Natalia Korelina - It’s capoeira between us. Conversations with capoeiristas. Part 1

There are too many McDonald’s and Starbucks cafes here for a country that has blocked almost all major American sites and apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. When I say they are blocked, I mean you literally can’t download or use them unless you have a good VPN and some luck! Imagine this. I was devastated because I couldn’t talk to my family for almost two months.

There are also many foreigners here. Everyone has to learn Chinese, because there is no other way to survive. The Chinese do not speak English in taxis, shops or cafes. Catching free Wi-Fi is almost impossible, without a local SIM card and VPN it will be difficult to use the usual Internet. All life, communication, payment for absolutely everything: food delivery, taxi and even government services are concentrated in the WeChat application. If you don’t have this app – consider that you do not exist in China either. Even homeless people here accept money on WeChat!

And what about capoeira? The history of capoeira in China began in Italy. Yes, in Italy. And I will have to learn that history when I go to Italy, because the person who brought capoeira to Shanghai, and then spread it to several more cities, returned to Italy years ago.

Nonetheless, I attended the local group of Capoeira Mandinga in Shanghai and was pleasantly surprised by the number of students there. There were about 20 of us. The teacher’s name is Nico or Instrutor 29 29 Instrutor (a) is a capoeirista with a blue belt according to the CDO system. Virtual, he is originally from France and was giving the classes in English. There were 2 more girls from other countries, the rest of the students were Chinese. The level of playing in the roda was very impressive – a good base was visible.

Notes from China

After the Saturday roda in Shanghai, I went to the city of Shenzhen located on the border with Hong Kong. This city is considered the capital of watchmaking in China. I found out about this little detail by translating an article about the manufacture of replica watches in China for my work – a funny coincidence. I don’t often work on texts that are so directly connected to my life.

So, I came to work as an English teacher in an early learning center – where there were no children yet – it did make my life a lot easier. I would create lessons and use a lot of ideas from capoeira classes, which I conducted, together with my teacher, Professor Biruta 30 30 Biruta is a windsock or doll that is inflated with a strong stream of air from below. in Rostov-on-Don. I chopped a bamboo branch with a kitchen knife, hanging from the second floor, repaired the printer (in Chinese, yeah), painted a photo corner for the Mid-Autumn Festival and tried to put my colleagues on the right path in terms of healthy eating (well, you can’t just eat fried, spicy and salty stuff every day, even if it’s vegetables). For some reason I showed 2-year-old children a presentation about Vietnam, although they don’t even understand what a country is. There, I also had to learn to read fairy tales in English beautifully and expressively while recording all of them on video.

The city was very green and hot. There was also high humidity and tropical showers, Tesla cars passed every 5—10 minutes. Every now and then I met foreigners. Unlike South Korea, where all foreigners live mainly in Seoul, in China they can be found almost everywhere.

The guys from Shanghai gave me some contacts of capoeiristas in Shenzhen. It was already great luck that capoeira existed there.

The first person I wrote to was a guy named Matthew from France, who previously worked with the Capoeira Ginga Nago group, and at the time of my stay in Shenzhen – in the Capoeira Brasil group under the direction of Mestre Chumbinho. The master was originally from Australia and at that time lived in Hong Kong. And yes, every Sunday he came to another city, and actually to another country, to give a capoeira class.

In my first week in China, three things happened:

– I found two more capoeiristas: a guy from Portugal from the Rabo de Arraia group named Tiago and his girlfriend from Belgium from the Beijing branch of the Mandinga group named Yuni. Tiago taught free classes in the university lobby twice a week. I met them on the Friday.

– I was invited to a Brazilian party on Saturday night and was added to the city capoeira chat where this very party was discussed. The master asked who was going there, and I was the first to answer. Furthermore, the first six people who volunteered to perform could receive tickets to the buffet. Brazilian food. Any. Even churrasco. For free. I was ready, but nobody had known me yet, so I was not included in the list.

– On Sunday, I went to train with Mestre Chumbinho. Capoeira Brasil are classic representatives of the Regional 31 31 Regional or capoeira-regional is one of the main styles of capoeira. style. Well, there were a lot of kicks, trips and a kind of “the last survivor” – who will last the longest in the game. I was participating in the last round with one guy, but when the game became completely monotonous and ugly, and my head was throbbing and was about to explode from overheating, I gave up.

And now, everything in order.

Tiago and Yuni are wonderful people and capoeiristas. They met in Spain when Yuni attended a local capoeira group event she had never heard of before. Tiago was there. Well, so it started. He visited her in Belgium, then in China, where she had been working at the university for many years. Then he came to China and stayed.

When I arrived, Tiago had been in the city for less than six months, but he had already worked in a sports club and taught capoeira to kids, and was looking for a studio for an adult group. His classes were amazing, and my only complaint was, “Why is the class is over already? I want more!”

From conversations with Tiago, I learned a few things about capoeira in Portugal, about European Portuguese and decided to go there one day.

In Tiago’s training, I met several more students from other countries and groups. It was very interesting. Each person had their own history; the group was a mixture of cultures and spoke several foreign languages, ahh. I am having goosebumps as I write this. It was incredible to touch other worlds, personalities and cultures through capoeira, and still feel at home.

The Brazilian party.

Well, what can you tell us about a party? – you would ask. Everybody performs, everybody goes to parties. And what will you say to six people from five different groups and six different countries who are gathered for the performance? And we put on a show together as if we had known each other for ages, like old friends.

I had never seen anything like this. Against this background of experiencing unity through capoeira, even the delicious Brazilian food lost its importance. Mestre Chumbinho hosted the entire show, sang and played the berimbau 32 32 Berimbau is a musical instrument in capoeira . And we, without any preparation, simply followed his instructions. Everything went like clockwork. People clapped, groaned and admired. There were even two volunteers who learned a couple of movements and amused the audience with their impromptu fight.

Initially, I was not on the list of performers, but they lacked one person, and I had brought white pants and a white T-shirt with the CDO logo with me. Just in case, you know. All participants in some miraculous way brought only white T-shirts. Everyone had white pants with their school logo:

• Mestre Chumbinho – Capoeira Brasil – Australia

• Taf – Capoeira Brasil – UK

• Matthieu – Capoeira Ginga Nago – France