Gratidao

Words cannot adequately express the immense gratitude and joy that this event brought.
What an amazing opportunity to learn from Mestre Cobra Mansa!
Thanks to the leadership and ongoing support from Mestre Silvinho!

and as always, what makes this day so special are all the visits from our friends, old and new, from Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and points in between!

And thanks for Treinel Caxambu and Treinel Joe (all the way from Hawaii!)

The photos below were taken by Jason Ruvelson. Thank you!

Mestre Cobra Mansa

the beginning of our roda in the PAC plaza

essa cobra lhe morde, senhor sao bento!

ter sorriso no rosto, e' coisa de angoleir@

pedo a forca da terra, pedo a forca do ar!

Obrigado minha gente!

It's time again: Afro-Brasilian Festival 2019!

Sunday May 5th!

The event will be heald in Carbery Gym, Gym C (upstairs). Please, no street shoes in the Gym!

Cost of admission is $10 per person per class, or $30 for the entire day (we'll give discounts to families, and no-one will be turned away).

And this year, we have a super-special guest in Mestre Cobra Mansa!

11am: Capoeira class with the Mestres - for complete beginners as well as intermediate-advanced people.

1pm: lunch break

2pm: Salsa Class with Antonio Diaz

3pm: Class with the Mestres

4pm: Roda! (if the weather is nice, we'll be outside in the PAC plaza).

Back to school in 2018

WWU is back in session!
we'll be training on Mondays starting at 6pm in the Viking Union, room 464. take the elevator to the 4th floor and go to the end of the hallway.
We will also be training on Thursdays starting at 6pm in PAC room 24. From the main entrance, take the elevator down to LL2. Room 24 is directly across from the elevator.

Roda at the 2018 Afro-Brasilian Festival. Photo Credit: Eythan Frost.
There will be warm weather and long days again! and we'll be ready play outside.

Thank you is just not enough

Another year, another time in which words fail us to express our appreciation, admiration, and respect for the many people involved in putting on the Afro-Brazilian Festival.

First of all, we start with the acknowledgement that we are learning this artform on the ancestral land of the Lummi and Nooksack people - may we always struggle to live in right relationship with the original inhabitants of this land.

Thanks to all the people who struggled to make Capoeira survive, among them Mestre Silvinho and ContraMestre Kojo. And a special shout-out to Charles Hargrett, for starting all of this in the Pacific Northwest back in 1996, and for being a great example for us all.

Thank you to Amanda, Leika, Rena and Bill for an amzing evening on Friday learning about the connections between sugar, colonialism, food, and our present condition of health disparities.

Thanks to all the people who worked behind the scenes to work with WWU to make this happen, to make the poster [design by Rosanna Razor], to provide the food, to pick up the chairs and tables...

Thank you to the amazing teachers - Manimou Camara and Jade Power Sotomayor (and friends, and family) - who gave up a part of their weekend to come to Bellingham and share their art with us.
And thanks to all the Angoleir@s who travelled near and far to join us from Vancouver (BC), Seattle, Portland and Corvallis (OR), and one new friend from Xalapa (Mexico)! Your presence, your energy, renew our belief in the power of Community.

"Capoeira Angola is working on 'self' and building 'community' in the process!" -CM KOJO

Roda at the closing of morning class in Carver Gym
Photo Credit: Eythan Frost from the AS Review

CM Kojo leading music class in Red Square

Roda in the PAC plaza.
Photo credit to Camila Hellmeister

Photo credit to Camila Hellmeister

Photo Credit: Eythan Frost from the AS Review

Photo Credit: Eythan Frost from the AS Review

Photo credit to Camila Hellmeister

Free Tokitae!

2018 Afro-Brasilian Festival!

Mark your calendars!

Saturday May 12th, in WWU's Carver Gym! 

10 to 12am: Capoeira Angola class with Mestre Silvinho and ContraMestre Kojo; 
1 to 2pm: Puerto Rican Bomba class with Jade Power Sotomayor; 
2:15 to 3:15: concurrent west African drumming class with Manimou Camara and berimbau class with ContraMestre Kojo; 
3:30 to 4:30: West African Dance class with Manimou Camara; 
4:45 to ... : Capoeira Angola Roda 

Free for students! $5 per class for the general public.

