In a way, this is gonna be a sort of credits rollup of my classmates whom I had the pleasure to train with the whole of 2011 at the academy.

As some of the oldest students in the cohort, my classmates and I sweat and groan through training. Every now and then, we get compared to the kinaesthetically gifted in terms of speed or stamina or something in the ability department. Yet everyone still knuckles down to their pushups or splits and the dedicated few would spend every weekend training on their own just to nail their moves.

Honestly, there is a great difference between training to be a capoeirista as an older adult and as a seventeen-ager or eighteen-ager.

As working adults, dealing with whatever responsibilities that come with their profession, my classmates show up faithfully every week (some of them three times a week) just to slough off work stress and work out physically. Sure, there’s also the social aspect of meeting your fellow sweat-mates and catching up on injury count during training. And I know at least one or two of my classmates had actually got off a plane from a business trip just to come and train. If you don’t consider that commitment, I don’t know what does then.

Truth is, capoeira is intoxicating when you are discovering your anatomy in various new positions that you never thought you could ever possibly attempt. Whatever age you may be. It’s an incredible feeling. Capoeira is time-consuming because you have to spend time trying to figure out how to do that move you’ve just been taught, or learn to play an instrument and sing in a foreign language, even when you don’t have the luxury of time.

And for all that, I salute my fellow classmates for their never-say-die attitude, great sense of humour and joie-de-vivre. I enjoyed training alongside with all of you (and watching/cheering you from the sidelines when I’m fighting the coughing demon). It’s good to see more of you standing in the front row during training. Axe!

P/s Thanks Justine for the last photo (that suitably sums up the long and short of this post..)

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)…

Actually life as a Capoierista isn’t much different from that of a University student. We all know that school before University was about having fun and not doing homework, then cramming all you have failed to learn through the year in the final month or week before exams and miraculously still doing well. Well… in University you just can’t do that, it’s all about consistently keeping up with your readings, submitting weekly assignments and acing quizzes and at the end of the term submit your thesis /term paper and then hoping for the best.

In Capoeira, it’s very much the same. After getting your first belt at your first Batizado, it’s all up to you to train hard, attend classes regularly and show your teacher, in my case, Claudinho, that you have learnt well consistently through the entire year. Then nearing the next Batizado and Troca de corda, you submit your essay or thesis on Capoeira and hope for the very best that you get promoted. Furthermore, we also get visiting Professors; sometimes during the year but mostly at the during the pre- Batizado/ Troca de corda workshops from all over the world. It is awesome to learn from Capoeira instructors from all over the world. Many thanks to Professor Margo, Professor Bimba, Professor Rafael, Formado Grao and not forgetting the founder of Bantus Capoeira, Mestre Pintor. ‘Interesting how the ranks/ titles even reflects the academic ones i.e. Professor and Graduate. Perhaps I will research to see if they are cognates (a linguistic phenomenon) or aroused due to cultural and historical influences which I suspect and present them in my essay next year.

As Contra Mestre Claudinho once explained that although some may say that a belt is just something that holds your pants but to him it is much more as it symbolises one’s commitment, attitude and maturity in and towards Capoeira. I must say I’m really fortunate and happy that I’ve got my verde (green), which is my first promotion and I will strive to train harder and set a good example for my juniors.

Like University, we also have after parties. But I must say that the Noite Brasileira (Brazilian Night) we had at Piedra Negra was one of the best I ever attended. A fire dance performance warmed up the crowd packed into Haji Lane and from then on it was non-stop action and PARTY with a capital letter P! An exotic showcase of Maculele (traditional Brazilian dance and stick-fighting) was followed by an exhilarating display of Capoeira performed with immense skills and precision due to the craziest crowd and insane spatial constraints. the party was in full swing when the sizzling girls of the Samba Batucada drove the crowd wild. And everyone got to dance the night away during the Samba de roda and Forro sessions! All these events were made possible by non-other than my fellow students as well as our esteemed instructors of Bantus Capoeira!

All in all, it was an awesome Batizado and Troca de corda and our Brazilian Night Party was a roaring success! And this is where I see the difference in Capoeira and University. University life will eventually end for me but I don’t see my time in Capoeira ever coming to a stop. For I’m a full-time Capoeirista for life!

BANTUS CAPOEIRA AXE!

Editor’s note: Thank you’s to Justine Leong & Fang Yuan for allowing us to steal your photos for this post.

