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BATIZADO 2011

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago in Batizado and Latest News. 8 Comments Tags: , , .

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! :-D

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. ;-)

Ten things I learnt when we turned 6

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago in General and Latest News. 1 Comment

On Saturday 16 July 2011, we celebrated Bantus’ 6th year in Singapore by throwing a party. This year, my plan was to showcase the talent (hidden or otherwise) of some of our capoeiristas. And here are some hits and misses (on organising parties) as well as hidden surprises from this year’s bash:

Number 1: never order more than ten pizzas. Even when there are 50 people at your party. In the end, we had to sweet-talk some folks to bring a pizza home. Er, a handful had declined as they didn’t want to be mistaken for pizza delivery boys or gals on the train back.

Number 2: never believe anyone who tell you they eat veggies. They probably eat like three lettuce leaves and just a cherry tomato or two. That’s about it. So one salad will suffice even if there are vegetarians lurking amongst your guests. Just direct them to the bar where they can get their fill of liquid grain (or fruit juice).

Number 3: always involve the Foreign Legion. In our case, the French dudes in our capoeira group, Bambu, Besouro and Galego, shared their love for all things alcoholic with us as they zealously served up caipirinhas in their makeshift bar and drank as much as their guests. Great job, Legionnaires! For the record, Sol, our bartender for the evening, tried to apologise for getting everyone drunk with his volka shots and volka watermelon. Also for the record, we thought he outdid himself in leading by example. ;-)

Number 4: making your guests wait in suspense while your set-up crew cleans and puts up decor in record time is part of the stress before the fun. Why we were all late was probably due to traffic and other unforeseen circumstances. But let me thank Boneco do Posto for actually showing up punctually and also everyone else who swept, mopped and flipped the mats as part of their mini-circuit training to spruce up the academy. BIG THANK U’s to Mutante, Curio, Careca, Lampiao, Boteco, Boneco do Posto (again), Joevenn, Evelyn, Rufus, Sombra and if I left out your name here by mistake, it’s due to my poor memory. Please accept my apologies and feel free to acknowledge yourself under comments!

Number 5: it’s a good idea to tag people with colored ribbon and stamp their wrists (like the clubs do). Makes them wonder why they are being tagged for one thing (it’s for party games later) and I like how folks ooh and aah when they realise they’re being stamped with a Decepticon (Shockwave) chop.

Number 6: dudes dig poles. And pole dancing. Yup, they can even show you how it’s done.

My favorite poledancers for the evening were Boteco (‘coz he actually did a pole move!), Goma (who enjoyed molesting his ticklish human pole) and Cicak-man (who eyed the pole the way dogs would when they attempt to shag a human leg). Galego, one thousand brownie points goes to you for your brilliant idea of a penalty imposed on the losing team! And a million brownie points to our human poles and sporting pole humpers!

Number 7: our gals can sing. Of course they can. ;-) So apart from singing during the capoeira roda, Amee and Mastura did a kickass job of wowing everyone with their renditions of Someone Like You (Adele) and Man Down (Rihanna). Seriously, at the way Mas was going, her chair was gonna be rocked to pieces and I thought she might as well get up and dance. ;-)

Number 8: our boyz can dance. It’s official. Only two rehearsals and they got the choreography down to a pat. Claudinho has christened our male revue the Bantus Chippendales. Hahaha. He will probably lead the troupe in future gigs.;-)

Another surprise treat for everyone was having Bambu, Careca and Claudinho swishing their hips, shaking their booties and sashaying around with feather boas. (Sorry, I got no pix of this marvellous act. Did anyone take any pix? Hehe)

Number 9: So you think you can dance? Well, like all couple dances, forró only works if the guys lead and the gals follow. Too bad for the guys who can’t lead and the gals who can’t follow…

So you think you can’t dance? You should have stayed on to watch Besouro’s steamy lambada with Cindy. And pick up a tip or two. The remaining handful of staunch drinkers were still holding out pretty well on the dance floor. Thanks to Galego’s clubbing playlist and Sol’s volka watermelon.

