What’s up capoeira nation, welcome back to the capoeira experience podcast where you learn the whys for your capoeira community why people do what they do in capoeira and the reasons behind and objective and everything about our capoeira community you can learn anything. I have an episode where I taught how I usually teach how to learn berimbau check that out and today I have this beautiful guest this’s my wife Canarinha.
Canarinha: hello hello
Caxixi: so, I had her on episode 12 go check it out
you can go a little bit deeper into her capoeira story
Canarinha: who am I
Caxixi: Canarinha!
Canarinha: Canarinha!
Caxixi: so, today’s episode I want to talk, or we want to talk about the capoeira and the body wellness, so how important is fitness or taking care of your body. but before we start please telling your social media:
What’s up Capoeira nation, welcome back to The Capoeira Experience Podcast once again thank you so much to everyone that supports this project which is made for our capoeira community and I hope you can find good value in the information that we all share here, this is your host Inst. Caxixi from Capoeira Brasil Indianapolis.
What up Capoeira Nation, Inst. Caxixi here! Today I just want to talk to you about self-motivation, to tell you my why and to explain to you why I am doing this Podcast!
Listen to the podcats on the website or find us on the go on iTunes – Spotify – Stitcher – Castbox.
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What’s up capoeira nation! welcome back to the Capoeira Experience podcast, where we connect our capoeira community and help motivate in a very positive way our community to help with tips and advice to help you understand this beautiful art. This is your host Inst. Caxixi and I just want to say thank you so much to the capoeira community for the support.
Today I have the pleasure to interview a capoeira from Amsterdam, capoeira change his life completely, gave him another opportunity to take a different course in his life, he has about 10 years doing capoeira and he has a really good work in Europe with kids and adults, he is a good example that capoeira can help us to change our life, I want to introduce you to Inst. Tum from Batuque Capoeira, Amsterdam.
Caxixi: hey thank you so much for been here with us!
Caxixi: so before we jump to your experiences, what are your social media and how people can find you?
Caxixi: tell us more about yourself, who is Tum? and
you can start however you want
Energia: my name is energia, that’s my capoeira name
so as kid I was really into martial arts like Bruce lee and stuff but I was from
a very small village and didn’t know any martial art back then we only had
karate and boxing and that’s it and judo so we played this game takken you
might know it takken 3 so I was playing it and I was like wow, and I had 3
older brothers and I saw this eddy Gordon you know, and we didn’t know it was
capoeira by then and we were like yeah eddy this crazy dace fighter so I was
always playing eddy and doing stuff and I wanted to train martial arts and this
one friend in school he did karate or taekwondo or something and I saw to my
mom “mom can I train with this guy, can I do it as well” and my mom
was like “no, no martial arts, you can play hokey, you can play
piano” and that’s it man, so skip forward 10 years later and I was like
16, 17 and I moved out of the house to go to college or something you might
called university or whatever and the first thing I did I was like “man I
wanna do martial arts” so I was with my friends into the heavy metal thing
back then and I was like you know I’ve never been an aggressive guy so I wanted
to be like different you know and I saw this capoeira then I remember man
capoeira that’s what I wanted do so I google where are them and I got in
contact with my professor Chris and I said man when can I start training capoeira
and I was imagining I will learn all this crazy flips and spring kicks and the
first thing I heard when I walked up the stairs it was the berimbau and I was
like “what” and then heard the guy singing “paranaue and zoom
zoom zoom” like I saw in the movie only the strong and stuff and I was
like “wow this is like I saw on the movie this a real thing” yeah man
I was in the roda and my teacher some time still laugh at me for the face I
made that day
Caxixi: how old were you when you starting to smoke
weed and drinking a lot and all that?
Energia: man it’s kind of weird because you know I
have two older brothers and I was like 14-15 and just started in high school
and I was smoking you know weed one per week twice per week and then when I
started living on my own right before I started doing capoeira it was daily at
school, after school, it was the only thing in my mind you know
Caxixi: how do you get from day one or when you start
teaching to full time, how do you get there?
Energia: so form e the thing was I’m like all or nothing guy with everything, weather I’m training capoeira or training whatever it’s either 200% or zero, so I was thinking about you know I want to train more and I was traveling and training an going to brazil and everything and one day my Mestre he called me and he said “energia I need to talk to you” ok you know, he said “we have this grupo in this city far in the north and I need you to teach there” so I was like okay cool I have to do one class you know I did some classes when my teacher was ail or injured so I was “okay” he said “no no no, permanently, take over the group” and I was like “wow what happened?” and he is like “the instructor is moving and stuff are happening you know so there is a group there 3 or 4 people small group but yeah we need someone to take it over and start bringing some new light to it”
Caxixi: do you have any kind of nonprofit or do you have any entity there for your school?
Energia: oh yeah it’s 3 thing actually first stuff is the group you know Batuque Capoeira which is my Mestre, Mestre Vladimir, Contra Mestre Salsicha, my Prof. Verminosoand then it expands to different instructors we are in like 15 cities now I think our strength divided into all these cities we have so much unity for one group
there’s a part the business side which I’m instructor like
by myself, I have my own company which is you know like the group and we have
my part which is capoeira energia and I teach my classes under that name and if
people want workshops and we have demonstrations then they call my company or
the end of my company but I do everything under that name of the group
Caxixi: how do you reach people for your classes?
Energia: for the regular classes anything I can do to promote capoeira but the funny thing is not with the mindset to promote capoeira is because I love doing it so first thing one day I did the first workshop they called me and then the first demonstration in the city I was teaching there are 2 or 3 groups in the same city is not a big city and they all masters and I was like how am I you know I’m nobody and then I started growing and growing because every time the city had anything I always said yes always I always went even if I had to pay even more traveling expenses that I got I didn’t care
Caxixi: capoeira events coming soon?
Energia: yeah we have in weeks we have the annual children festival camp so all the children from our group divided in all the cities so I’m like kids their kids there and over a 100 kids they come to this 2 days festival where they have sleepover, they have capoeira quiz, capoeira rodas, capoeira rodas, capoeira play time everything capoeira related and they all get together so again the community you know
besides that we have our batizado event but is gonna be in the fall so its gonna be a bit later
What’s up capoeira nation! welcome back to the Capoeira Experience podcast, where we connect our capoeira community and help motivate in a very positive way our community to help with tips and advice to help you understand this beautiful art. This is your host Inst. Caxixi and I just want to say thank you so much to the capoeira community for the support.
So I get very happy when the capoeira community reach out to me to connect and talk about our beautiful capoeira, and I hope one day you out there reach out to me so we can have you on the podcast!!! that been said for today’s episode I’m very excited because it is my very first time that I will interview here on the podcast an Angoleiro, so he started capoeira in 1997 in Detroit after 7 years he knew that there was more than he could be tapped in, during that time he met Mestre Caboclinho Aruanda at his first workshop in Michigan falling in love with capoeira Angola so in 2007 he decided to start over in Capoeira Angola “Centro Tabcat” thanks to the blessing of Mestre Caboclinho Aruanda. Right now he has a nonprofit called “Creative Movement Brazil” helping kids, teens and even adults in Capoeira Angola, music, dance, and culture, so let me introduce you to Contra Mestre Pequinininho from Detroit, Michigan.
Caxixi: How are you doing man?
Pequinininho: Alright, how about yourself?
Caxixi: pretty good, pretty good, sorry for such a
long intro
Pequinininho: oh no problem, muito obrigado!
Caxixi: of course! of course! our capoeira community
how we were talking before you know this podcast is for our capoeira community
and I strongly believe that capoeira was created to bring people together
Caxixi: so, before we jump into the interview and all the questions, what are your social media?
Caxixi: the show consists of 2 parts, to people to understand so people can stay a lit bit longer they can hear the whole story the first part is going to be about your story, capoeira story, your journey and everything till now then we are gonna jump to how you handle you no for-profit there and it works for the community there.
—- > Part 1 – Capoeira
Caxixi: Now that been said tell us more about
yourself, who is Contra Mestre Pequinininho? and you can start however you want
Pequinininho: ok well let’s see, everything much started in my past I’m an artist ever since my mother would always make sure I was in some type of creative aspect so if it wasn’t science it was art by birth I’m an artist I like to draw that actually transpired into actual physical creativity from martial art itself so mostly everybody around we all grow up seen Bruce Lee as our martial artist but it is great I was like oh this is something unique that the actual body can do however there was always a thing that always itched me that is just I feel is something you know my culture actually has not just to say you know I never saw anybody like me then it came around when I saw couple different thing like James Kelly Raven Kleve different martial artist as well that we know now in the actual black community and then they were inspirations for me wow something different
but later on, I’m gonna give you a good laugh this is about my capoeira journey, I actually came across my first movie everybody always will say sometimes that the first movie that inspire me was only the strong and the you know I heard the berimbau playing and then and I was like wow this is, like wow, so I’m 13 and I was looking at this I was like oh my god I want to learn this so bad and this is like so long ago when yahoo groups existed so it was a limit so the only time that I can research it so I was like is in brazil, well my mother is not gonna let go to a whole other country and been 13, yeah exactly and I was like aaahh so I was just like you know look at it try to mimic some things but later on in high school I actually met one of still one of my best friend his name is Tertius so we’re both in art class and he came in and he introduce himself and hey you do anime art work, and you do videogame art work and I was like yeah is cool then here comes the actually funny part, so I’m riding my bike back home and I heard you know at the distance I heard like “hold one second was is that” I heard the berimbau in the distance but then I heard they sinigang the chores “Parana e, parana e Parana” and I heard and soon as I turned really quick I saw somebody in the corner doing ginga doing au and a bunch of different things and I’m like wow now the funny part is that I turned really sharp that I flipped off my bike.
Caxixi: so, did you start with capoeira contemporanea
in 1997?
Pequinininho: yeah it was contemporanea and it was
like a lot of different things like again it wasn’t like a solid base like I
couldn’t understand it was a little bit more like topical it almost felt like
you know getting get out, you know get in get out, yeah yeah you know it’s like
we are doing ginga from doing ginga what about the history of ginga, what about
you know what was the past of meia lua, what’s meia lua de compasso you know, I’m
American I don’t speak Portuguese so even that so a lot of the time where the
question that I had there were never answered.
Caxixi: What made you fall in love with capoeira Angola?
