CEYA- Words from the children

-“My name is Keith.  I’m twelve years old.  I’m in grade six. I live in Manenburg.

- Capoeira people came to my school. And they spoke to us about capoeira, and … and it was special to me. And I started to do capoeira here at the community center. Then I was doing it for three years now.

- Doing capoeira it’s great, it feels like … can keep me out of street, by not involving me by gangsters and… drugs and alcohol. It helped me by changing my life. Be a better person to my parents.

- I think it can help everyone by changing their lives. It can help my community, very… and it can take the people of my community… it can take them far. And take them to other places. When I’m little bit older I’ll go over seas, like my teacher was almost like all over the world.

- I think I’ll carry on when I’m big because… I wanna’ put this legacy to my children, also.

A few words for the people of the association:

“ Hum… actually, no.”

CEYA-Words from the children

BRONWYN HEYNES: (Manenburg)

-“ My name is Bronwyn Heynes, I’m fourteen years old, I live in Manenburg, I’m in grade 9 at Phenix high school.

- The first time I’ve heard about capoeira it was when a group of them came to my primary school for a demonstration, and they asked if we wanted to try. I thought it was cool. So I came at the first class, it was fun.

- I really like capoeira because it helped me to start to stay out of trouble… I like how to do the moves. I train sometimes at home. For me it means a lot – like defend yourself if someone attacks you.

- I think capoeira can bring a lot of things. You can become a teacher. It’s what I want to do, I hope, once…  I like teaching young children the moves. And then it can help the community by keeping the children out of trouble.

- It really changed my life. I’ve met a lot of people, like Arabia. He is cool…”

A few words for the people of the association, and the donators:

-“Capoeira, it’s fun, if you have to lose weight, do capoeira!”

The evening began relaxed, with a room packed with a very international crowd, sipping caipirinhas and snacking on pão de queijo. Then, the film screening. It was a folkloric trip through the history of capoeira in colonial Brasil through the  life of the capoeira legend, Besouro. Characteristic of the films by director, João Daniel Tikhomiroff, the movie was beautifully composed, engrossing, surreal, and in a word; intense.

After a brief intermission, the lights went out once more, and we got to the fun part.  There were several demos given after the movie including  a maculelê show, a berimbau orchestra, capoeira solos, a roda, a samba de roda, and a traditional dance from the north-east of Brasil, called forró.

Our kids from Manenberg made a guest appearance, taking part in the solos, the roda, and getting down with the samba. Take a look at their moves on our YouTube channel…. Needless to say,  the crowd went wild.

Thanks to Abadá Capoeira and Cordão de Ouro for inviting CEYA. Shout out to Anne-Marie Sterr for the video.

We asked the kids to tell us a story about their thoughts and experiences with capoeira. Here’s one story that Fatima, from the Manenberg class, illustrated for us.

“My teacher told me about capoeira in class, so I came.”

Meet Lwando. Also one of our longest students, eleven year old Lwando, has been training with CEYA for the last three years. He began at the Langa classes before him, his mom, and his seven siblings moved out to Delft. There he linked in with our Delft class, where his innate leadership and enthusiasm for capoeira brought in more students and solidified the group. He has since moved back to Langa and is also one of our students who is sponsored, by Jackie Roumet from France.

“I like it [capoeira] because I made a lot of friends.” Luando’s cheeky sense of humor and bright smile make this easy, but don’t be fooled; his game, like his kick, is powerful and lightening fast.

Meet Ncebakazi. Training at the Langa class for four years, Ncebakazi is one of our longest students. She turns twelve this September and has been with CEYA since she was eight. Ncebakazi is much younger than her other siblings and lives alone with her mother in the new housing projects built by the government. Her mother is very supportive of her daughter and tries to seek ways to better her future. When it comes to capoeira, Ncebakazi needs little help. She has a headstrong and determined streak. Fiesty and dedicated, she was the only girl at the Langa class in the beginning. “I think it’s fun.” she says, “It makes me happy.” Currently, she is also the highest graded student in CEYA.

favorite capoeira move: armada com mortelo

favorite capoeira song: Capoeira Abada

Ncebakazi is one of our sponsored students. Here she is reading a letter from her sponsor.

Here’s the schedule:

Langa: Monwabiso Community Centre
Monday and Wednesday: 14:30 – 15:30

Manenberg: Druiweulei Community Centre
Monday and Wednesday: 15:45 – 16:45

Bonteheuwel: Bluegum Community Centre
Tuesday and Thursday: 16:00 – 17:00

Delft: The Hague Community Centre
Tuesday: 15:30 – 16:30
Friday: 14:30 – 15:30

 On the day before the event I taught the group because Beleza had already had to return to Angola. Max, a doe-eyed 11 year old came to me and stuffed a little blue slip of paper in my hand, “I organised a ticket for you” he said. The next evening I took a walk around the neighbourhood to see some of the parents before the event. One mother said she would dearly like to watch her child, but simply did not have the five Rand entrance fee. I passed on the blue slip of paper Max had given me, hoping that I could buy another ticket without his noticing. I couldn’t – I arrived at the school to find the group, all in their whites right next to the vendor. I was spotted. “But Anna,” Max said, looking a bit offended, “I got you a ticket!”

 I lured him round the corner and I explained what had happened. “Oh,” he said, nodding thoughtfully, “I know who you are talking about. If I had known she really wanted to come, I would have given the ticket to her anyway…”

 Capoeira was the second show of the evening. I hid myself at the back, in the crowd. The group filed up onto the stage and quietly formed a neat half-moon. Stephen, whom I had never imagined to be a public speaker, smoothed out a piece of paper that had been crumpled in his fist and proceeded to outline a brief history of capoeira. He finished with a flourish, saying “It’s very nice, because you can defend yourself!” They started the capoeira clap and Max banged the tambourine. Their voices wobbled a touch, and then all joined in, ““Vou lhe dizer o que me alegra numa roda, de capoeira quando começo a tocar…” (I’ll tell you what makes me happy in the capoeira circle when I start to play.) They all sang the full song, in perfect Portuguese diction, and in rhythm. And then they exploded into a real performance: out burst the solos with the kicks, jumps, flips and spins. A shift of gear took them into playing in pairs and crowd let out shrieks of delight as they missed each other by anorexic whiskers. On stage they swung through more songs – lead each time by a different child. Then, after just long enough, the group all grabbed hands and dropped into a bow.

 Two years ago, when we did our first demonstration in Manenberg, capoeira was something completely new in the area. Now the street corners around the community centre where we give classes bounce with children doing acrobatics, and the group self-organises public shows. Granted, this performance didn’t come entirely easily. There were, I heard, power struggles in the process; a huff here and a puff there. But they did it. They pulled together a quality show entirely on their own initiative. Little did they know that their capping the year in this way was one of CEYA’s proudest moments.