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Q & A with Mestres Nenel and Burguês |
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Sunday, 26 August 2007 |
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Translation into English: Shayna McHugh
Source: Praticando Capoeira What were the main discharacterizations suffered by capoeira regional with the passage of time? Should the capoeira practiced today be called "regional"?Mestre Nenel: Since the term "capoeira regional" is understood to mean Mestre Bimba's teaching methods and traditions, it's possible to say that capoeira regional became extinct after Bimba's death. The proof that regional lost its principles and traditions is the idea that the majority of capoeiristas have about this style: throw the legs up in the air and do impressive flips. In order to be a practitioner of capoeira regional, one must practice the teachings of Bimba; if not, it’s not regional
Mestre Burguês: The main changes are the adoption of cords for the system of graduation of the students. The use of other teaching methods besides the sequences, the technical evolution of the movements, the velocity of the game, the formation of the bateria with three berimbaus, atabaque, etc. I try to respect the fundamentals of capoeira regional when we play its characteristic rhythms; however, we don’t call ourselves capoeira regional – we call ourselves capoeira as a whole.
The well-known phenomenon of "becoming a mestre overnight" has been one of the main problems of contemporary capoeira. What motivated this "rush" on the part of many capoeiristas? What attitudes can be taken (and on whose part) in order to avoid this problem?Mestre Nenel: In my opinion, this happens because being a "mestre," in recent years, has become a result of graduation. The student, in the academy, goes up through the cord system until he reaches the mestre cord. In the old days, it wasn't like this. The old mestres didn't have the custom of "graduating" to mestre. They would train until they naturally received the recognition of their work. Sincerely, I think it's improbable to change this situation, because the cord system is one of the sources of income for capoeira groups.
Mestre Burguês: The main reason, in my point of view, is the lack of humility and patience of these capoeiristas; they can't wait for the right moment to be mestre. Their hurry is usually due to the seeking of status and also the commercial side, where they imagine that, being mestre at any cost, they will be more successful. In the old days, the capoeirista had to have the recognition of the community in order to be mestre. Today, inside the big groups, besides this, there are other criteria such as recognition, work developed, conduct, performance, etc. However, many capoeiristas don't agree and leave their groups, forming another without the least preparation – and, what's worse, with the support of certain recognized mestres in our community. This problem could be resolved by the unity of the true mestres, even though they have their differences of opinion, but united around the same ideal: loyalty and ethics for our art – capoeira.
In your opinion, what criteria should be taken into account for someone who wants to choose a capoeira group to train in?Mestre Nenel: When someone seeks me out to train capoeira, I ask about his goals, in order to find out if my philosophy is in tune with his purposes. There are those who seek capoeira because of love for the art; others because they want to fight; and still others in order to release stress or lose weight. There exists a corresponding capoeira group for each of these types.
Mestre Burguês: First of all, the group's philosophy, organization, and history. Seek to know if they practice what they preach. |
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