Haven't written in a while, this past week has been a marathon of classes, homework and fun gatherings of all different sorts. This past Saturday I went with 5 of my friends into Philly. We went shopping on Chestnut St in the pouring rain; no part of us was dry by the end, even though the shopping was inside!
After a gourmet dinner of crappy Philly pizza we took a cab to the ASCAB Capoeira Academy. I got to see lots of Philly capoeira people from this summer, and my dear Gégé (photo of her from this summer at top left) sat on my lap for most of the performance. She was so into it that she started kicking her leg in rhythm with the drumming, and accidentally kicked the lady's chair in front of her. Very softly, and she's only almost three, but the lady gave her (and me), such a withering look. I kept the kiddo's legs in, and apologized to the woman afterwards.
She said nastily, "It breaks my concentration". She was wearing a pink lei, and sat in the front row with other women wearing pink leis, which gave me some impression that they were VIP members of the show and thought very highly of themselves. "Concentration"??! A show like that (of Afro Brazilian dance and culture) should be appreciated with feeling, with yelping and whooping and clapping and swaying! Concentration indeed! The two year old knew how to appreciate it more than she did. I understand how the kicking was annoying, and I stopped it, but still. She was trying to be "cultured", but staying outside of the energy instead of letting it soak into her. She wouldn't have needed concentration if she knew how to do that--she would be a part of the performance as much as the performance. Gégé knows how to do this...when her mother performed, she looked up at me every few seconds with such a grin that would light up anyone's day. Capoeira, African dance, drumming, even hip-hop...it's about becoming one with the performers, the music and most of all the driving and deep rhythm that is the core of the dance.
After the performance we went to a party at Mestre Corisco's apartment. He speaks no English, and just moved to the US in the past couple months. He walks the few miles to and from the Academy every day, and his apartment is furnished with just the bare minimum--folding chairs and table, beds, a poster of the 2008 ASCAB Batizado, and an old, yellow faded picture of him shaking hands with his mestre, José Andrade. He showed all of this to us with pride, and put out a feast of chips, Jarritos, Corona and caiprinhas made with honey on plastic plates and cups (except for the caiprinha, which had the privilege of being put in the one glass). We had to leave to catch the train pretty early, and Cebola drove us to the train station.
All in all it was a lovely evening, and felt so good to be back in my capoeira family again (even if it is my extended family for now!)
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