((PKG)) CAPOEIRA ANGOLA
((Banner: Capoeira))
((Reporter / Camera: Mayra Fernandes, Karina
Choudhury))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Pop-Up Banner with stills, music:
Capoeira is an art form that combines music, dance and
martial arts. Rooted in the rich cultures brought to Brazil by
enslaved Africans in the 1500s, Capoeira found resonance
in the United States in the last half century))
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
A lot of people, blacks in America, are always looking for
some way to get back to their roots, something that, kind of,
connects them. So, I thought it was fitting that Capoeira was
banned in Brazil before being allowed for all Brazilians to
participate in because so many aspects of black American
life were banned before being opened up, you know,
allowing us to vote, allowing us to come in and drink from the
same water fountains and use the same restrooms.
((NATS))
((CLYDE CLARK, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
It integrates music, movements, dance, arts, philosophy and
history, all in one form, as well as a complexity and
intelligence of it. I mean, you have to be very
knowledgeable, savvy, remember a lot of things, apply
strategies that wouldnt normally apply, and it, kind of,
teaches a life philosophy. How to smile in the face of danger
is how I put it.
((NATS))
((KHALID THOMPSON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
There is something about the jovial nature, the slyness of it,
the stories, the mystery, the mystic of it that just drew me in
immediately and I feel like not only are you learning a lot
about yourself, but you are learning a lot about a whole
another world or alternative universe of feelings and
emotions and perspectives that are deeply rooted in African
mysticism and culture.
((NATS))
((JESSIE WINSTON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Thats what we do here. Thats what its about. You know,
when I first started, I could barely hold a berimbau. I could
lift a 60-pound dumbbell, but I couldnt hold a berimbau for 2
minutes, but I learned to fall in love with it. When I am not
here, if I have two hours or four hours, Im just playing. I get
home from work, I grab my berimbau and I play because its
therapy.
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is great. You can really feel it in your soul. And
when you sing along, you feel like you are part of something
greater, a part of something more. So, its not really
uncommon for someone to start crying when they hear a
song or to get goose bumps. The music is, you know,
almost the best part.
((NATS))
((DALE MARCELLIN, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Capoeira is for everybody, but everybody is not for Capoeira.
Capoeira pulls you into it. All I do is make a comfortable
environment where people could come sing and have a
good time and enjoy themselves and, like a snake, Capoeira
will grab you.
((NATS))
((KHALID THOMPSON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is very hypnotic, powerful and it just automatically
grabs you. The rhythms of the atabaques and the
berimbaus, and the slowness and depth of the beat, it just
resonates and moves something in your body.
((NATS))
((JESSIE WINSTON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Liberation. Thats really it, liberation and community. Right
now, in this country theres chaos, theres separation.
People are realizing that things we thought were in repair
arent really in repair. We have a lot of work to do, but we
are also realizing we are disconnected, that black
communities in this country are falling apart. There is no
more Harlem. D.C. isnt Chocolate City. Oakland isnt
Oakland. And we need help. We need to realize how we
can reconnect, how we can build community and Capoeira
started with that. It started with people who are of
disconnected origins, who are in a foreign land, under
foreign rule and needed something, needed an identity and
something they could grasp on to and something to hand on
to their children and family to make them stronger and thats
what I am looking for today.
((NATS))
((Banner: Capoeira))
((Reporter / Camera: Mayra Fernandes, Karina
Choudhury))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Pop-Up Banner with stills, music:
Capoeira is an art form that combines music, dance and
martial arts. Rooted in the rich cultures brought to Brazil by
enslaved Africans in the 1500s, Capoeira found resonance
in the United States in the last half century))
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
A lot of people, blacks in America, are always looking for
some way to get back to their roots, something that, kind of,
connects them. So, I thought it was fitting that Capoeira was
banned in Brazil before being allowed for all Brazilians to
participate in because so many aspects of black American
life were banned before being opened up, you know,
allowing us to vote, allowing us to come in and drink from the
same water fountains and use the same restrooms.
((NATS))
((CLYDE CLARK, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
It integrates music, movements, dance, arts, philosophy and
history, all in one form, as well as a complexity and
intelligence of it. I mean, you have to be very
knowledgeable, savvy, remember a lot of things, apply
strategies that wouldnt normally apply, and it, kind of,
teaches a life philosophy. How to smile in the face of danger
is how I put it.
((NATS))
((KHALID THOMPSON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
There is something about the jovial nature, the slyness of it,
the stories, the mystery, the mystic of it that just drew me in
immediately and I feel like not only are you learning a lot
about yourself, but you are learning a lot about a whole
another world or alternative universe of feelings and
emotions and perspectives that are deeply rooted in African
mysticism and culture.
((NATS))
((JESSIE WINSTON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Thats what we do here. Thats what its about. You know,
when I first started, I could barely hold a berimbau. I could
lift a 60-pound dumbbell, but I couldnt hold a berimbau for 2
minutes, but I learned to fall in love with it. When I am not
here, if I have two hours or four hours, Im just playing. I get
home from work, I grab my berimbau and I play because its
therapy.
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is great. You can really feel it in your soul. And
when you sing along, you feel like you are part of something
greater, a part of something more. So, its not really
uncommon for someone to start crying when they hear a
song or to get goose bumps. The music is, you know,
almost the best part.
((NATS))
((DALE MARCELLIN, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Capoeira is for everybody, but everybody is not for Capoeira.
Capoeira pulls you into it. All I do is make a comfortable
environment where people could come sing and have a
good time and enjoy themselves and, like a snake, Capoeira
will grab you.
((NATS))
((KHALID THOMPSON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is very hypnotic, powerful and it just automatically
grabs you. The rhythms of the atabaques and the
berimbaus, and the slowness and depth of the beat, it just
resonates and moves something in your body.
((NATS))
((JESSIE WINSTON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Liberation. Thats really it, liberation and community. Right
now, in this country theres chaos, theres separation.
People are realizing that things we thought were in repair
arent really in repair. We have a lot of work to do, but we
are also realizing we are disconnected, that black
communities in this country are falling apart. There is no
more Harlem. D.C. isnt Chocolate City. Oakland isnt
Oakland. And we need help. We need to realize how we
can reconnect, how we can build community and Capoeira
started with that. It started with people who are of
disconnected origins, who are in a foreign land, under
foreign rule and needed something, needed an identity and
something they could grasp on to and something to hand on
to their children and family to make them stronger and thats
what I am looking for today.
((NATS))
