Last year, Flora asked, “What does Batizado mean to you?”
It’s been one year since I pondered over this question. It recently resurfaced in my mind while thinking of how I would write this article. And so I have been turning it over and over (and over, and sideways, and then over some more) in my mind. That’s partly because I didn’t attend batizado last year, but I digress.
This year’s batizado was exceptionally memorable for me, for many reasons.
Not only did I get my verde belt (to shouts of “Finally!” from some of my fellow capoeiristas - thanks guys, you know who you are), I also got to see my juniors get their verde and coral belts. It’s somewhat exaggerated to say so, but I felt a tinge of (almost parental) pride, especially at seeing our year 2s get their verdes. Seeing for ourselves how we’ve “brought up” an entire batch thus far, who are very much capable of (and who already are) taking over from us, is a sort of affirmation to me that the work Curio, Boteco and I put in has come to something.
At the same time, it reminds me of the times back when I could count the number of seniors I had on one hand. I can’t imagine what would happen to me, and all of us, if Claudinho had gone ahead and shut down Bantus in SP.
Having everyone in Bantus involved in Ritmo do Brasil was definitely a new experience. With the main class involved in samba batucada, and RP performing samba de roda, we too had to deliver on our end with our maculele. With a basic outline that Claudinho left for us just before he left, we had just under 2 months to flesh it out into a full 10-minute performance. It wasn’t so much that Claudinho wasn’t clear in his instruction, but that we had to refine our movements and make ourselves more expressive.
All of us had some experience with maculele, so we’d already left bruised knuckles from accidentally hitting one another behind (for the most part at least). So there lay just one challenge ahead of us: to be more tribal and fierce in our movements.
And what a challenge it was! If you saw Mira and Liyana on the night of the performance, you’d never guess that when we first started, one of them made her entrance prancing, a la the Little Red Riding Hood picking a bouquet of flowers for her grandma. Claudinho even had to offer help from the sidelines, saying, “Like orang utan! Orang utan!”
On a side note, I have, only just this moment, realised that there will be many pictures of my topless self all over Facebook. The good thing is, most of them will be on strangers’ profiles.
As always, it was great to see all the instructors. But I was especially glad to see Rafael, who showed us he was not in the least bit affected by his motorbike mishap, which took place just weeks before Batizado. And seeing Grao conduct his workshop while nursing an injured knee definitely motivated me to try harder to do the movements. Looking around, I think everyone noticed and tried harder to do their raiz-es so as not to disappoint Grao.
I won’t go on too much about Batizado day itself, I’m sure we all have our own experiences and memories of the day. And if you can’t remember anything, there’s quite enough video footage of the day on Youtube that you can watch to jog your memory. 
After all the preparation and rehearsals to make sure everything came together, the night of Ritmo do Brasil finally came around. This was it, the culmination of all our hours of hard work, what all our blood, sweat and tears would show for.
And give a good show we did! Haji Lane turned out in full force to watch us bring life to the night. Kickstarting the night was the fire dancers, who set the tone for the rest of the night by turning the temperature way up. (sorry for the bad pun, but I couldn’t resist) Maculele was up next, and I think the crowd enjoyed our performance, if the table of ladies celebrating a hen night coming up and asking to take pictures with us was any indication. After we had gone back up to clean all the paint off ourselves, we tried to watch the capoeira and samba batucada performances from the upstairs windows, but try as we might, it was hard to catch a glimpse. They drew such a huge crowd, we hardly caught more than an occasional floreio or the shimmer of a costume. So we had to content ourselves with just hearing the sounds from the street below, till the party moved indoors.
If I may backtrack a little: Parabens to all my camaradas who have gone on to green/yellow! As Claudinho said, they have done much to contribute to Bantus in their own ways, and they are in every way deserving of the recognition and belt. I can’t mention any one person in particular, because I want to congratulate every one of you guys. But I will say, I almost teared up too at seeing how Gigante reacted to hearing his name, with his entire family present.
And so this batizado has left me with many things by which to remember it: a new belt, new responsibilities, and photos of the paint on my face and body. But that’s not the point is it?
I said this last year, and I think it’s still apt. So what does Batizado mean to me? It means that we are not just a group of people scattered across the globe, but a family, separated not by distance, but connected by the blood that (as Claudinho likes to say) doesn’t just flow, but ginga-s in our veins.
So here’s to everyone who made Batizado, Ritmo do Brasil 2011 AND the barbeque great - não, awesome - Muito Obrigado e Muito Axe, galera! And I know everyone, myself included, will be going through Batizado withdrawal syndrome after the crazy packed week of fun.
P.S. Which is why I would be soothing the axé-hangover with more axé - by going up to KL the following week for Bantus Malaysia’s batizado. 
Editor’s note:
I took the liberty of pinching more pix from the utterly brilliant photographer Fang Yuan to illustrate this essay.
Nearly everyone succumbed to a viral bug after the weekend celebrations. Which is why the write-ups were delayed… and then I caught it (and just recovered)…