Pequinininho: well it was that I was able to find out more about the past, the history that you know wasn’t just Brazil, but it was more or even going back to the diaspora the whole transitions of everything, that really calls me because like I said as myself you know for me and couple of my friends we all grow and we didn’t really have that individuals that we can look like martial arts thing like this and that and this show that has a history that came from slaves and the something that was powerful that whole experience was like wow
Caxixi: how do you think capoeira Angola can help
people or our community?
Pequinininho: I feel like a benefit for the community here is do something different and unique because more around here in Detroit, or Michigan itself we have different cultures here, we have someone teach dance, some teach Afro Cuban dance, some teach African dance, you know some teach we actually have a Philippine community, we have all kind of community, and Brazilian community here as well, except I fell that capoeira Angola can help everybody because how the community at large needs something different and needs something that has a rich history in it so they can know you know is not just this art but you as individual your story doesn’t end at the corner.
Caxixi: what do you think we can make our capoeira
community stronger?
Pequinininho: I feel that what can makes stronger is that individual can leave their ego at the door, yeah because is not again it doesn’t matter what you title is it doesn’t matter what cardio you have doesn’t matter you know that you buy capoeira all the time it doesn’t matter you get to the roda and you gave 10 rasteira you mention rasteira for the game you know it doesn’t matter what matter is everybody is happy everybody is in peace everybody is learning is becoming a more infinite individual I feel that will make the capoeira community stronger
—- > Part 2 – Behind curtains
Caxixi: why nonprofit instead of LLC?
Pequinininho: well the nonprofit spoke to me more you know one I’m not really good with administration and everything as much so wife stepped in so she doesn’t hear me talking about her well which is a good thing but we sat down we talked about it initially we talk about the corporation part and the nonprofit we both came to an agreement one day you know something more for the community
Caxixi: how do you set the nonprofit up if you are by
yourself?
Pequinininho: well the first thing I would say is that you really do know exactly what you want to do you have to know what exactly want you want to do you know my wife says oh we can do this oh we can do that and I’m like babe focus in this one thing so you have to have one thing, even if you want to make a nonprofit and teach people how you know paint just make sure you focus in this one aspect but there many things that creative mind wants to do
Caxixi: how are you promoting your classes?
Pequinininho: oh let see we use social media newsletter systems actual printed flyers word of mouth you know actual community events you know have vendor booth and give up flyers you know performances we actually are performing coming up this Friday for the city of Detroit at the spirit plaza is a lot of different individuals so thing like that
Caxixi: capoeira events coming soon?
Pequinininho: ah let’s see, we have our annual Brazilian
festival Michigan coming up that’s September the 14th from noon to 7 here in
Detroit
Caxixi: let’s break this in 2 parts, so the first
part one advice to people that haven’t done capoeira, or they started capoeira
what advice do you give?
Pequinininho: I would say know that is not going to
be easy but you know just have a lot of patience a lot of faith not just into
capoeira but in yourself you are gonna be able to grow, just have an open mind
and just remember to that you are gonna be using muscles in your body that you don’t
use on you on a regular basis
Caxixi: and the second advice that would be for that
already do capoeira or teach capoeira what advice would you give to them?
Pequinininho: I would say don’t let ego take over, don’t let ego take over and remember that you are always an student a title is just something that yes you came to the time but remember all somewhere you have the responsibility to pass on to the next person make sure you pass on something that’s positive to the person don’t pass on you know your bad experiences you know anything like that because you can create another generation that’s not going to grow, they are gonna be static remember that you are still a student
What’s up capoeira nation! welcome back to the Capoeira Experience podcast, I’m your host Inst. Caxixi. before we get started I just want to say thanks again to all the capoeira community that keeps supporting my work by sharing the podcast, I still want to interview a lot more people and I hope you can join me one day and share your capoeira experience so make sure you watch the interviews on YouTube and you can see how fun they are!!!
So on today’s episode I have a the pleasure to interview
another female capoeirista with an awesome voice, she started capoeira in 2004
in California, her first class was fun and full of energy with really good
capoeiristas, her first classes was with the wonderful M. Amen and CM Girafa
and fall in love with capoeira since then specially with the Capoeira music, so
she join her group since then! I want to introduce you to Professora Saehee
from Capoeira Batuque Los Angeles, California!
Caxixi: Hey How Are you doing?
Saehee: HI, wow thank you for that great introduction
Caxixi: Of course! of course! I love our capoeira
community so everyone has an especial spot in the podcast, thank you for being here
with us
Saehee: Of course, thank you for interviewing me,
this is awesome
Caxixi: yeah absolutely
Caxixi: so, before we jump to everything, what are
your social medias and how people can find you?
Saehee: my Instagram is “@mustlymouve”
people try to tell me to change that name to make it something capoeira related
I haven’t done it yet so I’m no super super super into social media but can find
me on Instagram or you can also find me on Facebook.
Caxixi: tell us a little bit about yourself, who is
professora Saehee? and who are you in the capoeira community.
Saehee: in the capoeira community… well as you were
telling me as you were saying in the introduction
I started capoeira sometime in 2004 just randomly me and my friend went to take
a class and it was with capoeira Batuque and it was taught by Contra Mestre Girafa
at the time he was a professor and our Mestre Mestre amen was trying to promote
his class and he was visiting prof. Girafa’s class it was this awesome class
and ever since then I’ve been training on and off it was a time where it was 2
years period that I took a break capoeira has definitely being you know
something that I had to own up to something that gave me a platform just to carry
on my life so it is just like another capoeirista would say amazing and a huge
part of my life that practice that allows me to express a lot of my passions
Caxixi: is that name or nickname?
Saehee: Saehee is my real name is the name that was
given to me by my parents I don’t really have a nickname is kind of an ongoing
thing with my Mestre I’ve gotten a lot of different nicknames from different
people but none have really stock so I’m kind of a brat on that way I just
choose not to use any other name that I got
Caxixi: what is one thing that you say that capoeira
helped in your life in your entire life?
Saehee: I think, I mean one thing I would say it give
me like I said kind of like a platform to see myself to go through the ups and
downs there either ups and downs in life but I could not think of ups and downs
not as much as down being a bad time and up being like good time is more like
you practice something and you master it, you practice something and you fall,
you fall and the you get up, you know that constant up and down and I think not
just the game of capoeira just me as a capoeirista is always kind of like up
and down emotion I have to be okay with that sometimes
Caxixi: how do you think capoeira can help a person?
Saehee: I think capoeira can help you just kind of go
with it and be in the moment you know that’s kind of like a metaphor for life
but we have this amazing art form that you practice some moves and sometimes we
are afraid to sing a song or I don’t know afraid to do moves that we have
master yet but it just allows to kid of trust your practice and go for it
allows you to not seek perfection so much and just maybe seek the greatness of
being in the moment
Caxixi: why do you think is important for capoeira
community or capoeira people to learn the music and learn instruments?
Saehee: to put it very simply I don’t think that you
can fully say that you do capoeira unless you can connect with the music I mean
it might sound I little bit harsh maybe but I mean to me is true if I’m having
a bad day and I can’t play really well I just go and can to the roda and play interments
and I can feel connected I mean so much is passed on not just the songs itself
like the lyrics there’s a lot of history, there’s a lot of stories been told
and capoeira comes from an oral tradition you know
Caxixi: would you sign a song for us?
Saehee: *singing “Beira mar”*
Caxixi: capoeira events coming soon?
Saehee: capoeira Batuque will have a batizado this
year is our 30th yeah 30 years of being in Los Angeles and we normally will
have like a Zumbi day sometime in the winter which concede with zumbi’s day
Whatsp up capoeira nation! welcome back to the capoeira experience podcast where you will learn more about capoeira, how to keep your motivation and much more information.
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On today’s episode I would like to teach you some tips and trick to learn berimbau, if you apply these tricks to your daily routine you can learn to play berimbau in a very fast time and you won’t need the berimbau every single time to practice, but I still recommend you to have your own berimbau so talk to your instructor or professor if they have berimbaus in the academy that they can sell to you and you can support your school by doing that.
Listen, berimbau is a basic skill if you want to get into high ranks in your school also learning berimbau is really cool for many reasons, you can help to play in the roda, demonstrations, or any time a berimbau is needed – so all the time right? by learning berimbau you also are going to help a lot your instructor or professor, for example when you learn berimbau and you play it, you are allowing your teacher to play in the roda and that helps a lot and makes us happy so we can get to play with all of you, so put your hands on it, learn berimbau and show off your skills after this!
Alright, so this is the way I learned berimbau 18 years ago and after I practiced this way for a few months I was able to play berimbau in the roda, I wasn’t able to sign in the roda but I was able to play, and singing and play instruments come with a lot of practice so I encourage you to do so after you learn berimbau, so this is how I usually teach berimbau and it works for a lot of people they learn pretty quick, so after this it will be up to you put this in practice so be accountable for it.
Before, we gotta learn the part of the berimbau, the berimbau consist of 6 parts and the names on Portuguese of these 6 parts are: Verga (which is the body of the berimabu), Arame (which is the wire), Cabaca (which is the gourd), Baqueta (which is the stick to play it), dobrado or pedra (which is that big metal coin or the stone or rock) and of course a caxixi (which is the shaker).
That been said, there are a few basic berimbau rhythms that you can learn and they can help you to get set up to learn the rest.
we have Angola
we have sao bento pequeno
we have sao bento grande de bimba
we sao bento grande de angola
and we have one a little more complex one called Iuna
All those rhythms are composed by only 3 kinds of sounds, but each of them is on a different pattern.
These 3 sounds are:
The xiado (is with the rock very softly pressed against the wire): xixi the don (rock won’t touch the wire): dondon and the din (press hard against the wire): dindin
Now that you have and recognize these 3, you are going to practice these sounds with your mouth:
For example:
Xiado you are going to do: xixixixixi
don: don don don don
din: din din din din
AGAIN
practice those sounds every day with your mouth so you can recognize these sounds. if at some point you listen to capoeira music anywhere, pay attention to the berimbau sounds and try to copy them with this sounds I just gave you.
