Contra Mestra Ana Dourada 30 Years of Capoeira – Austria, 26 to 28 June 2015
My first Capoeira event abroad, since the Brazil (Araruama) crazy adventure back in April 2013 with Guimba and DDL. Also my first trip to Austria and Switzerland! Because the event took place in Bregenz it made more sense to travel to Zurich then get a train: quicker AND cheaper flight, from Gatwick.
I was one of the first people to say I’d go, back in January, I’m not even sure why as I didn’t know who else was going, but thankfully, Paula, Dayanna and Flavia eventually joined. We were told we would be staying together at Ana’s nephew’s flat, on Bahnhofstrase, 6858, Schwarzach, Austria.
So, I woke up at 4am on Friday morning and got in the taxi to Gatwick at 4:45, from my house it’s pretty quick – about 35 minutes when there’s no traffic. At the aiport I met Dayanna, and then Ponciano and Irineu at the departure gate. A quick 1 hour and 20 minute flight later and Dayanna and I continued by train. Poncianinho and Irineu were getting picked up by car.
Dayanna had never been to Austria either, but I had planned the journey by train from home: Train to St. Gallen, then change to train to St. Margrethen, finally train to Bregenz. We bought our tickets and off we went with an ETA of 13:00. Dayanna ended up helping me with one of my cases, my backpack with all the bedding was a tad too heavy and it has no wheels… We missed one of our connection trains to St. Gallen, but still managed to get there on time to be picked up at the train station by Pepeto and Capoeira Austria!
Then we arrived at Luciana’s house. Irineu Nogueira(London), Prof. Jana CDO(Munich), Mestre Jason, Mestre Poncianinho, Iuna (Berlin) were there, and more people arrived… We were entertained by Irineu for a while – he used to be in ‘Banana Split’, which I vaguely remember from when I lived in Brazil. So charismatic and flamboyant. I ate some yummy rice pudding while listening to his tales.
A bit later Mestre Boca Rica(Barcelona), Mestre Parente CDO(Liverpool) and CM Izol(Berlin) arrived. We were sat in the garden and it was HOT! We could also see the Alps around us.
Then Ana took us to where we were staying, which was about a 15 minute walk away, here (ish): https://goo.gl/maps/1pqCP. Paula was already settled, as she had arrived the night before. We had a room to ourselves. Floor sleeping, which I thought was a good thing because my back had been hurting for the last few days, like I pulled a muscle or something. Camping always does my back wonders, I figured this would do too. Provided I could actually get some sleep. People in Austria seem to like these robots (rasenroboter), they were everywhere mowing lawns 😀 We agreed it was kinda spooky!
Martin was our host, born and raised in the area, and very hospitable. Marita and Dana had been staying there for the first night, but were ‘moving’ to another place, Luciana took them there. This was some of the view from the balcony, Alps and barn!
Event’s line up/info
Mestre Poncianinho (Mojuba London)
Mestre Boca Rica (CDO Grupo de Capoeira Cordão de Ouro Barcelona)
Mestre Pepeto (Barracao da Capoeira Athens)
Mestre Parente (Cdo Liverpool)
Mestre Calango Biriba( UNIÃO CAPOEIRA From Brazil)
Mestre Pezao( Capoeira Angola Dende de Mare London)
Mestre Irineu Nogueira(London)
Contra Mestre Braulio Cavalheiro (Malaysia)
Contra Mestre Primo ( Cdo Bolonha)
Contra Mestre Jason (Dandara Grecia)
Contra Mestre Manga (Capoeira Austria)
Contra Mestre Izol (CDO Berlim)
Prof Dengoso( Capoeira Uniao Switzerland)
Prof Paulo Soneca Paulo( Capoeira Unioa Germany )
Prof Janaina ( CdoMünchen)
Instrutor Silvio (Alemar Capoeira Germany)
Instrutor Bambu (Mojuba Italy)Friday:
18.00 p.m. registration
18.30 till 21.30 p.m. capoeira workshop and rodaAddress:Landessportzentrum Höchsterstr.82
6850 DornbirnFriday: Party:ab 22.30 Uhr Live Samba Bar La Gondola
Saturday:
11.30 a.m. registration
12.00 a.m. till 19.00 p.m. workshops, rodas and Show
Address:Volksschule Bütze WolfurtSaturday:Party: ab 22 Uhr Cuba Cuba: Bar Bregenz
Sunday:
12.00 a.m. till 17.00 p.m. workshops and rodas
Address:Volksschule Bütze WolfurtSunday :Party Luau the lake.