Number 10: Inebriated folks should not try to do math puzzles (like fitting the rubber mats back on the floor) or attempt housekeeping feats. Claudinho will head the set-up crew before the next class when everyone’s sober again to fit the mats back. Enjoy your workout before the class.;-)

Postscript: And you know you are the last man standing if you’re completely smashed and can still have a little game of angola while waiting for a cab.

Thanks everyone, for the memories of another good party! You were all great fun to be with. Hope you all had fun too!

Bantus Capoeira @ Singapore Flyer

Published on 6 months, 1 week ago in Latest News and Performances. 0 Comments

As part of the Icons of the World @ Singapore Flyer, this weekend’s theme America will feature a Capoeira and Maculele performance from Bantus Capoeira Singapore. Catch us there this Saturday 25 June 2011! According to the program, showtime is at 7.30pm. But still, come early to check out all the various 5-metre high structures of the world’s famous landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Pyramid and Sphinx, Eiffel Tower specially designed by renowned Japanese artist Akira Takahashi. Definitely picture-worthy moments!

Click here for more info

Catch Bantus at MacDonalds Sentosa

Published on 6 months, 2 weeks ago in Activity, Latest News and Performances. 2 Comments

On Saturday 18 June 2011, head on down to Sentosa with your sunblock, swim stuff and friends. There’s a bunch of activities going on that day and we hope the skies will stay blue and the sun will be kind to those who need a dose of Vitamin D. Alight at Beach Station @ Sentosa and make your way across to the new MacDonalds’ outlet where you’ll find our capoeiristas playing capoeira and maculele at 2pm. See ya!

Angola class is now on Friday

Published on 7 months ago in Classes and Latest News. 0 Comments

Angoleiros, starting in June (this week), we’ve moved our Angola training to Friday 9pm-10.30pm to accommodate some of our students who couldn’t make it previously. Newbies and angoleiros from out of town are more than welcome to drop in for a class (Just show up in your yellow t-shirt and black track bottoms/training pants). See ya on yer heads on Friday! :-)

Here comes the wedded capoeiristas…

Published on 7 months, 1 week ago in Latest News. 7 Comments

We take great joy in announcing the happy matrimony of two of our capoeiristas who found love while sweating it out during training. Please join us in congratulating Careca (Sam) and Camarão (Veron) on their joyous occasion yesterday.

Here’s proof.


Just for the record, we love weddings! It’s really one of those occasions where we capoeiristas get to see one another outside our sweaty abadas and smelly t-shirts or casual togs. (And this wedding won’t be the last in our group either. ;-) ) So here’s a rare glimpse of our own contra-mestre looking very dapper in his formal getup.

Bantus Capoeira turns 20

Published on 10 months, 3 weeks ago in Activity and Latest News. 5 Comments

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!

A Letter from Mestre Pintor

Published on 1 year ago in Latest News. 2 Comments

On 2 December 2010, Mestre wrote a heartfelt email to his Bantus family in Asia-Pacific (or Pacific-Asia if you’re looking at the world from Down Under) right after spending nearly a month and a half travelling from one country to another to grace all the annual batizado & troca de corda events. Claudinho felt it would be great if we left the letter intact to preserve its authenticity instead of editing the English to perfection (or to death for that matter ;-) ). After all, not everyone in Singapore has been known to speak English perfectly (thanks to the folks at MOE) and with Singlish being such a wonderful child of our culture, we definitely have room for another linguistic hybrid. Personally, I suspect Google Translate might have a hand in it though…lol.

FESTIVAIS BANTUS 2010

Começando pelo evento do Brasil, que neste ano foi realizado pelos alunos graduados, não deixou nada a desejar as qualidades dos eventos anteriores, e foi muito bem elaborado e desenvolvido. Parabéns aos bantulinos Marmota e Tyson, Titie e Guinho, Lobão e Chapoca. Se esqueci algum nome foi defeito do teclado do meu computa.
Starting for the event of Brazil, that in this year was carried through by the graduated pupils, nothing did not leave to desire the qualities of the previous events, and was very well elaborated and developed. Congratulations to the bantulinos Marmota and Tyson, Titie and Guinho, Lobão and Chapoca. If I forgot some name was defect of the keyboard of mine computes.