Rhythm practice:
Now we put them together to do the first rhythm, “Angola” makes this sound with your mouth – warning: don’t be shy to do so
The are 2 xiados, 1 don, 1 din
Sounds like this: xixi – xixi – don – din
It repeats over and over
Sao bento pequeno
Now this one is just backwards as angola
The are 2 xiados, 1 din, 1 don
It sounds like: xixi – xixi – din – don
It repeats over and over too
Practice these 2 with your mouth and with the berimbau so you can get into the more complex ones
Sao bento grande de bimba
This one is a little more complex but it is pretty easy once you get it
I’m going to break it in 2 parts for you
The first part is:
First part sounds like: xixi – xixi – don – xixi – xixi – din
Second part sounds like: xixi – xixi – don – don – din
It repeats over and over too
Sao bento grande de angola
This one is a little easier and fun as well
I’m going to break it in 2 parts as well for you
The first part is going to be: xixi – xixi – din – don – don
It repeats over and over too
All these sounds are very easy to practice, you just gotta comment and keep practicing with your mouth but especially with the berimbau and ask your teacher to help you practice some music and I am sure you are going to be able to play berimbau in a few months if you really really practice this tips and tricks.
what’s up Capoeira Nation, welcome back to the Capoeira Experience Podcast where you are going to learn more about our Capoeira community and where you can express your experience, Thank you so much for your support, it means a lot to me and it helps me to stay motivated to keep doing this!
Alright, so on today’s episode I got the pleasure to interview a Capoeirista from Canada, he is doing capoeira since 2006 and he teaches in Calgary, Canada, I want to introduce you Inst. Gigante!
[00:42:05] Caxixi:
how are you doing man?
Gigante: good man,
how are you? thanks for having me
Caxixi: yeah yeah
of course, capoeira, that’s what I love about our capoeira community it brings
people together, even if we don’t know each other we still can come together
Gigante: yeah, a
100%
[00:00:56] Caxixi:
What are your social medias, how people can find you?
Gigante: yeah you
can reach me @giganteyyc” follow here
https://www.instagram.com/giganteyyc/?hl=en
Our group Instagram is @calgarycapoeira follow here
https://www.instagram.com/calgarycapoeira/?hl=en
Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/calgarycapoeira/
so, you can find us in Facebook and Instagram so you should
check it out
[00:01:15]Caxixi: tell me your story, how did you
start in capoeira, and you can start however you want
Gigante: alright, well like you said it, I started in 2006 and that’s when I started training kind of regular and full on but before that, I think one of the first time I was exposed to capoeira, I think I always knew about capoeira was that kind of breakdance fighting, everyone seems to know it like before they actually they do capoeira so I kind of always knew about it but I didn’t really over see it or kind of encounter it till one day I was in the university in another town and I came to Calgary to visit and we went to a bar and it was a night club and on the dance floor was crowded and then they announced it and the DJ goes “hey everyone clear the floor, clear the floor we have a performance coming out” and I was like “oh what is going on?” everyone is backed up they kind of push people at side to clear the a big area and then these break-dancers came out and then they do a routing and is super cool and everyone is like “yeah this is cool” and they go back and on the side somebody comes ding backhands spring, back hand spring flipped, crowd goes crazy and then soddenly everyone starts doing capoeira, and it was super cool like I said I knew what is was right away “that’s capoeira, that’s that thing “and you know I couldn’t tell you if I saw here or there.
[00:11:24] Caxixi: why Gigante?
Gigante: so yeah
instructor sap looked at me and he say “I think I have a name for
you” I was like ok what is this, I heard stories of like “hopefully
is not like embracing or something because you heard story about people that
get a name and then you have to live with it, so he is kind of on the other
side of the room he was like raising his hand this and then he was like “Gigante”
and I was like I think I know what that means so I was like that’s cool,
because I’m tall I guess.
[00:12:15] Caxixi:
do you have any kind of like training routine to get that flexible?
Gigante: I started doing stuff when I wasn’t even young when I was doing it, I started working out when I was 15 I went to the gym like but I wasn’t like I go to the gym but I was never fully into it. but I would’ve gone to the gym for fitness and then since I was someone young and then I started capoeira when I was in 2006 I was 22, but I wasn’t you know like some people that start when they were like 10 or 15 or 20 to whatever in that case when I started I always had routines for myself before capoeira I always do like setups and crunches before bed and you know workout and include stretches and stuff in my workouts I kind of did yoga here and there and stuff from yoga that I kept was the backbend and stuff like that
[00:21:25] Caxixi: how are you advertising your classes?
Gigante: so like I said, right now we don’t have too much of a presents because we are still finishing building it the plan is once the website is online, again what I do for work outside of capoeira is like my main kind of job and businesses is building websites with graphic design so I plan to get some Facebook and Instagram paid adds to create videos and post, and nowadays to people to see new businesses you have to pay money to boost the post.
[00:38:10] Caxixi: what has capoeira help you with?
Gigante: yummy… I don’t know I think there’s a lot of thing for sure like I think one of the big ones is to see how what you do makes a positive impact in someone’s life you know, like if somebody comes to class in a bad mood and they leave in a good mood, you know what happens to me all the time and if I force myself to go when I come out feeling good for somebody to say “I’ve never been able to do that” and then after a while then they do it and then you know, they know like all I have to do is try it and you feel good because you were able to help somebody get there.
[00:48:49]Caxixi: do you have any event coming
up?
Gigante: we some,
stay tuned, we have plans but nothing official, so we’ll post on Instagram or
website and stuff, it’s important for sure to like I said once we kind of get
our community growing and stuff like that and visiting other events and we want
to travel.
[00:59:00] Capoeira game one word:
Caxixi: Bimba,
Gigante: Mestre!
Caxixi: Berimbau,
Gigante: Musica!
Caxixi:
Community,
Gigante: family
Caxixi: Ginga,
Gigante: to sei
Caxixi: the best
podcast in the world,
Gigante: this one
right here hahaha!
Caxixi: mandinga,
Gigante: playful
[01:00:05]Caxixi: advice for capoeiristas?
Gigante: give it a 110%if you wanna learn capoeira, there’s a lot of ways to learn but the way you are gonna get the most out of it is to give 110% ask yourself why you wanna do capoeira and then ask those questions, find the people that can show you, and you know it’s important obviously find the teacher that can show you, and then look for a community that will build you up so the kind of community that we are trying to build is positive, safe growing kind of like these things.
What’s up capoeira nation, Welcome back to the Capoeira Experience Podcast I’m your host Inst. Caxixi, if you guys don’t know who I am yet, go back to episode 01 and listen to a little bit of my story. Also, I want to say thank you so much to all the support and please help to get to more people so we can grow even more, and please don’ t forget to leave 5 stars and a nice a beautiful review.
Right on, on today’s episode this capoeirista have a rely good work, I started following him on Instagram and I see that he has a pretty cool creative way to keep kid busy with games which are pretty cool btw, I did my homework and I saw that he started capoeira in 1997 but came across with Mestre Cicatriz from Rio de Janeiro in 2001 and the journey in Kadara Capoeira begins from there! so I would like to introduce you to Professor Soquete!!
[00;02;00] Caxixi:
How are you doing man?
Soquete: hey my friend,
how are you?
Caxixi: pretty
good! pretty good! how is everything over there?
Soquete: it’s great, we just finished a couple of classes, so it’s nice and quiet here in the academy and I much rather be here talking to you that swiping the floors, so I’m glad to be here
[00;02;23] Caxixi:
Before we jump to the interview, how people can find you on social media and
website?
Soquete:
Instagram: @kadara_capoeira_canada – Follow them Here
Website – http://kadaracapoeira.ca check their work Here
I really like that website because it is very easy to remember, like for people that do capoeira can be like “oh is just learcapoeira.ca” is easy for them to find it.
Soquete: that’s exactly why I put it together that way because when you’re promoting capoeira outside of Brazil and English speaking country some time I show ” associacao Kadara capoeira Mestre Cicatriz, end then has other words in the back nobody can read any of it so even when we do public demonstration and shows we have a shirt that just says a big capoeira right on in and says Kadara Toronto on the back learnCapoeira.ca and a pictures, because that all people need to see, they don’t need to read all the other things so is simple for them to get that idea and everybody is taking photos these days anyway right, and they are posting it so is the best way to get out there, simply and easily
Caxixi: yeah that way people just I mean they can learn names and all those stuff once they start practicing and all that stuff.
[00;04;45] Caxixi:
Tell us a little bit of your capoeira story?
Soquete: so I guess my journey pretty much started in 1986 I started training a martial art and it was literally was 5 house down from where I lived, so I just walked to class 10/11 years old kid then did that for 3 and a half years and then that academy moved away then a taekwondo school came in I training that for about 3 and a half years before I joined the Australian navy it’s been a few years doing the military work and when I got out I was living in Sidney, and I saw that movie only the strong in the middle of 1996. and that was before google right and you have amount of people saying the same thing it took months of me speeding the word with everybody within the fitness industry and saying “hey if you have been this stuff I wanna learn it” one day this guy came in out down a flyer on the table of my work in the lunch room, and he said “is this it?” and it was a picture of a guy doing an Au Batido in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and I was like “that’s it” and I went to class that same day
Caxixi: is like
destiny came right straight to you
Soquete” yeah it was amazing, and so I trained there for a couple of years and when I meet Mestre Cicatriz it was like going from elementary teacher to a university professor, the way thing were broken down, the way he understood the martial concepts the way he held the group together, the way he had… the energy about him it was were I needed to band I have been with him ever since. The group came through a few name changes, but our lineage has always been the same, my Mestre is always Mestre Cicatriz.
[00;13;38] Caxixi:
Why Soquete?
Soquete: The apelido?… I have normally large, thighs, calves, my lower limbs are much heavier than my upper body, so Mestre says very big and very heavy is like a, in Rio the Soquete is what the use to smash and pound like a motor postal thing right, so Mestre was like “your legs are big and strong” and he was like “if you hit somebody with that” and I was like “man I don’t wanna hit anybody Mestre”… Too old for that, but yeah that how I got it, is funny, I like it and is unique, but a lot of people because is a colloquial term for the Soquete a lot of people from Brazil are like “why Soquete, why Soquete”.
[00;15;20] Caxixi:
how do you attack people? or how do you sell your idea to people that have
never done capoeira before?