Prices:
3 Days: 80€
2 Days: 70€
1 Day: 50€
After getting ready and making our floorbeds (when in a German speaking country, build words like they do!) we went to Ana’s at 5(ish) to get a lift to the event. We registered for the event and got yellow armbands. My memory is failing me now! But I think we had a workshop with Mestre Parente and Mestre Jason. I liked Mestre Jason’s sequence and also learned something for next workshop: film the sequences, because right now I don’t remember them in full! One of the students, Maria, was doing that.
We finished with a roda – I had a great game with Marita, then back to base to get changed. Oh, I nearly forgot, Ana got kicked quite hard on the face, right at the end of the roda! Mestre Poncianinho had called it to end with the berimbau, but she wanted to carry on playing and bam! Hit on the eyecheek by Mestre Izol. It swelled up badly straight away, must have been very hard. Mestre Izol moves incredibly fast and is very bendy! We got a lift back with Jeremias, one of Ana’s student who spoke Portuguese and English very well and was a gentleman. His wife: a Brazilian we were to meet on Sunday: Samara.
The bar where the party was going on was very near us, so we just walked there. When we got there Ana said we could eat anything from buffet for 7.50Euros, bargain! Then we realised the buffet was the same pasta with spicy sauce, ham/cheese sauce and no sauce. And some salad. We were all famished and it tasted pretty good. I’d have been happy with the ham/cheese pasta alone. I ate two massive platefulls, and only managed to drink three beers because I was so full! Music was live and it was great, there were two cavaquinhos! A lot of dancing and singing, then all done at around midnight. I had two cheeky fags I bummed off people, I really don’t know how to socialize without them 🙁
We then had a bit of an epic situation to deal with. In theory, Flavia was in a taxi on her way to the pub, but she never turned up. So Ana told us to wait by the road as she would arrive any minute. After a while there was no sign of her so we called her(Luckily my phone can be used in Europe at no extra cost!). Flavia said she was walking down the road and we started whistling and asking if she had just seen things going past us. We finally figured out she was nowhere near us. We didn’t know the full address of where we were, Ana and Poncianinho weren’t answering. So we went back to the flat, we took the geolocation (thanks Google Maps!) and we sent it to her. About 30 minutes later Flavia finally arrived. She had had a nightmare evening getting there, starting with a delayed flight, no one speaking English, and deserted streets: finding taxis was difficult! But we managed in the end! Go us! Go Flavia!
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Saturday 27 July 2015
Didn’t get much sleep: flies and snoring kept me awake, but at least my back felt better. And Paula cooked a great breakfast for us: eggs, tomatoes, spinach, hummus and tuna. And green tea. We couldn’t work the coffee machine! What’s wrong with instant coffee people?!?!?! We got a lift from Ana’s with Canario to a lovely looking school in Wolfurt, Montfortstraße. Dayanna took this selfie outside the school, my favourite!
The day started with Irineu’s Afro dancing workshop, which was HARD and wonderful.
Then a workshop with Prof. Janaina, one of the exercises was to move ALWAYS with at least one hand touching the floor.
Video: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plasmatika/19271415986
There was also a workshop with Primo (mostly singing) and a sequence that stuck with me. Mestre Izol. Mestre Pepeto asked me to translate for him for a bit, then after a while he spoke in pretty damned good English himself. He did the same in the last workshop 😀
Then roda(s). I had a really vivacious game with a guy who looks like Steve Buscemi (and my father) and we became mates after that. I can’t remember his name though. By the end of the day everyone was exhausted and everyone had made new friends.
Jeremias came to the rescue again, he drove us back home then picked us up later and took us to Cuba Bar in Bregenz. I had tried to buy smokes earlier but the machine wouldn’t take my money. Later I found out that you need a card (so underage kids don’t buy them) – a kind man helped me buy them, he let me use his card once I explained I was from London and the machine didn’t seem to work. So I had plenty nicotine and alcohol for the night. PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dayanna convinced us that drinking rum + coke was a good idea and it was. Better than beer, as that makes me sleepy after a while. I got pretty drunk and fell off a chair and thought nothing of it. In fact I completely forgot until the next day, when it was pointed out to me that I had a bloody ear!
Ana Dourada performed her last dance, or so she says 😉
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Sunday 27 July 2015
We went to sleep at 5:00, but before that I made us some kind of food with the leftover chicken Paula had cooked and a can of beans and another one of lentils. And some frankfurters I found in the fridge. Surprisingly tasty and I think it saved our lives a bit. At 6 the church bells went MAD, they rang for what seemed like an eternity in some elaborate Sunday morning church concert. I mean, wtf, seriously???? Got some sleep after that and we were up around 10, hungover and exhausted.