Já no evento do Japão, tenho muito a elogiar o trabalho desenvolvido pelo Caçapa e Kafuné. Depois de tudo que aconteceu em 2008, Caçapa e Kafuné demonstraram grande dedicação ao Grupo Bantus e voltaram a ser exemplos, pois o evento 2010 foi de muita alegria e boas energias. No dia do Batizado, estava na cara de todos os alunos a satisfação pelo evento. Parabéns Caçapa e Kafuné, vocês estão realizando um grande trabalho e eu estou muito feliz por vocês fazerem parte na família Bantus.
No longer event of Japan, I have much to praise the work developed for the Caçapa and Kafuné. After that it happened in 2008, Caçapa and Kafuné had demonstrated great devotion to the Bantus Group and had come back to be examples, therefore event 2010 was of much joy and good energies. In the day of the Batizado, the satisfaction for the event was in the face of all the pupils. Congratulations Caçapa and Kafuné, you are carrying through a great work and I am very happy for vocês to be part in the family Bantus.

Australia…ai vai o Grão com sua “malandragem” recriando o GBC em Perth. O cabra quando tem o “braço forte de maré” na deixa o berço do GBC-Asia morre!!! Parabéns pelos dias alegres que aconteceram durante o Festival 2010 na Australia. Nem preciso falar do noite da festa em Fremantle e do maravilhoso e ensolarado dia da Roda de Batizado e troca de cordas. O churrasco na casa da Beth veio selar o sucesso do evento em Perth. Parabéns Grão e Beth!!!!
Australia… goes the Grão with its there ” malandragem” creating the GBC in Perth. The cabra when it has ” braço forte de maré” the cradle of GBC-Asia does not leave dies! Congratulations per the glad days that had happened during Festival 2010 in Australia. No is necessary to say of the party in Fremantle and the wonderful and sunny day of the Roda de Batizado and Troca de Cordas. The barbecue in the house of the Beth came to stamp the success of the event in Perth. Congratulations Grão and Beth!

Agora é Contra-mestre Claudinho!!! E foi merecido a graduação, pois o trabalho vem crescendo a cada ano, e os eventos são sempre de muita alegria e determinação. Singapore hoje tem Capoeira de valor!!! Pois os alunos estão cada vez melhores e buscando sempre mais
qualidade. Agora com um local para desenvolver o trabalho e ter identidade, sei que os alunos se tornarão melhores e ainda mais ativos por que conta com um grande professor e agora Contra-mestre. Também fico muito feliz e tranquilo com a dedicação e carinho que Flora e Tempero tem com o GBC e o Claudinho. Sem esquecer da força e participação do Professor Magu na Australia e em Singapore. Parabéns Contra-Mestre Claudinho.
Now he is Contra-mestre Claudinho!!! Was deserved the graduation, therefore the work comes growing to each year, and the events are always of much joy and determination. Singapore today has Capoeira of value! Therefore the better pupils are each time and searching always more quality. Now with a place to develop the work and to have identity, I know that the pupils will become better and still more active why counts on a great professor and now Contra-mestre. Also I am very happy and peaceful with the devotion and affection that Flora and Tempero has with the GBC and the Claudinho. Without forgetting the force and participation it Professor Magu in Australia and Singapore. Congratulations Contra-mestre Claudinho.