Soquete: so yeah, finding people or bring new people in that don’t have exposure to capoeira it’s a modern digital age if people know about capoeira and they wanna come, they google it if we are closer and they like what they see, they do their research they come in, and finding people that never heard about capoeira and educating them about the art form is my favorite part of bringing people in, there is a street festival here in Scarborough Calle the taste of Lawrence festival and every year so like 1 hr., 45 minutes show demonstration and when we do shows our focus is really on education so is not just set up a roda then jump around, flip around, hands out flyer and go, we do batucada, we do Maculelê, we do capoeira, we do solos, but the whole thing becomes an experience where I take the time to explain this is batucada, this is where it comes from, this is how it is used and I say ok let me do Maculelê “a dance do guerreiros” so I take a lot of time to explain the history the art, I give a separate component during the show just for the music and explain the berimbau, explaining the instruments, to explain how the music tells stories, how there is history and metaphor and lessons, to learn to the music and morals to pass on then we do the capoeira.
[00;23;15] Caxixi:
how do you advertise?
Soquete: yeah we do the promo and the demos and are always great working into schools is a great opportunity if you get to do that, I just do some Facebook marketing a little bit of Instagram marketing not as much as I could or should I haven’t done it for a while we go through face where every couple of months we do an intro day, Saturday afternoon, promote for couple of weeks or month or so, and get a bunch of people in because somebody or must people don’t want to be the only newbie so if you can get 15 – 20 people in doing an introduction to capoeira again use that as an education to this is where it comes from here is a basic movement that is a kick, here is a basic movements that is an escape we all gonna do a cartwheel and we are gonna do a vengativa so something, something for offensive, something for defensive a floor movement of some kind and acrobatic movement of some kind.
[00;26;05] Caxixi:
how do you get into schools? or how do you structure peppers?
Soquete: a lot of the school stuff that I have managed are from one obvers and some of them are from some kind of connection or an email that comes to me but I have some connections through the Toronto school board that have explained to me that some schools board have like a preferred clients list or a prefer performance list that they would get to come in and do things for the school board, because is easy for the school board auto rice the checks and stuff like that.
[00;42;40] Caxixi:
where do you find those interactive games?
Soquete: some of the games are inspired by other teachers or other moments I had one of the must important, little kid’s game that I play, that’s my first go to I learned from Mestre in Belo Horizonte when I was there in 2010, Mestre Bimba and contra Mestra Guerreira and they teach A lot of kid’s classes and they just have this lithe simple game, with the pandeiro they play and it’s called “the response” and the kids do their little movements and everybody follows everybody else and is a catchy little song that they sign and I was like “that’s gold I’m going to take that” and then at the same workshop, the same event there where another Mestre who taught a lot stuff with ropes and it was interesting and funny to me because the workshop was Mestre Hulk, and I was like “oh this big real tough legendary guy I can’t wait to do his workshop” and we did an hour and a half of kids class stuff and he was like “community, we got to make sure that when we are teaching the kids and making them grow” and we did a lit stuff with the rope across the room and I was like impress again, this great concept in how when you give sternal drill with the rope, over and under the rope, you can’t get it wrong and end up on the right side of the rope so having a visual and physical barrier.
[00;51;05] Caxixi:
do you have any project going on right now or planning any batizado?
Soquete: our
batizado this year is gonna be July 20, so I just put my Facebook event to save
the date, I’m still working on some guests stuff but it would be a great year
is the first that I have 2 students that started training with me back in 2011
when I started here and they’re getting the graduado cord.
[00;54;30] Caxixi:
what do your advice those instructors out there?
Soquete: advice
to teachers, that’s a challenging one, a wise man once said to me “nobody
cares how much you know until they know how much you care”
so, you need to create, or I be alive you need to create environments
where is open and it’s welcoming and is fun and is friendly
[00;58;28] Caxixi:
what kind of advice would you give to capoeiristas in general?
Soquete: uhm… I don’t feel that I have the right to speak to capoeiristas, in general, I’m just a professor… love what you do, loving what you do is really important easy for people to get jetted this happen, people to allow politics into group things to get into their way of enjoyment of the art.
[00;00;00] Caxixi:
contact information?
Soquete:
Instagram: @kadara_capoeira_canada – Follow them Here
Whatup capoeira nation! Inst. Caxixi here, thank you so much to the capoeira community that has been supporting this work, it is very motivating for me knowing that out there are people willing to help our capoeira community, if you don’t know who I am yet, I want to invite you to listen to episode 01 of the podcast, there you can learn who I am and how I got here. Alright, let’s roll.
Today I have the huge pleasure to interview a very good
capoeirista, hard worker and passionate with Capoeira! He has dedicated his
whole life to capoeira, successfully growing kids and adults capoeira classes
since 2000 in Boston, Massachusetts, having great designs for the website,
Instagram and Facebook, and I know we can learn a lot from him, let me introduce you to Mestre Chuvisquinho
from Sinha Capoeira!
How are you doing Mestre?
Before we jump to question and information, tell us your
social medias:
[00:02:54] Caxixi:
How did you got to capoeira? Start however you want.
M. Chuvisquinho: ok, this could take the time you know! Well, my name is Lindemberg Desouza, I was born in Belo Horizonte, Capital of Mina Gerais, Brazil in 1979, 40 years ago! It’s been awhile, I’m the third generation of capoeirista in my family, yeah everything started with my grandfather and then my father and then myself, my entire life it was capoeira, and still is, capoeira is a strong force that I have within myself like many other capoeirista you know, since childhood capoeira was there, it was present. I was raised for my grandmother which is my father’s mom and she was one of the biggest motivators in my capoeira journey, and my Mestre which is my father as well, he was a young capoeirista that went after his dreams, knowing his believes, and working hard in Mina Gerais in a strong school and I was living with my grandma and she used to take me to capoeira. When I was 9 years old I used to gather the kids on the streets and teach them capoeira, I was 9 years old. And then years went by, life was happening and when the teens age hit, I was going to different roda all by myself going after capoeira you know I was on my teens and I was living capoeira to the best, of course, those are the years of the troubles, you know, he kind of disagree with all my adventures, and life happens you know, just training capoeira, living capoeira came from a very humble childhood you been raised by my grandma wasn’t a lot of easy path however I’m very grateful.
[00:10:02] Caxixi:
how did you get the Chuvisquinho nick name?
M. Chuvisquinho:
Chuvisquinho, because my Mestre, you know Chuvisco and Chuvisquinho.
[00:10:38] Caxixi:
you are a good example to a lot of capoeiristas out there, including me, on how
to grow our classes. On growing a class, how do you sell capoeira to the public
or how do you catch their attention?
M. Chuvisquinho: you know is interesting I get this question a lot I believe because we have, we did have a strong work here in Massachusetts but I always come up with the same answer, if you do anything with love man you are on the right track because I don’t go to my classes and I’m like “ugh another day this is just a class because this is what I do for living so I need to be here” no I love, I literally love what I do I teach you know a small class with 3 students, 5 students, still you know 22 years later and I’m still passionate about what I do.
[00:21:31] Caxixi:
how do you keep that motivation to keep the mindset to keep coming to class?
M. Chuvisquinho: every time I go to class to me is an opportunity to sharpen my tool as a teacher, as a Mestre de capoeira, as an artist, as a person, every time I go to class is an opportunity for me to sharp tool as you know all these elements, right, and I need to get to my students that’s the experience that they have up to that point so every class is better that one that passed, it’s a simple formula in my way of seeing if you go to a restaurant, you enjoy the food, and you are like “wow this food is pretty good” so automatically what are you gonna do?
Caxixi: come back
to the place!
M. Chuvisquinho:
come back to the place, you are gonna go again, and what are you gonna tell if
you are home with your family and they say “let’s go out to eat” what
is gonna be the first reaction?
Caxixi: oh, let’s
go to this place, this place was pretty good, that’s true!
M. Chuvisquinho: so is the same understanding, you know anything to me that it’s extremely important and it’s initial for me in many years in capoeira or any other art but I’m talking about capoeira because that’s my art, right, our art, is how you treat people, understand it’s how you treat people, so you wanna be in an environment where people treat you well, where you feel you are important there, so I always tell my students you guys are the reason for my motivation to be in class every single day, they are my main motivation because I need to do better for them if I’m doing good for my students automatically I’m doing good for my own self, I’m doing for my school, I’m doing good for capoeira.
[00:32:08] Caxixi:
Do you have any kind of marketing aspect or like strategies that you use for
your classes?
M. Chuvisquinho: you knee is kind of interesting because I get that a lot, people are like Mestre I look at your pictures and your classes are always full you have a pretense in social media I get that a lot but in reality I don’t think I don have nothing different then everyone else, I don’t think I do anything different that you do, or someone else does, you know I do put effort in what I do, I do put love in what I do, I’m very picky, people that work with me they know that is tough to work with me because I’m extremely picky, extremely like different level, people that work with me have been working with me for 10, 11 years, I don’t like to be changing you know, from the one that does my uniform to the person that does my art work, I don’t like to be switching professionals I find a good professional and I’m gonna stick with him, because he understands my language with time, and he understands what I’m looking for.
[00:47:36] Caxixi:
do you have an LLC or nonprofit entity?
M. Chuvisquinho:
you need to have a structure right, we have our work in different part of
Boston so we have a noon profit organization and we have a business as well,
because you need to have it otherwise everything is on the air, right
everything is on the air, if I go to a big company, if I go to a big
institution and I want to create a partnership with that institution and they
look at me as a person they are going to be like “ok well bye we are not
doing it” so we do have a structure, but as I said, this is not new,
everybody does that, is how you run, the difference to me, the X factor is how
you handle, you probably have more knowledge that I do in this aspect but how
you handle that, same understanding give you a bunch of vegetables this and
that but you don’t know how to prepare a salad.
[01:10:31] Caxixi:
are you planning on having an event next year, uncontrol de bombast?
M. Chuvisquinho:
yet we have encontro de bambas every year it always happens either on the last
weekend of November or first week of December, it’s a good event, good energy,
good people
[01:16:53] Caxixi:
how do you keep your self-motivation?
M. Chuvisquinho: you know it’s an interesting question, because capoeira is something so inside of me Caxixi, capoeira is something so strong inside of me, I don’t think I need external factors to motivate me, I like to wake up and do my own training, I like to wake up – I’m a coffee person, a cup of coffee, I like waking up in the morning, have a cup of coffee, go through my music, go through my writings, because I like to write a lot, but I don’t think I have that need of that external factor to motivate me in capoeira.
