple instruments… all you need is a circle of friends…. I can go on and on.
How old are the kids that you teach? I teach kids from about 3.5 to 60. So they are all kids really, some are just hairier and taller. We have a 60-year-old kid and a 3-year-old kid now…. Most of the kids are between 4 and 10. We have about 30 kids now. It’s such a pleasure to be apart of the community and to know the different facets of it and to see through that the work we do with kids. Wherever we go we bring sunshine with us and the kids are glorious… it’s a beautiful thing. You should bring your kid!
I would love to bring Mia but she is not even two. I think she would love it! She is very acrobatic, always dancing. Gymboree is like her favorite class. Well you should bring her! Kids got it right… with adults, we are more complicated… we have these walls we built up… its amazing, the explanation that I tried to give you when you asked me what is capoeira, for the kid you just show them and they do it. It’s so intuitive and it’s not as intuitive for adults because we build up these things that killed our intuition… with kids they just play, using their hands and feet… you can go upside down… its awesome.
So cute. Whenever my daughter looks in the mirror and she is so happy to see herself. I always think to myself… Imagine if all people would do that. Imagine if adults would look at themselves in the mirror and giggle and be happy… It’s interesting to know when does that change? When do we start criticizing ourselves?
I guess it starts young for some people. All we can do is work with kids and be with each other and try to do it right.
What’s next for you? Near future I am taking about 5 of my students to Brazil next week to go see my teacher. He is also the teacher of a few of the older students… we are going to spend a week to 10 days there and have a big event, graduate the students there… do some trekking. It’s going to be a beautiful week. Then after I am staying in Sao Paulo for 3 weeks playing music and working on some collaborative efforts and artwork.
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