We apologise for the very late announcement of our 6th Batizado & Troca de Corda. Up to a few days ago, several of us were still scrabbling to find a venue.

The reason being that this time of the year sucks for us because it is the busiest - what with the varsity exams (so our undergrads won’t make it for this year’s troca de corda), our high school grads have flown the coop (so we’ll be missing them as well while they’re overseas enjoying their freshmen year), our Poly grads are either waiting to enter National Service or are already enlisted (so we’ll be missing some fine young men from our troca de corda this year), the Cambridge O and A levels are in full swing, all the polytechnics are gearing up to impress and woo the new batch of O level students fresh out of their paper chase from next week onwards with their various performing showcases. So it’s no wonder that all their available facilities are fully booked.

Still, little miracles DO happen and everyone - yes, I do mean, everyone in the entire cohort - was most relieved when we announced that we finally found a venue for our workshops. Just two days ago!

I need to say this ‘coz I’m so damn proud of our cohort - this is the tightest we have been as a group and we have many (many!) hands who have pulled this year’s festival together. If we were a ship, this is the best crew I’ve ever been part of! So a BIG thank you to everyone who has added your weight to get our festival going. And so let the fun begin…

Now for the details everyone is waiting for:

Batizado workshops: Wed 16 Nov - Fri 18 Nov 2011
Time: 8pm - 10pm
Venue: Multi-Purpose Hall @ Sports Complex (Republic Polytechnic)
Campus landmarks to look out for would be the swimming pool and rockclimbing wall.

Here’s a suggestion for all who are coming by train.
1. Try to arrive at the Woodlands MRT station by 7.15pm so that will give you plenty of time to take a leisurely walk through the park connector (about 10-15 min) and end up at the front of the campus by 7.30pm.

(Just to let you know there’s a POSB ATM to your right - if you need to draw money to buy stuff later during the workshop. Believe me, there will be stuff to buy if they are in your size or match your taste).

Walk ahead along the wide corridor til you see the 7-ELEVEN or Subway. We’ll get a couple of our RP cohort to meet you between 7.30pm - 7.45pm so they can take you to the workshop venue which is another 5-7 mins walk to the back of the campus. You want to have enough time to change (you’ll be quite warmed up if you had walked all the way from the train station) and do the usual meet-and-greet with your fellow cohort mates and our guests before the workshop begins.

If you have wheels, you might want to check the map below. Maybe Anne can give some directions under comments for this post later.

Please see map for directions. http://www.rp.edu.sg/campus_tour/

6th Batizado & Troca de corda
Sat 19 Nov 2011
Time: 3pm - 5.30pm
Venue: Istana Park (across from the Istana - nearest MRT station is Dhoby Ghaut)

Noite Brasileira
Sat 19 Nov 2011
Time: 9pm til late
Venue: Piedra Negra (Haji Lane @ Arab Street area)
Showcase of Maculele, Capoeira, Samba Batucada, Samba de roda & Forro throughout the evening. More information and a separate poster will be put up later.

Post-Batizado BBQ Sun 20 Nov 2011
Time: 2pm onwards
Venue: East Coast Park
Food will be catered (halal-certified) BYOB and let’s party again! Can our party animal committee post the details under comments here?

So that’s it, folks. Have fun. Enjoy. You’ve trained all year just for this.

This is the re-edited version (1st nite) because I mixed up the two rodas…my bad.

I’ve checked the vid below and it’s missing just one game which I will post as a separate video on Youtube.

Here’s the missing bit…

This is probably going to be the trickiest post to write. How can I even be objective when I’ve been married to this person for a decade?

So…(big pause) I told Tempeiro that he’s definitely going to graduate to the next level. Call it a gut feel. Whatever.

Well, for starters, he works hard at his craft (during the early years of our marriage, he was practising his berimbau more than his electric guitar, learning all the capoeira songs and ironically, he sounds better singing in Portuguese than in English).

Nowadays, while waiting for his wife to get ready, he practises the samba rhythms on the pandeiro (although I personally think it’s an unconscious ploy on his part to get me to hurry up! ).

When he is asked to take over the classes in Claudinho’s absence, he ponders over how to articulate his clues to help his classmates to work out the movements that seem most challenging to them. And he isn’t the most gifted when it comes to moves so he keeps working on them while encouraging others earnestly to not give up.

But this is strictly me speaking as a fellow capoeirista.

So…(big pause) did Tempeiro listen to his wife? Nah. Typical male. So I gleefully watch him get into the roda to play with several instructors. And I hold my breath and hope he paces himself.