[01:19:31] Caxixi:
What kind of advice do you have for those that don’t practice capoeira?
M. Chuvisquinho:
you don’t know how cold the water is, the ocean is, until you step in it,
that’s it.
[01:19:31] Caxixi:
What about the ones that practice capoeira?
M. Chuvisquinho:
“trata capoeira com carinho” – Treat capoeira with respect, treat
capoeira with care, a capoeira e verdadera, capoeira is real, she is real,
capoeira is not alike, you should treat capoeira with care she will treat you
with care.
[01:20:00] Caxixi:
repeat your social medias again?
Whatup capoeiristas, welcome back to the capoeira experience podcast, where you are going to learn from all kind of experiences to increase your knowledge in capoeira, and even to find your whys in capoeira.
Today I have the pleasure to have with us my very first
student in the US, the first American that I wanted to teach capoeira and pass
on not just my knowledge but also my passion in and out of class, not just as
my student also as my wife and this is Canarinha from capoeira brasil Indianapolis
[00:02:02] Caxixi: We
gotta start from the beginning I usually start all the interviews from the
beginning I just want to know how everyone starts in capoeira from day one till
right now, tell me a little bit of your story from the very beginning
Canarinha: ok well
I meet you in 2012 I heard that you did capoeira and you were staying in the US
just for 2 months so I asked the person that you knew if you can teach me capoeira
and maybe we can get together, do something. The guy finds out that I liked you
from there he kind of introduced us and we started talking, hanging out. We
didn’t really do capoeira, we you were here, but when you came back, I would
say I officially started training with you, probably in 2014? I started
training with you.
[00:07:38] Caxixi: For
you what was that eye catching for capoeira?
Canarinha: the
kicks, for sure! I think all the kick are amazing, throughout the years the
acrobatics got me be the initial thing that got were the kicks.
[00:09:03] Caxixi: what
do you like the must about capoeira?
Canarinha: I like
the energy the most I think all the people all the moves and everything that
brings together when you are in the roda, I think is that explosive energy and
that makes me want more you know is very like I said, when I saw you it was
very contagious and I think your energy is what attacked to it, so for Capoeira
when I’m in the roda when I’m in a festival or class is definitely the energy
that fires me up.
[00:12:15] Caxixi:
if you have to choose on word for capoeira what it would be?
Canarinha: contagious,
don’t matter who it is or what it is or where it is, if you are at a capoeira
event no matter what kind of group who or whatever you are always going to be
like in a Roda, you always end up in a roda with some people not even like a
playing Roda, you are standing, you are talking you are creating this group of
people.
[00:17:07] Caxixi:
Why Canarinha?
Canarinha: well is definitely not because I sign amazing
I feel in capoeira people base it of a look, or characteristic or personality or something that at the
moment have to be with you, so when you first met me I was partially blonde, I
was half blond half brunet I probable kept that for about 3 years? yeah yeah 3
years and I think that probably that pop in your head.
[00:019:07] Caxixi:
from the student-wife perspective, what do you see from there, like from
outside, behind the scene and everything?
Canarinha: well
first of is more than love of capoeira, you have like an obsession with
capoeira, I would say that you love capoeira more than me but that’s another
story, I think is awesome, I think is awesome, you know as partner wise if you
have something in common that you both love or both really like to do I think
it really helps your relationship you know push each other both up.
[00:29:33] Canarinha:
I have a question for you, so I know that you’ve dated capoeira people in the
past, how does it feel to take or to meet someone that never do capoeira you
know never has any experience on that but you know you brought them into it,
how does it feel, 1: dating someone outside of capoeira and 2: your wife,
getting your wife into capoeira, having student as your wife?
Caxixi: That’s a
good question, I’ve never got that question before. yeah I dated a few out of
capoeira, at the beginning is definitely hard, is hard but exciting at the same
time, because that person doesn’t know about capoeira unless that person is
interested in capoeira of course, like you were at the beginning because you
were looking at me with such a big eyes, I got more excited because I wanted to
show off.
[00:38:08] Caxixi: what
kind of skills of benefits capoeira has bring to your life?
Canarinha: for
sure not being as shy and as nervous and I wanna say thank you to everyone I’ve
meet you know in some way you actually have helped me to come out of my shield
and not be as nervous or be self-conscious in capoeira you know you’ve definitely
made me a better person who I am today weather was bad or good or you know,
kick me in the face whatever I just feel that I’ve learn so much from each
person I’ve met.
[00:47:17] Caxixi: what
do you recommend to capoeiristas out there?
Canarinha: don’t
hold back, don’t be scare to do what you wanna to do, if you wanna to try
something don’t be scared, don’t hold yourself back because what you think
other people think or what other people judge you or you look silly you know I
mean.
[00:00:00] Caxixi:
what are your social media?
Canarinha: I do I
little bit of everything but it’s
What up capoeiristas, welcome back to The Capoeira Experience Podcast, where you are going to learn about the Capoeira community, where all of you are more that welcome to express your experiences because we all got experience, so that being said, on today’s episode we have a guest form Europe, he teaches in the Netherlands, he is from Grupo Ginga da Alma… Welcome to the podcast Prof. Espirito.
Caxixi: How are
you doing man?
Espiritu: I’m
doing fine man! what up!!
Caxixi: I like to
start with capoeira stories.
Espiritu: I
started capoeira late 1997 in the Netherlands a lot people from my generation
were not Brazilian, grew up with a movie – really bad movie, only the strong, I
saw later when I read about capoeira, but my introduction to Capoeira was from
a tv commercial, from a Nokia cellphone, Nokia commercial and what I can
remember there were 2 people on a beach dressing white and making beautiful
movements you know, I was mesmerizes I was like “what? what is this?”
because since my youth I grew up in martial arts like karate aikido, you know,
did some gymnastic, and already did some crazy stuff on my own, jumping around
you know, my mom going crazy, she was just like “just go outside and do
your thing” but when I saw the commercial, I was like “what is this”
because I didn’t have any knowledge about it “what is this” and I was
memorizing by it, and also in that time I also was into gaming and 3 fighting
games at that time, was street fighter, mortal combat, and tekken you know, you
know tekken?
Caxixi: oh tekken!
yeah yeah when tekken just came out, yeah Eddy Gordon of course!
Espiritu: yeah
yeah I already had tekken, then tekken II, and then I was waiting for tekken
III because I knew I like tekken III,
and I bought tekken 3, and there was a character, you know the
character, and I was like “oh is new so let me choose the character” Eddy
Gordon, so what the hell is this, and I was meshing the buttons and was like,
“eehh what is this this is awesome” I recognized it this is the same
thing that I saw on television you know.
Caxixi: what kind
of benefits does have capoeira bring to your life? like some positive influence
on your life?
Espiritu:
Friends, family you know, you travel a lot to different places you meet people
that share the same thing also being secure about myself and be less aggressive
because back in the days, and not because I was aggressive but I had a temper
capoeira helped me, yeah self-control you know be more aware of my surroundings,
be more aware of people you know and yeah it helped me a lot specially meeting
people you know and sharing, and yeah self-control and be happy.
Caxixi: how do
you like the capoeira community in Europe?
Espirito: so far I didn’t go everywhere in Europe but
what’ve seen what’ve been through, the capoeira community in Europe is good,
like you said people are ore knowledgeable also about capoeira you know they
are seeking they are hungry no just for capoeira itself, also the community,
the community part of capoeira you know.
Caxixi: How did
you get your nick name? when and how?
Espirito: ok, first when you started capoeira I was the only
black guy in the class, I was the youngest in the class so my teacher back
then, because I have several teachers, he came with the name feijao, I didn’t
know it meant back then “oh feijao, nice nice” so I went with then they
started calling me feijao, and I started asking what does that means that means
Bean and I was “oh alright” like feijao preto. I was the only black
guy but I also was the only guy that could jump and do crazy stuff because my
gymnastic background you know, so jumping bean, feijao, alright whatever you
know, I think I got call that name on 1998 or something 1999 but it was not official
it was not during a batizado the teacher wanted to separate from that thing you
know from his own group we weren’t part of a bigger organization big association
was just a own small group.
Caxixi: how do
you like about teaching?
Espiritu: the
main thing, is to seeing people being happy, thing like I show you something I will
help you and if I see and smile, I like it.
Caxixi: What are
your social medias? or how people can find you?
Caxixi: Do you
have any event coming up, or are you planning something for 2019
Espiritu: yes, this coming June 14, 15 and 16 of June we have our Capoeira festival, I will make an event on Facebook (here) and I will post on social media you know.
Caxixi: What
Advice would you give to Capoeiristas out there?
Espiritu: play
with a smile, sometimes we have that series game face, whenever we are playing
you know, sometimes people forget to smile to be a kid in a big playground when
you go in the roda, when you are playing in the roda be happy that you get to playing
the roda be happy that you are able to play with one of your idol
What up capoeiristas! Inst. Caxixi here! Like I always say,
everyone has a spot in this podcast, doesn’t matter your level, where you come
from, doesn’t matter what is your group or even if you don’t do capoeira,
that’s valid too, all I want to do is help OUR capoeira community. So today I
have the pleasure to have one of my hommies from LA! I met this guy my very
first time I went to LA in 2013, we have been following each other journey
since then and I am very excited to go back to see you and play some capoeira
with you again and do your class, today I want to introduce you to Inst. Quebrado
from Capoeira Brasil LA!..
[00:05:50] Caxixi:
Speaking about social media, dude I see that you are killing it on social media
man!!… Tell us what are you tricks man! how do you make so much noise in
social media?
Quebrado: I think
with social media it’s really tricky my point I have no idea what I’m doing, is
working sometimes it doesn’t work sometimes it does work really good you gotta
know what they want they are waiting for something that they wanna see, they
are waiting for that cool trick, or they are waiting for that moment in the
roda and then hashtags help a lot, #Capoeira #CapoeiraBrasil #Rio #SaoPaulo
#Brazil #berimbau #Africa #axe is like different hastangs a lot of people that
I know, sometimes I do it go a research #Capoeira and go over 100 post and see
who is doing what and like people’s hashtag with #Capoeira.
