A Grand Day Out: Capoeira Festival

As the focus of my stay in Sydney has been to earn and save money, I’ve not done or seen much. This has proved frustrating and has led to a few bursts of rage as my life here began to mirror the one back home.

Part of me feels like I have wasted my time when I compare what I have done in Sydney to all the adventures I have experienced in other countries. But that’s life. I knew I was coming to Australia to work. I was hoping to be earning more money than I am and often wonder whether I could have done more - a second job perhaps or not settling for the first job I got. I don't want to leave Australia with regrets and am choosing to look at the bigger picture instead. Living and working in Australia has been an experience in itself, not the greatest, but still something worth acknowledging.

You have laid witness to my Sydney So Far purge which, hopefully, has set the scene for how I have been living the past few months. Now I'm moving on to what I have actually done here. I have attended quite a few free events in Sydney and had some great days out. Although recently, a couple of people have told me I shouldn't bother writing a blog any more. Firstly - "because it's just a diary and who wants to read that?" and because I don't write something everyday, my blog is pointless. I didn't argue with either person. Sometimes, when statements are so moronic I just shut myself off and breeze past it. There's no reasoning with some people so what's the point in wasting my time and efforts convincing them otherwise? I must also add that neither of these people have actually read my blog yet they feel the need to tell me this. Being the stubborn person that I am, it actually provided me with the impetus to keep going. A bit backward I know as you'd think it would make me question my blog or myself. The thing is, when someone tells me I can't do something or that what I'm doing doesn't fit in with their opinions, I rebel. What can I say, I like proving people wrong.

*****

It was another quiet day at work and I was shuffling the newspapers in an attempt to look busy. At this point it was justified as a few people had returned the newspapers in a great mess. I often chuckle to myself as my Dad always used to rant at me about how I never fold back the paper properly and just shove it under the TV stand. It’s times like these where I have a new appreciation for what my Dad had said to me. It is damn annoying!

Upon doing this, a few leaflets fell out of the Manly Daily – a free local newspaper. They’re usually retail magazines but today was different. I looked closely and saw that a Capoeira Festival was taking place at Warringah Mall which isn’t too far from where I work.

My only knowledge of Capoeira were the brief glimpses of that old BBC interlude. Until recently that is. A guy I met in Japan (Alistair), took part in a few Capoeira sessions whilst I saw him in Tokyo. As my knowledge of this subject was pathetically weak, I wasn’t able to contribute more than one word sentences. He did describe a few of the moves he practiced after I saw him limping the day after one of his sessions and it sounded pretty impressive.

I never thought much more of the subject until I picked up that leaflet. It reignited my curiosity. The festival was a few days away. It did take place whilst I was working but it wasn’t too much of a stretch for me to go there after my shift. I’m glad I did. It was a brilliant sight to see people of all ages move gracefully across the stage with great athleticism but seemingly minimal effort.

I have since learned that Capoeira was founded around 500 years ago. What started off as a fusion of African cultural dances in Brazil has since evolved into a globally practised martial art.

I tried to take some photos but I found it difficult capturing the right moment.

Picture of kids: The performance was structured by experience and started with the children all the way up to the tutors.

I combined two videos so I apologise in advance for the dodgy editing!

As I didn't fair too well with my photo-taking, I captured some video footage instead.

My first impression was, wow. Then I couldn't help thinking - if I did this, I would definitely get smacked in the face.

The music reverberated around the mall and the atmosphere was contagious. You couldn't help but smile, cheer and clap. It was a wonderful end to a dreary day spent at work.