Mestre Silvinho!
Photo credit: photoyozee

>Many thanks to:
WWU Music Department
WWU Dance Department
WWU Anthropology Department
AS Activities Fund
Community Food Co-op
Whatcom Peace and Justice Center
and the many, many people who help make this possible!dit:

School is back in session!

The 2017-2018 school year has started! this means that we will be resuming our regular classes at WWU, on Mondays starting at 6pm in VU room 464, and on Thursdays at 6pm on the ground floor of Bond Hall (focusing on music first).

Here are a couple of pictures from last year - hoping for another good year!

We are already happy to announce that Mestre Silvinho will be up in Bellingham on Sunday November 5th for a workshop and roda that will be open to the public, sponsored by the WWU Music Department. Workshop at 2pm, roda at 4pm, location TBD!

Mestre Silvinho playing with Ryan at the 2017 Afro-Brasilian Festival

Our roda at the Latinx Student Union's Mezclada

Our roda at the African Caribbean Club's heritage dinner.

We also want to take a minute to celebrate the life of Sylvia Robinson, who was instrumental in helping the International Capoeira Angola Foundation put down roots in the United States.
In the picture below, Sylvia is on the left on a panel discussion that also includes (from the left) Sheryll, also an influential woman at the beginning of FICA - DC, Mestra Janja, Contra-Mestra Cristina, Mestra Gege and Mestra Paulinha.

Afro-Brasilian Festival!

Sunday, May 15th in the Multipurpose Room of the Viking Union!

 10am: Capoeira Angola Class with Mestre Silvinho
1:30pm: Samba Class with Dora Oliveira
2:45pm: West African Drum Class with Manimou Camara
4pm: West African Dance Class with N'nato Camara
5:15: Capoeira Angola Roda

 Free for students, $5 per class for the general public.

 Thanks to:
 WWU Dance Department
WWU Anthorpology Departmet
WWU Music Department
Bellingham Community Food Co-op
International Capoeira Angola Foundation

Fall Quarter 2016

We will be back to our regular practice time at 6pm in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room at WWU!

Mestre Silvinho playing berimbau in Red Square for Back to Bellingham in May of 2016

Chelsea Rae from Seattle joined us last spring to lead a class in the MPR
and she'll be back on September 26th!

2016 Afro-Brasilian Festival!

Brought to you with the generous support of:
WWU Dance Department
WWU Anthropology Department
WWU AS Activities Council
the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center
The Community Food Co-op

Saturday, June 4th:
1pm: Capoeira Angola Roda at the Bellingham Farmers' Market

6pm: Screening of of "From the Bottom Up", a film is about culture and revolutionary change in the Jequitinhonha Valley of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The tale is told from the perspective of artists, religious leaders, and educators in the town of Araçuaí. These cultural activists allied with indigenous communities, unions, and women’s organizations to transform a society that had been marked by centuries of slavery, ethnic cleansing, and extreme poverty. Legend has it that prostitutes, who stood up to a corrupt priest some 150 years ago, founded Araçuaí. They decided to relocate up river rather than tolerate his abuse. Many like to believe that this rebellious tradition is why Araçuaí became an epicenter of resistance from the bottom up. Location TBA.

Sunday June 5th: VU Multipurpose Room
10am: Capoeira Angola Movement Class with Mestre Silvinho
1pm: Capoeira Angola Music Class with Mestre Silvinho
2:15 pm: samba class with Dora Oliveira
3:30 pm: Cuban Salsa Class with Antonio Diaz
4:45 pm: Capoeira Angola Roda

Free for Students! $5/class for the general public.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1712285805719869/

ter seu dobrao no bolso...

keeping your own dobrao in your pocket: it's an angoleir@ thing.

My friend Marco Simonetti (below) has made dobroes for us in the past, and he just finished making the ones above!

Obrigado, Mestre Silvinho and Caitlin!