[00:08:11] Caxixi:
so, lets jump back on time for a sec here, and tell me a little bit of your
story man, how did you get into capoeira?
Quebrado: in 2006
I moved to America to California from Lebanon, from an Armenian family,
Armenian descents, no capoeira, we only had people in breakdancing and hip-hop,
I was always active I was like 8 years old and I had my own hip-hop class and
it was like no space like underneath in a building that wasn’t built yet I had
like 3 students like couple years younger than me they paid me with like a
chocolate or half a dollar you know with coins stuff that I never took a class
before I just liked the movement I kind of follow and followed this guy he was
a really good hip-hop dancer back in Lebanon, he’s still kind of famous right
now he is a dancer big choreographer so I kind of started hip-hop with him and
we started breakdancing as a whole group of good friends like 6 or 7 of us so
we go together we train together and I was kind of dedicated you know I wanted
to be good at it, I was a little more chubbier and I just wanted to do something
and stick with it and a month or two later they were all gone nobody stayed
there and then was me and the teacher this is amazing is like private right
now, the I started to getting better breakdancing, and then I started b-boying
more and more, 2004, 2005, and then at 2006 moved to California actually I’ve
seen capoeira once in Lebanon, in the dance school there were couple morocco
guys, from morocco, and they just showed up and I think there were dancers that
they’ve done capoeira before then, I remember them so well and they just came
in the were b-boy and by that time they came together, and then they were
“oh Brazilian moves” and then that was it, it was just a small
memory.
[00:12:10] Caxixi: Why
Quebrado?
Because of breakdancing, so the first few months I mean I
was tough with myself I was going through a lot I didn’t know how to
communicate with other people I was very shy I kind of only talked to Pavao a Chegado
at the beginning I was very timid and after class I always wait to everybody to
leave then I used to breakdance and I used to train and they looked at me and
then “oh the breaker” and the breaker translate to broken and got
translated to Quebrado.
[00:16:14] Caxixi:
where have you travel?
Quebrado: this
past year as did go to Bali, to capoeira me leva with Mestre Pedro, also went
to Japan to capoeira Batuque events, and then I went to Lebanon, to see family
and did capoeira as well, this was last year, and the following year Shanghai, Hong
Kong, Mexico, I don’t even consider Mexico because Mexico is right here.
I like to travel, I like to travel, if capoeira can be part
of the travel it’s even more amazing and for capoeiristas I think traveling is
really really important, and no matter what level you are no matter if you are
invited as a guest or you are student or your friend is having and event,
traveling helped me a lot to grow.
[00:35:55] Caxixi:
any event coming up for you? Local at your class?
Yes! Local events yes, so in December I hosted Mestre Itabora
it was amazing, so that event with Mestre Itabora getting to know him
personally more and share his energy, share his story, I couldn’t even, how you
say it? is priceless, spend time with anybody as a person with that much energy
that much love for the art that much he does for the community I was very privileged
for him even to be in my place in my house a share a few hours with us and I’m
very thankful for him and I would love to keep going, I’m very thankful with
the community, because their supporting.
In March 16, is Saturday I’m hosting a workshop with Instra.
Foquina and Instra. Borracha they both capoeira brasil green cords and green
cords are dope!
[00:39:54] Caxixi:
Mestre Boneco events is coming up when?
last week of September is the 28th 29th, 29th is the
batizado but our event usually starts on Tuesday nights, last year was amazing,
amazing diversity.
[00:41:50] Caxixi:
What advice do you have for beginners?
I mean capoeira has change my life, and still is changing my
life, at work I still think that I’m in the roda, and right now my mission for beginners
is nothing fancy like I said at the beginning of the podcast I don’t them to do
crazy floreios and helicopters and flips, I just want them to enjoy capoeira
which it mean capoeira just coming to class ginga, kick and Esquiva and them to
do that for long time if they do stick with it for long time and become consistent
their life is gonna change when committing to something.
[00:45:11] Caxixi:
you mentioned couple of time, fir the last question, during the whole
conversation you mentioned couples of time that capoeira has change your life what
do you think or where did you change?
change in life is how I think how I feel you know I mean places that I’ve been people that I’ve met, someone like you I would never do this podcast if we have never met.
What’s going on Capoeira world!!… Inst. Caxixi here!… As
I always say, on this podcast everyone gets interviewed, any experience works
to help our community grow, so today I have the pleasure to have as a guest one
of my Capoeira Brothers, you know when you travel and you meet new people and
you just click with them, he is been doing capoeira for 5 years, and I met him
my first time I went to Chicago and since then we became really good
hommies!!… He is student of Professor Saracuru from Capoeira Brasil Downtown
LA. I want to introduce you to Bambu!!
[00:01:45] Caxixi: How are you doing man
over there?
Bambu: good man,
just enjoying the raining southern California
[00:02:38] Caxixi: So, I like to start the
episodes with our guest stories, now tell me when and how did you start
capoeira?
Bambu: ok so I
tried capoeira a few times when I young one when I was 16 ones again like at 20
something years old I really caught on when I met my professor, professor Saracuru,
I met him walking one day and he was like “yo, why don’t you come a try
the class?” and I’m like “alright yeah!!”
my mom lives in downtown, coincidently on the same block
that he does, so I just happened to be there and yeah just randomly ran into
them just a conversation that was brought up, I was already doing martial arts
at the time I was already doing judo, but I was kind of like uh falling you
know.
[00:13:18] Caxixi: how many times per week
do you train?
Bambu: so that’s
a tough one it depends on the week, average it used to be I can tell you this
right now for sure is twice a week but I’m gonna start wrapping it up I used to
train every day like every day you know every day we would go we would meet up,
or we said let go to a park.
[00:15:38] Caxixi: have Capoeira been
helping you on something?
Bambu: I mean I
would definitely agree with that, outside from right now, how nervous I am
right now you know, but usually you know I’m very hey what’s up what’s
happening, you know very out there, very out spoken, I mean I try to be out
spoken, it really brought out my personality it gave me like a confidence that I
never had before to be honest, it really gave me strength, like a different
kind of strength.
[00:24:24] Caxixi:
if you must describe capoeira with one word, what it would be??
Bambu: man, that’s
a tough one, if I have to say one word I would say “inspiring”
[00:37:49] Caxixi: Are you planning on
traveling for any events?
Bambu: there’s the big one for this year is in July Mestre Paulinho
sabia is having his batizado in Brazil so that ticket is not cheap, so I think
that’s gonna be the one for this year.
[00:38:25] Caxixi: how many times have you
travel in these 5 years? even locally?
Bambu: like
locally, vie been Chicago, san Francisco, san Diego Mexicali I went to Colombia
couple years ago
[00:41:33] Caxixi:
what is your favorite song?
Bambu: there’s a
lot of songs out there, I usually like very simple songs, you know the song
“laa laaue, laaue laaua” something about the sound that pumps me up
and I’m just like “alright we are about to play” dud is like “is
about to go down right now”
[00:49:39] Caxixi: an advice for
beginners?
Bambu: I mean, as
hard it is, is gonna be tough at the beginning it always is, but that’s the fun
part you know, cut in the future, I’m sure you experienced it you remember when
it was so hard you remember when like the struggle trying to do this moves try
to figure out how to play the instruments, it was so hard but you love those
moments, you know those moments are gonna stay with you forever, like “man
I remember when I was a wacky at this” it makes you feel proud you know.
What’s up everybody, today we are having the pleasure of interviewing a capoeirista with personal training, with Mixed Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu experience. and he is also in Charge of the classes of the group Capoeira Ache Brasil in Calgary, Canada.
[00:01:34]Caxixi – Let’s start from the beginning
of your experience, tell me your capoeira story.
[00:01:44] Sua – I’m
originally from Russia and immigrated when I was a kid to Israel and capoeira
is very big in Israel is huge huge huge like every city has capoeira in Israel,
and when I was 13 I started training in 2002 in a city called Eilat it’s a very
hot city kind of looks like brazil you know is a little warm and I actually had
the opportunity to start with a teacher when we moved to that city so before
that no was no capoeira there and when the teacher moved at that time was
monitor Mimi, now is a Mestre, at that time I moved to the city and started
training no I was one of the fist students and few years after that I moved to Canada
and continued capoeira in Canada but I started originally in Israel in the Group
Corado de Ouro.
[00:04:57] Caxixi
– how did you get your nickname?
Sua – I came from
Group Corado de Ouro and I started when I was 13 so at 13 years old you are
looking for who you are as a human being as a teenager what are you going to
do, and luckily I was able to start Capoeira and live that life as a kid as a
teenager, and when I moved to Canada all I knew was Group Corado de Ouro so
like Mestre Coquinho, it was very specific training and when I moved to Canada
groups here actually must of them are from Recife and the capoeira from Recife
is very different you know they play a lot of banguela, a lot of regional so
the capoeira is very different. so, when I came, I was playing in the rodas and
everything and all the song I was singing you know they were like oh Suasuna, Suasuna
so they started to call me Suasuna.
[00:19:58]Caxixi – How do you keep your
motivation to train and to teach?
Sua – I think is
very healthy to have like a community it could be even on WhatsApp or whatever,
we have a like WhatsApp group with my Mestre with all the teacher in our group
and all the time all every day you get different video of people training like
“oh I did toady 1000 kick” “I did today this” “I did
today that” all the time so you almost feel accountable to always training
always put some videos that you are training we are from all different towns
and the only way to connect is that and that one way, just to have to be accountable
weather is for people to be like I wanna out that nice Instagram capoeira video
twice a week so people comment on that, so I try to do different things like
that, I go to the gym I start working out, lifting weights listening to capoeira
music sometimes half way through is like I’m done go to the court do some kicks
do some movements is crazy but I think when you are excited you’re passion and
you feel committed to teach your students good information then you have to be committed
you have to be training outside of class because I think in town where is not a
lot of capoeira we have hustle more, we have teach more classes, then different
areas of the town and that leave us less time to training and really focus on
what we need as teachers how do we grow an specific skills is very important to
set those session at side like is off the class before class is like what do I
need as a teacher I need to improve my banner, I got to work on that, I need to
improve this, improve that, so is important to have that off training outside
of what you are teaching in class.
[00:23:29]Caxixi – how is the public reacting to
capoeira in Calgary?