So congrats, darling. You do deserve it (even when you thought otherwise). No apologies to anyone who thinks I am biased!

43 newbies got batizado-ed into the fellowship of the roda this year and showed us some great form during the roda. If you all keep training the way you do, we can’t wait to see you guys at the next batizado!

Personally, I’m proudest of my homies who got their corda verde and verde-amarelo. I mean, seriously, they’ve been around since (to quote Kerosene) Graduado Claudinho and they very much form the heartbeat of our grupo - they add great axé to the group, their playful enthusiasm is infectious and their sense of comic timing is uncanny. Honestly, I love them to bits.

And then there are those who have outdone themselves (without realising it):

Golias, who (to quote Claudinho) transforms a roda into a GREAT roda by his presence with his clapping, singing and just being himself, showing up at the batizado to support all of us even when he couldn’t participate due to a longstanding injury.

Ila, who has been recovering from her knee surgery. Despite that, she has been turning up to observe nearly every training session since the beginning and had learnt to play the pandeiro in the meantime. Not to mention that she is also a great addition to our samba batucada band. She’s missed the batizado twice since she’s been with us and we hope she’ll be in form for our next batizado.

Guru, who is serving his National Service, came down for the batizado with his axé but had to opt out of his abada at the last minute so that Linda could borrow his (which meant he couldn’t play in the roda). And Linda had taken her abadas off to lend it to someone else who couldn’t find hers at home.

Da Lua, who has been MIA for a while due to his IB exams, showed up just to support everyone else. And Andorinha (Jo) and Loic (who has just joined us barely a week ago) offered to accommodate our overseas batizado guests. THANK Q.

And it was so good to see Mestre again and to have Rafael and Grao with us, David (his 1st Batizado in Singapore), Perereca (in great form and looking more buff), Margo who is the unofficial fun-meister at every event we invite him to and Zangada for adding female capoeirista power. For me, this year’s Batizado was AWESOME because I am with the people I love and these people whom I love are part of my capoeira family. EU SOU BANTUS!

“It reminds us all that regardless of where we are, who we are, we are not just a bunch of people, we are a family.” Mutante (on what he liked most about the batizado)

The truth is, when Mestre was speaking, I wasn’t sure (and I bet the rest of us as well) what was going on because I didn’t understand what he was trying (his best) to say in English. So due to the linguistic difficulties, we all managed to figure out something IMPORTANT was happening before our very eyes when Mestre finally mentioned the word contra-mestre. Then it hit me and I couldn’t contain myself. I ran out and hugged my new Contra-Mestre.

Nicholas, when asked what he liked about the batizado, said, “Our faces and reactions when we heard the word contra-mestre addressed to Claudinho. It was like “ooooh awe”, then “WOO HIGH, CLAP and SCREAMS” all in a few seconds.”

OBRIGADA Mestre! Contra-mestre Claudinho, parabens de novo from all of us, your students. We are sooooo happy for you and very proud to be your students!

pix from Aisha

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So let’s head on down en masse after the Batizado is over and while everyone is still on an adrenaline high to celebrate with food, drink and more poolside antics (don’t forget your swim stuff). Big Obrigadas to Barracuda, Zangada, Careca and Lampiao for volunteering to take care of the grub, charcoal, ice and everything else to keep everyone happy at a party.

Parents, do come and chill out with us! There’s a kids’ park there with fun things for the children to climb and swing around so you can leave them to their merry ways.

Venue: City Square Residences (poolside)
Time: 6pm-10pm (only the BBQ fire gets doused at 10pm but everyone is welcomed to stay) BYOB (bring your own beer, wine, soft drinks, etc)

Here’s the location map. City Square residences is just next to City Mall. And a short walk from Farrer Park MRT station. There’s a FREE shuttle bus service from Novena Square to City Mall. The shuttle bus leaves at 6.15pm, 6.45pm and 7.15pm. Click here for the shuttle bus schedule.

By Car: Go by Petain Road (less traffic)

By Train: Farrer Park MRT Station Exit I (North-East MRT line) (and only 3 stops away from the party zone of Clarke Quay, if you wanna go clubbing later)

By Public Bus:
Kitchener Road (Before Tai Hoe Hotel) Bus No.21, 125, 130
Serangoon Road (Outside Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple) Bus No. 21, 23, 64, 65, 66, 125, 130, 139, 147