Capoeira on the Seine
July 29th, 2006 by dgritzer
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A couple days ago we went to take a class with Bem-te-vi’s Capoeira Brasil group. He is currently in Brazil, but everyone has been extremely welcoming. After that class, they invited us to a picnic and street roda the next day. It almost seemed as if it would rain, but we had good weather in the end. The roda was right on the Seine, making it a very beautiful spot. Novinha, Bem-te-vi’s wife, warned us beforehand that this particular street roda could get a little “malo” and suggested we watch before deciding to play. Well, after seeing the action we chickened out: these guys were all at a much higher level than me or Vanessa and they were very aggressive. It was great to watch though, to get a better idea of the level of play over here, which is very high, and to watch some very good capoeiristas take each other on with some force, yet generally keep things amicable. [Update: we have since revisited this street roda, which meets 3 times weekly, and I got up the nerve to play. I’ll make one qualification to what I wrote before: these capoeiristas here play fast and aggressive, but their technique is clean, which makes things a little safer than they seem at first.]