Sua – I think in Canada
is a very very multi-cultural country so
in theory it should go very good and it should spread easy but I think in Canada
a lot of people like hockey and they love skiing this kind of stuff winter
sports and is tough for people to really get into something so exotic and so
different like capoeira, so the public when they see the demos they made they
are like “oh my god” but people like they don’t feel “oh I want
to go and try this and be like that” they enjoy the show but is a very specific
people right, Capoeira me Chama, capoeira is calling specific people, and if
capoeira called you then you are lucky. you can performance to a 1000 people and
nobody will come from that demonstration.
[00:32:50] Caxixi
– Do you have any kind of program or project going on right now?
Sua – We teach in
our academy, so we rent a space, we do little projects here and there with
children hospitals, cancer foundation, volunteering and stuff like that with
low income family sometimes we do here and there but we are focusing on hopefully
moving to a new spot in the years or so, and kind of a semi academy so it won’t
be like full 100% capoeira academy maybe like a studio that we want to be in
charge of rather than rent per hour and once we have our spot 24/7 we can
create more projects different kind of cool things that we can have on our spot
and have people come in.
[00:35:40] Caxixi
– Do you have any batizado coming soon?
Sua – so our
batizado is schedule August 03er to the 06th so is in the summer so it should
be hot we have a lot of time to prepare for that, but we have a little
encounter happening next weekend, we are about to feature. is not a batizado is
just a mini event just a little excuse to do capoeira and have some energy.
[00:39:17] Caxixi
– What advice do you give to people that are starting in capoeira?
Sua – yeah I mean
is gonna be a little different to advice one month in capoeira to a few years
in capoeira but overall is find the right people around you if you can like the
right teacher the right Mestre the right connection and try to get as much knowledge
as you can, it’s important to have the guidance coming out from your group, all
the philosophy coming down because that’s what you would be learning and
eventually passing on.
Social media:
Instagram Here https://www.instagram.com/instrutor_Sua/
What up Capoeiristas!! This is your host Inst. Caxixi!! And todays episode we (and BY WE I MEAN YOU AND I) are having a very very good friend of mine!! I met this person a while ago as always Capoeira does, in a Capoeira event and since then we have been good friends!! and I am very happy to have you with us INSTRUTORA VALENTE!!!!!! From Capoeira Brasil Cali Desert!! SO happy to have you here today!!! How are you doing my friend??
[00:01:25] –Valente: I’m good thank you so much for
having me, I’m excited to be on your podcast
[00:01:30] –Caxixi – Yes Yes thank you for making
the time, the little window for sharing this experience, so like any interview I’m
gonna start from the beginning, from your very beginning on Capoeira, so when
you started from the first day until today and you can start however you want.
[00:01:55] – Valente
– ok so actually I sing up for my first capoeira class in San Diego at
university California San Diego, in the year 2000 and was a recreating class
from campus and unfortunately last minute before I started the class I had to
change my academic curse schedule to another class that was schedule on the Capoeira
nights and I was sad I already paid for it so actually one of my best guy friends
at the time I said “hey you know have you hear about Capoeira?” and
he said “no” and I said “well it is this kind of like breakdance
thing you should check it out” and I said “I paid you should take my
spot” and he ended up becoming very good capoeirista practicing every day
for a few years and I went to his batizado I believe 2003/2004 and I saw him
and his friends doing Capoeira at a party in about I think was 2005 then I said
ok that’s really cool but I wanna learn breakdancing.
so I moved to Seattle after san Diego and I was living up
there 2005/2006 and 2006 ok I can’t find a breakdancing class but there is a capoeira
class, I’m gonna try then breakdancing from Capoeira so I went to group axe
capitol hill in Seattle and an amazing class it was Coquinho who was the
instructor at the time and it was a great group very very friendly and after
the first class I said ok I don’t care about breakdancing Capoeira is it, Capoeira
is my thing and I knew from day one that it was for me for the rest of my life.
[00:05:30] – Caxixi:
What is the story behind your nick name, Valente?
Valente: I
receive my name I believe after a year, year and a half in Capoeira, end one
thing that anyone who remember, when I first started in Capoeira in los Angeles,
I didn’t really have a good understanding in my level compare to people much
more experienced so I’d play in the roda as if I’ve much more experience than I
did I’m sure didn’t look that great but I didn’t care I just went forward, I
played every one very hard and thankfully I did not die in that processes but
just had no sense of fear at all I just didn’t have any worries about it I just
went forward I just loved it so much that I didn’t care, and no matter how it
looked so I be alive that’s why I got the name “Valente”
[00:08:08] – Caxixi:
What do you think about the business and Capoeira? Your own perspective on how
or what do you think about those combination?
so I’m in a interesting situation because Mestre Mindinho
and I actually created a non-profit for our academy, I receive no income at all
for teaching and we put a lot of heart and soul into this so for me it’s all
about the love of Capoeira even thigh it takes up about as much time as my day
job and I work in a hospital, even though it take about as much time as my day
job, you think about my training the administration the website, read the
communication with families, the marketing, everything, teaching itself,
cleaning the academy, I think the academy, Mestre Mindinho cleans the academy.
I would say I spend as much time in Capoeira as I do in my day job, and
personally I’m not receiving any money back that’s a choice from me. I
absolutely love Capoeira and I just wanted move it forward with that being said
of course still a business for example we have a standalone studio, there is
nothing other than Capoeira in our studio and is a nice space, so in order to
maintain that of course we have to treat that as a business, so of course is
constant marketing to get more students, sell uniforms, having events, we have
lot of workshops, keeping cost low, and I do actually have to deal with the
business side every single day.
[00:15:03] – Caxixi:
what do you think the benefits that Capoeira can bring to society, from your
own perspective?
Valente: I’ve
been teaching probably, I wanna say I’ve been teaching for like 3 years, 3 and
a half years, in my own studio each time, both time have been in my own
location and because of that all my students come to me without any Capoeira experience,
totally fresh and I’m going to tell you it is so dramatic the change that I see
in confidence, all my students for me that’s everything
Whatup whatup Capoeiristas!! I am your host Inst. Caxixi… So for this episode, I have the very big honored to bring to our show one of the many Capoeiristas that I personally admire a lot, this is MESTRE MINDINHO from Grupo Capoeira Brasil, Cali Desert, Puebla Mexico, and other schools!!!
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[00:01:16] Caxixi: How you started in Capoeira, from the first time you saw it?
[00:01:32] M. Mindinho:
Well is Basic, I started as a kid, I started since 11 years old in Brazil,
I am from Rio de Janeiro, and like everybody else a funny story, is just like I
heard about capoeira some times on TV but I never really have any experience with
capoeira, but I was in school, and have this girl that I had a crush on it, and
she come to me and said “oh I’m going to my first capoeira class today” I said “wow
that’s awesome, let’s go together” and I went with her, we took the first class
together, it was really fun, she never came back and I’m still here today!
[00:04:05] Caxixi:
Everyone in Capoeira, obviously, each of us have a nick name, capoeira apelido,
how did you get the Mindinho? How People find you as Mindiho?
[00:04:18] M. Mindinho:
That was very natural, like when I started Capoeira at 11, I was very very
short, small and my teacher used to teach class just for adults, for long time
I was the only kid in class, everybody was huge in class I was the little one, “Mindinho”,
mini, like a Pinky, and that’s why, like a little finger, then I was the little
one in class.
[00:14:00] Caxixi:
What do you think about the good benefits that capoeira, I know is many, but
the benefits that capoeira brings to society, like how do you think that can
help our communities?
[00:00:00] M. Mindinho:
well has so many ways in Capoeira, is amazing, has so many stories,
capoeira has work with refugees, that’s advantage in our communities around the
world, but I wanna go a little more specific, to United States, because I’ve
been here for 16 years now and those years has been absorbed how capoeira works.
One of the main things is I think Capoeira has really help many communities in
the United States, is about create an open community, like a family sense.
Whatup capoeiristas!!! I’m your host Inst. Caxixi and today we have the pleasure of having Contra Mestre Bambu from Axe Capoeira Chicago! very happy to get the pleasure of having him today, CONGRATULATIONS ON THIS NEW ACCOMPLISHMENT by the way!!
[00:01:00] – Caxixi: You can start from how you saw capoeira for the first time, or your capoeira story pretty much.
CM Bambu: I
started capoeira in 1998, I started a lot like most of the more American of
people foreign from Brazil, on movies, “only the strong” I saw a preview for
that, in the movie theaters, then later I saw it in video games, then other
couple cultural outlets, got me interested, I always wanted to do martial arts
as a kid, my parents never put me into it because it was a lot of money, we
didn’t have a lot of money back at that time, they didn’t think I was stick
with it because as a kid I wanted to do something and the next week I wanted to
do something else. Then they did when I finally move away from home for school
originally, there happen to be a capoeira class at the university, which is
Indiana University, yeah they had a little group there so I have the
opportunity to start my brother started before me, he really liked it so I kind
of joined in, it was a small school just students, no real teacher, no real
master, just a group of people who like capoeira, that got together, who has
some teaching and training from other people in the past.
[00:03:04] – CM
Bambu: then we met a guy, he said there was an event in Chicago, with a local
group here and then we came up to participate in the event, in the workshop,
and then from there I met my Mestre, Mestre Barrao, I met him here, he was just
a guest, end we talked to him about wanting to find a master to pursue our
training with an actual Master in Capoeira.
[00:10:30] – CM
Bambu: For Capoeira I felt that kind of passion, I feel that I feet with
the right group, with the right Mestre, that push mu forward. this day I feel
in debt it to him because he believe in me and he out his seal on me, without
know anything about me, in the time when people outside of Brazil, where not
necessarily seen good for capoeira, I even on of this events when I was in
Chicago with one respected Mestre that I
would look up too a lot, and we had on of this Q&A session, where we seat
down and talk with them, and one of the other Mestre told me that I gotta be
careful because everybody was looking at me like with jealousy, when you play
capoeira you have to be careful, they always say be careful because people are
looking at you, and I felt a little bit like “why are they looking at me” and
he said well maybe because you are no Brazilian.
[00:22:12] – CM
Bambu: My master, he is a friend, he is a father, he is a teacher, he is to
me, I don’t know what it would be without him, and when I see people that
sometimes they leave the group to go somewhere else to have another Master, I
don’t know how I can ever consider myself or someone else my Master, because
the bond that I have with this person, he is the one that thought me how to the
culture, about the dances, about capoeira, how to play, how to fight, how to
ginga, how to do this, how to do that, and he is the one still guiding my way
of life.