Malaysia…o “filho mais velho” do GBC na Asia!!! E o professor Rafael vem fazendo “bonito” todo ano. Sempre com o suporte de sua esposa Marissa e seus alunos: Cueca, Perereca, Jabuticaba, Coelho e ainda tem outros que não me lembro os nomes. Me desculpe!!! E nesse ano ele fez uma grande homenagem ao padrinho do GBC e meu Mestre João Pequeno. Me emociono muito quando vejo dedicações ao nosso Mestre João Pequeno e emociono ainda mais quando é cantado o hino do GBC nas rodas da Malaysia e Singapore. A energia é muito forte. Tenho que confessar que sou tremandamente egoísta por conter minhas emoções nessas rodas, pois me contagiam profundamente. A festa ” Noite Brasileira” me faz ser “jovem” novamente e contagia a todos. E como contagia!!! A roda de rua, no centro de Kuala Lumpur foi coisa para causar inveja até em rodas no Brasil. Agradeço ao Fantasma e o Pega-ninguém ( Pimball ) ( Escola Brasileira de Capoeira) pela participação. Eles trousseram muitas alegrias aos eventos. Temos que agradecer ao Rafael pelo suporte quando estou na Asia. Parabéns Rafael!!!
Malaysia… ” son more old” of the GBC in Asia! And the professor Rafael comes making ” beautiful” all year. Always with the support of its Marissa wife and its pupils: Cueca, Perereca, Jabuticaba, Coelho and still have others that I do not remember the names. It forgives me!!! And in this year it made a great homage to the godfather of GBC and my Mestre João Pequeno. I am touched myself very when I see dedications to our Mestre João Peuqeno and I move still more when the hymn of the GBC in the Rodas of the Malaysia and Singapore is sung. The energy is very strong. I have that to confess that I am tremendous egoistic for containing my emotions in these wheels, infect therefore me deeply. The party ” Noite Brasileira” it makes me to be ” young” again and it infects to all. And as it infects! The Roda de Rua, in the center deKuala Lumpur was thing to even cause envy in Rodas in Brazil. I thank the Fantasma and Pega-ninguém (Pimball) (Escola Brasileira de Capoeira) for the participation. They are bring many joys to the events. We have that to be thankful Rafael for the support when I am in Asia. Congratulations Rafael!!!

Parabéns Charuto e Mimi por estarem levantando o GBC na Indonésia. O evento foi mais modesto mas foi grande pela dedicação e determinação de vocês. O dia do Batizado e Troca de cordas foi muito legal. Os eventos demonstraram que podemos ser ainda maiores e melhores em Jakarta, pois o trabalho vem sendo bem desenvolvido.
Congratulations Charuto and Mimi for being raising the GBC in Indonesia. The event was more modest but it was great for the devotion and determination of you and Perna Longa. The day of the Batizado e Troca de Cordas was very nice. The bigger and better events had demonstrated that we still can be in Jakarta, therefore the work come being developed well.

Olha ai o ” Trem do Alegrão”!!! Nem preciso falar da alegria no evento da Tailândia, pois apesar das dificuldades políticas locais, Tong, Pam, Baiana, Xuxa, etc, vem fazendo bom trabalho em Bangkok com o suporte do Professor Rafael. E ainda tivemos as dificuldades com a chuva que não deixou realizar a roda de rua e o Batizado e Troca de Cordas na praça. Mas mesmo assim os eventos aconteceram com boa energia e dedicação de todos.
It looks at there “Trem do Alegrão”!!! Nor necessary to speak of the joy in the event of Thailand, therefore although the difficulties local politics, Tong, Pam, Bahiana, Xuxa, etc, comes making good work in Bangkok with the support of the Professor Rafael. And still we had the difficulties with the rain that did not leave to carry through the Roda de Rua and the Baptism and the Batizadoe Troca de Cordas in the square. But thus the events had exactly happened with good energy and devotion of all.

PARABÉNS FAMILIA GBC!!! VOCÊS FAZEM O GRUPO SER O MELHOR!!! MESTRE PINTOR.

CONGRATULATIONS FAMILY GBC! YOU ARE MAKE THE GROUP TO BE BETTER!!! MESTRE PINTOR.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Published on 1 year ago in Classes and Latest News. 0 Comments

We’re taking our usual break for Christmas and New Year. Our last class for the year is on Thursday 23 Dec 2010 (it’s Angola class, by the way) and we would like to wish everyone at Bantus and their families PEACE LOVE & JOY for the Christmas season and see you back in class in the new year on Mon 3 Jan 2011.

Batizado 2010 workshop rodas

Published on 1 year, 1 month ago in Batizado and Latest News. 1 Comment

I know everyone’s waiting to see the rodas. Here’s the first one that I video-ed on the first night of our workshop. I just wanna thank whoever for keeping the camera rolling when I passed it on to you…

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…