Thank you Mestre Silvinho and Caitlin for coming to Bellingham to train with us and help us grow in the art!

During his workshop, Mestre mentioned percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. Below is a video displaying his amazing use of the berimbau.

Mestre Silvinho was in Bellingham to do a series of workshops organized by Kuntz and Co. His visit was covered by the Western Front and by the Cascadia Weekly, which unfortunately included a picture of another artist.

At the MLK Conference!

Just a couple of images from Saturday's conference.

An intergenerational community practice

angoleir@s from Seattle, Bellingham and Vancouver!

Thank you Mestre Silvinho, Caitlin, Camilo and Gabi! and to the organizers of the MLK conference at the Whatcom Human Rights Task Force and the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center.

As a final note, if you haven't seen the movie Selma - go see it!

Winter Quarter 2015!

Feliz 2015!

For the rest of the school year we should be meeting on mondays (starting next week) at 6pm in carver gym room # 60.

We'll discuss the possibilities for meeting at other times as well.

Two great events coming up: saturday january 17th Mestre Silvinho will be in Bellingham to lead a workshop at the annual Martin Luther King Conference at WCC. We will also have more workshops that afternoon!

We are also in the early stages of planning another workshop by Mestre, this time at northwest indian college, the evening of either february 25th or 26th. Mark your calendars!

Valeu!

In Vancouver BC

Among the many great moments during Mestre Silvinho's visit to Vancouver, BC...

A Chilean, an Austrian, an Italian, a Brasilian and a Colombian bonding through the arts!

Learning how to play the berimbau!

Fall quarter 2014

WWU is back in session, so we have begun to practice Mondays in the VU Multipurpose room again.
We'll be there at 5:40 to set up and warm up. class starts at 6pm and goes until 7:45 or so. Everyone is welcome, regardless of their experience: wear a pair shoes you can move in, long pants, and a t-shirt that can be tucked in.

Some special events coming up:

Mestre Silvinho will be here Tuesday October 28th: we will have a workshop starting from 5:30 to 7:30, in Carver Gym, room 60.

Mestre will be in Bellingham again on Saturday November 8th: time and location of a workshop TBD.

That weekend there will also be some great West African Drumming classes, taught by Guinean master drummer Manimou Camara (see the previous post below).

Finally, the weekend of November 14th to the 16th there will be a full weekend of classes, workshops and rodas in Seattle, with Mestre Jurandir, Mestre Valmir, and ContraMestre Andrea!

click here for more info.

Winter Pause (2013 edition)

SUNDAY, December 15th, there will be an end of the year celebration/roda/potluck in Seattle at the FICA studio, 803 King Street (a few blocks from the Amtrak Station), starting at 3pm and going until the evening lasts.
To mark the roda as "special", Mestre Silvinho has requested that people wear white pants and a white t-shirt to the roda. Special rodas in white (roda de branco) are often held for celebratory purposes; for example, here: 

A women's Bateria

Canjica and Robert playing the jogo de angola

An intergenerational community practice

Official capoeira classes in Bellingham will be on hiatus until Sunday, January 12th. On that date we will resume music classes. Because of the cold, we will be meeting on the ground floor of Bond Hall at WWU, at 11am. Regular movement classes will resume on Monday, January 13th in the Multipurpose Room of the Viking Union.

Also, mark your calendars because on Saturday January 18th we were invited to perform at the annual Martin Luther King Conference at lunch time - around 11:30pm.Mestre Silvinho will be joining us, and possibly we will have the special participation of Treinel Huu from FICA - Chicago.
We will probably schedule Other classes for that day to take advantage of Huu's presence.UPDATE (Dec 27th): Huu will not be joining us.

Treinel is a title given by the Mestres to recognize someone who they trust to teach classes independently, because they have learned a sufficient amount about the history, movements, music, and more broadly the culture of capoeira.
Huu is one of a small but growing number of women who has been recognized as a Treinel, after many years of training and studying under our Mestres. She is currently affiliated with FICA- Chicago.


Be safe, and go see 12 years a slave while you can.