[00:38:14] – Caxixi: when you have to be at the school you gotta take care of financials part too, for example you still gotta pay rent for studio and all that stuff, what do you think about the part of the business of capoeira, what do you think about that?
CM Bambu: I was
discussing with my wife recently because we were talking about samba
schools and I think it a difference in
between building a business around spreading Brazilian Culture and using a
Brazilian Culture to create a business, I think it is a difference in that kind
of wording so I think if you are try basically take advantage of a nitch like
everybody wants to do capoeira now, oh in the movies so we are gonna do a capoeira stunts class or these kind of stuff
is kind of that’s using capoeira and taking part just to use for
something else that stuff is what I don’t agree with, but if the goal is to
spread capoeira, to make sure capoeira has a future and make sure the history
and the culture does die with the times then of course I can feel like, why
not? I consider myself a professional, I’m a professional athlete in capoeira,
I spent 20 years training, I training every day, I work out I do all this thing,
why is it different, why should I not be paid for my services, for my work? I
feel like I have a lot to offer, and I feel like any one who is dedicated that
life and that time to capoeira and putting and giving back to the culture not
just I’m doing this for myself, I do this, and I give back to the culture.
Social Media:
Website: http://www.axechicago.com/
Instagram: @axecapoeirachicago
@Professor_Bambu
Facebook: Axe
Capoeira Chicago https://www.facebook.com/axecapoeirachicago/
Contra Mestre Bambu https://www.facebook.com/axebambu/
The interview today is to Prof. Congo, from Capoeira Brasil Curacao, very smart and organized person, he will talk to us about how he keeps the organization of his classes, events and more. He also talks about how he runs ads to attack new students to his academy (remember this is a small tropical island)
[00:02:11] –Caxixi: lets’ start from the beginning,
just tell us a little bit of your capoeira story from the beginning, however
you want to start.
Congo: Ok, starts
cheese like every one of my generation that’s not Brazilian because the movie
“Only The Strong”, then I used to do karate, taekwondo, and used to
be a great dancer, and I was like “ooohh this is like fighting and dancing
at the same time” and back then it wasn’t no google, no yahoo, no YouTube
and I just came to curacao back then, we are talking about 22 years ago.
[00:03:50] – Congo
my mom and my father were like if you want to do capoeira get somebody that is
not from Brazil, so I was looking around and I meet some people from Holland,
and knowing that I have family in Holland, it’s easier to go there, I got on
the plain on the 12/09/2000.
[00:04:17] – Caxixi:
Did you go to Brazil, then back to the island, or just went to Holland?
Congo: no, I went
straight to Holland, because I wasn’t allowing to go to Brazil, I’m happy I
wasn’t because I was naive, I didn’t speak Portuguese.
So yeah I went to Holland, I did my first class and I
trained every day for a month, came back then look for some people that wanted
to train because was no teacher here, I talked to some friends if they wanted
to train with me, and trained for about 2 years, then in 2002 I moved back to
Holland, arrived on Holland the 04/01/2002 and went to my first class on the
04/02/2002 and never stopped.
[00:07:43] – Caxixi:
how did you get the Congo nick name?
Congo: well,
funny fact, when I started capoeira, I don’t know how is it in pounds, but I
was 130 kilos (286 lbs.) and my first batizado, I was gonna play for my cord,
and back then instructora Zapeca now Mestra Zapeca, and she did this sign, ok
she looked at me like “ok can you do an au?” and I got pissed and
ended entering with an au sem mao.
The when I got out of the roda, by then Professor Dengoso
now Mestre Dengoso, walked up to me and said, “hey Congo” and I was like “why this guy is calling me
gorilla, that’s an ugly mother @#$%!! I didn’t speak Portuguese back then, he
looked for a translator, and he took this guy and the guy was like “you
know the silver back gorillas of Congo?”
and I was like “yeah” then he goes “yeah those animals are very
big and very heavy, but they are very light and very fast and strong, and when
they get angry they will smash through anything to get to their target, that’s
why he was calling you Congo,
because you can play light and fast, and the more people was cheering the
faster you got” and I was like “oh ok!”
[00:18:28] – Congo:
But through the years I found out while teaching you can train at the same
time, because while teaching basic element you feel like ok, this doesn’t feel
comfortable and you can adjust your body, making your basic better, and helping
your student to grow.
[00:18:47] – Caxixi:
specially what I found pretty cool from teaching, is that you have to
understand what you are teaching in
order to teach it, so you read more and pay more attention to what you are
doing with yourself, what you are doing with your own body, your hands, your
posture, everything so you can correct other people to the better.
[00:25:28] – Caxixi:
so you said a really good thing about students, so you see some students that
they grow pretty fast, but there’s also some that they don’t grow as fast,
while you wait for the slowest to grow at least pretty close to the other students
that are going fast, how do you keep that motivation on fast learner I guess
student because is a good point.
Congo: yeah, I
understand your point, I asked like 2 students at the first batizado that grow
faster, the way I motivate them, I tell them “ok you are fast now try to
lower yourself to the once that are not your level”. Not for them to play
bad but try to motivate them to play better, and then I see them struggling,
the I say “yeah look that’s not the comfort zone that you are having”
[00:42:02] – Caxixi:
Now going into the next question, the organization of the capoeira group, so
like how do you do your business, how do you do that economical part of the
group?
Congo: ok that’s
a very very very hard part to answer because like I said, I don’t live of
capoeira, I have an association that students do pay fees, the ones that can,
the ones that can’t has to call me and they have to proof that they cannot pay,
because some people can’t pay, some people can no everybody have the means of
it.
[00:47:30] – Caxixi: What
kind of advices do you give, at least to the beginners, or people that are just
starting?
Congo: advice is
don’t try to run, walk. Don’t look at the graduates a be like “oh I want
to be able to do this, oh I can’t do that”.
[00:48:00] – Congo:I tell my student it’s nice to be able
to do the advanced moves, but perfect your basics, because if you look at an
advanced move the start of that move is a basic.
[00:48:17] – Congo: And for the people outside, is common in our group that we travel a lot, don’t matter which level you are, if you can travel, travel. It’s good to be able to look around, make new friends, because your teacher is your teacher, and remember your capoeira group is your family, not even your capoeira group, capoeira is a family.
Contact Congo or Follow his Social Media:
Links Mentioned:
Facebook: Congo Capoeira – Click here Facebook Capoeira Brasil Curacao: – Click here Email: visaodojogo@gmail.com Website: www.capoeiracuracao.com – Click here Congo Instagram: @congocapoeira – Click here GCB Curacao Instagram: @gcbcuracao – Click here
I’m your host Inst. Caxixi and today I am very excited because I have the pleasure to have an amazing capoeirista!! I am sure he is a big motivation for you as well because he loves moving, you can tell his love for capoeira just the way he pushes himself, teaching us even through his videos how we can enjoy ourselves with body movement!!…
[00:02:44] I know that you are in Brazil
Right now, are you teaching?
Yeah I am in Brazil right now, and normally when I come to Brazil is more for the holidays, and this time I decided to stay a little be longer, I will be here for 2 and a half months, and now I am teaching a lot yeah!… I’m hosting an event this time as well, for my own school, international people come from around the world, maybe 10 countries are coming here is gonna be a nice event as well
[00:03:20] I’m sure
there is a lot of people that already follow you, and I’m sure you are a big
example for people that are starting in Capoeira and people that already have
been doing capoeira for long time, so how people can find you on social media
or any way to contact you?
In social Media is Enjoy Yourself Movement, just on google Mestre Xuxo, or on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube you are gonna find me there. X-U-X-O
[00:03:47] Were
where you first steps and I would love to know, how you started in Capoeira,
how were you first steps into capoeira, what was the beginning of your journey?
Oh that’s a question really heavy for my parents right now for my parents, that’s why I’m in Brazil because I’m writing my first book, for the documentary and I have no memories how was my first capoeira steps, I have no memories. But that’s why I’m here in Brazil to interview my mom today they were telling me that my father was trying to have me on ginga position, and to do ginga you know since I was a baby! But it worked.
I started Capoeira since I was 3 years old, I really don’t
remember like everything that have been happen in my career as a capoeirista
back then, is difficult because I’m from Brazil, you wanna have fun, you wanna
play, you wanna be on the streets playing. Playing soccer, but of course if
your father is your master, you got no chance.
[00:06:13] Do you
have any memories of how you got the Xuxo nickname?
Yes, Xuxo means nice, that name is very ironic, because I was the one that use to call people Xuxo, because I always forgot the name of the people.
Everybody even my students I used to call them Xuxo
“hey Xuxo” then with time they started calling me Xuxo. Then with
time on one of my events they called me Professor Xuxo or Instructor Xuxo, something
like this, long time ago.
[00:08:03] Which
group did you start?
The group is called “my father’s home” haha there was no group, nobody was there, my father was part of “Cordao de Ouro” and then “bocao negro” because before in Corado de Ouro when you became like a teacher you have the right to open your own group, so my father had a group called “bocao negro”. So Yes if I have to say a name COrdao de Ouro definitely I started in corado de ouro, even though for me the name was no important and I didn’t know about the name.
[00:09:20] What keeps the motivation? of course the love
for Capoeira, but how do you keep the motivation to keep pushing yourself every
day? because I see yourself on social media every day, and I am a big follower
of yours and I see that you are always training, you never stop training which
is amazing and how do you keep that fire going?
I think that somehow, I try to become my own motivation, I always say you can have a 1000 of inspiration, but motivation is you! If you don’t have the motivation, if you don’t create that motivation, you cannot move forward, and for me what motivates me a lot is that somehow my mission as a human being to the world is no longer about me is about others
[00:17:31] All
that comes with training, all the abilities that you have right now comes with
training, is it there any specific way that you train or any specific exercises
you do, or how many time per week do you train even your flexibility, to be
flexible with your back because you are pretty flexible.
Ok I try to see what I need to live every single day, I need
to eat, I need to drink, and I need to sleep, they are very fundamental for me
to live. That’s the question what I need to keep and become great capoeirista,
a great mover, we need to trading.
