On 2 February 2011, Grupo Bantus Capoeira turned 20. Parabéns para o Mestre Pintor for keeping Bantus Capoeira going strong for two decades! Muito axé to everyone in the Bantus worldwide family!

To commemorate 20 years of GBC, Mestre Pintor has invited all active students of the group to participate in a t-shirt designing competition. The winning design will be used for the Bantus Brazil Festival in August along with 100 pairs of special edition abadas which will be on sale. The winner will receive a t-shirt with his/her design as well as a pair of the special edition abada and a commemorative berimbau!

Our 4th batizado cum troca de corda is just 2 weeks away! Here are the details:

Workshops: Wed 11- Fri 13 Nov 09

Time: 8 - 10pm

Venue: The Republic Cultural Centre (Studio 1 & 2) @ Republic Polytechnic (MRT station: Woodlands)

Admission: Only For Bantus students who have paid their batizado fees. Sorry, no observers.

Kids’ Workshop: Sat 14 Nov 09 

Time: 10-11am (in lieu of a class so we won’t be accepting new students that day)

Venue: Dance On Us studio (8 Claymore Hill)

Admission: Only for Bantus junior students who have paid their batizado fees.

Batizado Sat 14 Nov 09

Venue: Istana Park (across from the Istana & Plaza Singapura) It’s now at Agora South entrance of The Republic Polytechnic - please read latest post

Time: 2pm - 5pm

Family, friends and the curious are more than welcome to stay on and watch.

The Bantus hillbillies. Unfortunately, not everyone was in the picture. The rest were busy fishing and eating and being responsible for the fun happening around us.

We had as much fun as a bunch of mad hatters!

The quadrilha led by Claudinho who in his padre get-up kinda reminded me of… er, Kung Lao from Mortal Kombat (the movie version)?

KISS ME lah! (scene from our casamento da roça)

The “Wedding guests” included a pair of bosom pals…

the bride’s long-time rival (who occasionally gets mistaken for Tina Turner or Nong Toom, the Muay Thai fighter)

er, snooty folks from out of town who like to wrinkle their noses at us hillbillies…

True blue Brasileiros. By the way, Priscila is responsible for giving us soooooo much help in making the event a success! Three cheers to Priscila! And a big thank you!

er, in the end, the groom was seen fleeing the paparazzi with his one true love…

leaving the menfolk a little confused and…

giving the town gossips plenty to talk about for a loooooong time

Meanwhile, back in the boonies, activities were still at a full swing…

Egg n spoon race

The fishing game was especially popular. Not just with the children…there were several grown-ups who couldn’t resist a challenge!

The usual domestic squabble over some old boot…

The town drunks getting inebriated…

The banditos getting ready for the next chocolate raid…

Lots of typical Brazilian fair snacks to try!

We ate for a good cause as all the proceeds went to a charity.

We want to thank the following folks for their generosity of time, effort and ingenuity to make our first Fest Julina such a great success: Giraia, Careca n Claudinho for staying up late the nite before to clamber up n down like monkeys just to get those buntings right, Andre for being the DJ for the quadrilha n Priscila n her hubby for helping us get the feel right and for cooking the food. Also to all the wonderful cooks - Sonia, Jean, Barracuda, Playmobil, Festa Brasilia and the Brasileiras who contributed their culinary skills to the table. And the folks who manned the games n food stalls and everyone who were sporting enough to show up in their best rags. BIG Obrigada!!!!!!!

We had plenty of grub on the table (BIG Thank U’s to all the closet cooks!) and we were glad that everyone was hungry so that was good.

Due to a lack of electrical socket outlets, we couldn’t have a boom box playing reggae all nite. Instead, we had Mike Jackson songs courtesy of some kind soul’s MP3 player. In the meantime, while waiting for the meats to go from raw to well done, a bunch of us jumped into the pool, had too much fun on the slides at the kids’ pool and chilled out in the jacuzzi. Later, there was plenty of entertainment provided by Claudinho and his unsuspecting victims…it was our version of Saturday Night LIVE.

As usual, we left the cake design to our ever creative baker, Playmobil (a.k.a Debbie), (http://roomfordessert.com.sg) who once again amazed us with another brilliant idea.Then there were the usual speeches starting with our 4-year-oldie, Giraia (who had no problem giving impromptu speeches with his debating background) and our youngest capoeirista (future überbabe) present, Rapoxinha, got to blow out the candles after MUCH persuasion.

We had our cake and we ate with great relish, remembering that it’s been FOUR years since Claudinho hopped onto our shores and we’ve been humbled, awed and thankful to God that our boundaries have fallen on pleasant pastures.

So we’re chilling out by the pools (yes, there are more than 1 pool), muking around on the carpet grass slopes from 3pm. BBQ pit will fire up from 5pm (courtesy of Chef Claudinho and assistants). We will supply the meat (for the carnivores among us) and drinks but would appreciate some help with the carbos (eg. pasta, rice, noodle dishes or veggies) and desserts (if it’s gonna melt then you’ll have to bring it in a cooler box). Let us know in class or by email if you can make it or bring a dish. Bring your own liquid poison (if you’re into alcohol) and instruments (eg. guitar, shakers, etc) so we can jam, skank and reggae on!

Location Map: click here

Fun games for the whole family, namely, dads and kids (since all the moms will be dolled up in dresses, they probably shouldn’t try sack racing…) Game stalls where you can try your hand at fishing or tossing with prizes for the kids. There will also be a Capoeira roda (so bring your abada and t-shirt along!) As well as typical Brazilian savoury and sweet snacks featured only in a party like this.

Casamento da roça, a mock backwoods wedding that is part of the quadrilha, a highly improvised square dance. If you are game enough, come dressed as a bride or a priest! We guarantee there’ll be lots of hilarious action to witness! ‘Enuf said.