I’ve seen a lot of amazing things at the ICBIE, but yesterday’s performance by Mestre Pedro’s Capoeira troupe surpassed them all. At four o’clock in the afternoon, about twenty incredible artists, ranging in age from eight to sixty, transformed the open space of our future theater into the site of a stunning ritual of twisting and catapulting bodies, berimbaus, drums and spirited chants, led by an extraordinary man, Mestre Pedro “Pé di Ferro” (“iron-foot”). As the founder of the Associaçao de Capoeira Filhos do Sol Nascente, he has become a true hero for hundreds of families of the Alagados, a terrible no-man’s-land of shacks built on stilts over the All Saints’ Bay.
For several years, the ICBIE has profited from his friendship; he has helped us to recruit many wonderful kids, and our instructors and guests have had the unique opportunity of participating in his lessons in the roofless, burnt out ruin of a movie theater on the edge of the slum where he operates. (See the “Think Capoeira” link in the blogroll sidebar for more information.)
Yesterday’s show was arranged before the departure of the three social workers Maddalena, Lorenza and Rita, who have been our guests for the last fifty days. The breathtaking two-hour show was performed for a mere handful of spectators! Capoeira is a leading tourist attraction in Salvador, but the downtown performances are Disneyland-like replicas of the art, lacking the fierce intensity and total committment that we were so privileged to witness last night.
Still photos like the one above fail to capture the extraordinary vitality of Mestre Pedro’s group, but fortunately, I was able to capture about forty minutes of video, which I’ll be editing in the coming days, and there will soon be a couple of amazing new YouTube postings, so be prepared!
Roy Zimmerman