Luckily (thanks to Insanity I think!) I had no muscular pains of any kind, but some people complained of sore legs/hips. No wonder really, we trained A LOT on Saturday and danced for most of the night! Flavia left earlier as she was getting a lift to the venue, on account of having a suitcase and leaving on Sunday. Dayanna, Paula and I had a nice relaxed breakfast and got the bus to the venue, which was the same as Saturday. We were about an hour late and missed the Maculele class which was just as well, because I don’t think I could have coped with hitting sticks and jumping around given the sorry state I was in when we got there.
We walked in sheepishly halfway through Mestre Calango’s Maculele class, and I still had to put my lenses on. The ones I brought with me are the disposables which are way too big, so it takes a long time to put them on, and my eyes were aching from tiredness. Anyway, I put them on and laid on the floor. Mestre Poncianino gave me two aspirins and I got ready for the next class with Contra Mestre Braulio Cavalheiro (Malaysia). He also had a hangover. Pretty much everyone was hangover and exhausted. Part of the challenge getting through this!!!!! I was training with a girl of about 12/13 years old and it was easy going, thankfully. Enjoyable too, she was very cute and smiley.
I got through Mestre Boca Rica’s workshop – JUST. My legs had nothing left, neither did anyone else’s. But I did talk to him and said I was going to stop, I felt dizzy and my brain just wasn’t working anymore and couldn’t do the sequence he had given. So I stopped, but his class finished 5 minutes later.
Then it was time for a 20 minute lunch break. I had coffee and cake. I said to Ponciano I was really sorry but I didn’t think I’d make it. He said to at least try for a bit and see. So I did. And it ended up being quite enjoyable! Because I knew his class, I wasn’t having to think as hard – and my body started responding again (coffee + sugar), so I finished the class! The hangover was gone and I felt normal again. Mestre did performance where he tells a story he was told as a child, and he does capoeira moves as a monkey, snake, tiger. I have seen it once before and it’s amazing. So proud and privileged to be his student!
Then Ana gave a very emotional speech, she comes from a family of 14 children! What a woman. Batalhadora mesmo! as we say in Portuguese.
Once again kind Jeremias came to our rescue! All the shops were shut and we had no food or booze. So he drove us to where his wife works, only petrol stations are open on Sundays, and she works in one with a really nice self service cafeteria. She gave us some money off vouchers too, for the food. We got some cooked food, which I devoured there and then, so hungry! We drove back with his wife, they dropped us off by the lake for the luau, and went home, to drop the car and come back later. Jeremias, you are a star!
So we spent the rest of the evening by the lake, taking photos, singing. Couldn’t drink much (not a bad thing) because we had no beers, and the nearby place closed at sundown. Still managed to get two pints of beer. We sat by the fire when it got dark, and the Mestres were doing a bit of brazilian rapping, which was basically them taking the piss out of Pepeto, and Pepeto failing to rhyme whenever he tried. Very funny.
Taxis picked us up to go back to base – while we waited a car turned up and accelerated down the road towards us, very noisily, it was kinda scary. Another car try and failed to do a doughnut. Actually some of the driving we saw was hair raising. Easy to forget driving in the UK is safe and done well most of the time! Marita and Dana joined us at the flat for our last night and slept in the living room.
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Sunday 27 July 2015
Not a great night’s sleep again, but I got some sleep, and also had a crazy sleep paralysis dream, where I kept trying to scream and run, hadn’t had one of those for ages, I think it was due to exhaustion!
Awake at 9:30 then we started packing slowly, showered… Said bye to Marita and Dana, and had our best breakfast yet! At the bakery near the flat. What a treat! Then we got a bus to Bregenz and started our three train journey to Zurich, which went quite smoothly, we didn’t have to wait for long for the connection trains, all in all a great journey.
Once in Zurich airport we put our bags in lockers and took a tram (Number 10) to Zurich town – we had some lunch by the river, took some photos, then back to the airport. I ended up having another coffee at 19:30, I was so tired. Then our flight got delayed by 1 hour. We didn’t get back to Gatwick until 23:30.
Photos, some mine, some not (most are not public, have to be my friend to see them)
THE END!
Update: The trip ended up costing more than I thought it would! It was meant to be a cheap weekend…
72.62 – Insurance £17.43, Chocolate @ Airport = £53.59+1.6
125.04 – Flight
35 – Taxi to Gatwick
350.78 – Euros/Swiss Francs, all spent
56.26 – Train ticket to/From Bregenz
TOTAL – £639.7