March 14, 2002 – Ginga Brasileira, a Connecticut-based dance company that performs the Brazilian gymnastic and martial art form known as capoeira, will appear at the Reichhold Center for the Arts on Friday night and at the St. Croix Education Complex on Saturday night.
Both performances are in tribute to John Jowers, who retired on Dec. 31 after 32 years as associate director and executive director of the V.I. Council on the Arts. (See news page story, "Performances are a tribute to VICA's Jowers".)
Capoeira is a martial art form developed by Africans brought as slaves to Brazil that has evolved into a ritualized performance art as well as a competitive sport today.
Essentially it is gymnastic kick-boxing to the insistent rhythm of percussion instruments led by the berimbau, a deceptively simple-looking hand-held, one-stringed instrument with a seed-filled gourd attached.
There are indications that capoeira originated in the northeastern Bahia area of Brazil soon after the first enslaved Bantu peoples were brought there in the 1500s. It started in plantation slave quarters as a secretive fighting form among the Africans, a blending of tribal dances and traditions. In the 1600s, as Portugal concentrated on repelling Dutch incursions into Brazil, many slaves escaped into the forests where they established their own villages, where capoeira continued to evolve.
In the 1800s, Portugal began suppressing African cultural practices in its colony. This attitude carried over when slavery was abolished in 1888 and Brazil became an independent republic: Its first constitution, in 1892, outlawed capoeira. But, of course, it continued to be practiced — as a ritualistic fighting sport, a violent element of carnival and an instrument of gang terrorism in various regions. In the 1930s, it gained legitimacy with the opening of the first capoeira academy, where it was taught and practiced competitively for the first time in a formal setting.
In 1974, capoeira was recognized as the national sport of Brazil. Today it has become a popular martial art worldwide. It combines fighting and dancing, music and culture, history and innate knowledge, the physical and the mental. The principal moves are golpes (kicks), rasteiras (sweeps) and capecadas (head-butts). Here's a description of the action taken from an Internet site:
"It usually starts with musicians playing instruments such as the berimbau, atabaque (congo), pandeiro (tambourine) and agogo (bell). The musicians are based at the foot of the circle (roda) made up of capoeiristas or players crouching down. The musicians and/or players may be singing a song in Portuguese. Players enter the game from the pe da roda (foot of the circle), usually with an au (cartwheel). Once in the circle, the two players interact with a series of jumps, kicks, flips, hand- and headstands and other ritualistic moves. Games can be friendly or dangerous. The music plays a big part in the feel of the game. The type of game to be played (fast or slow, friendly or tough) depends upon the rhythm being played and the content of the lyrics."
Ginga Brasileira was founded by Efraim Silva, who started practicing capoeira at the age of 13 in the state of Sao Paulo. As a young adult, he started his own capoeira group and opened his own academy. In competition, he became the Sao Paulo state champion and then, in 1988, won a national title. He moved to the United States the following year and became a master teaching artist in Connecticut. He is the artistic director of Afro-Brazilian Performing Arts of Connecticut and tours extensively with Ginga Brasileira.
The company's presentation also incorporates Brazilian samba music and maculele, an African-Brazilian stick-dance form. In addition to performing Friday and Saturday nights, the group is doing residencies in schools on all three islands.
Betty Mahoney, special projects coordinator and acting executive director of VICA, is excited about bringing Ginga Brasileira to the Virgin Islands for two reasons. One is the fact that she and a partner once owned a Brazilian club in Los Angeles. The other has to do with the fact that she is pursuing a degree in arts administration and management as a part-time distance-learning student at the Miami-based Internet Union Institute. For her first-year writing and research course, she did her thesis on capoeira.
"They are incredible," she says of the dance company. "To see a cultural, vibrant art form like this in action is truly a thrill."
For more information on Efraim Silva and his touring group, visit the gingabrasileira web site.
For Ginga Brasileira's performance Friday at 8 p.m. at the Reichhold Center, tickets are $25 (covered section), $15 and $10. They're available at the Reichhold box office, the UVI bookstore, Parrot Fish Music, both Modern Music shops, and Krystal & Gifts Galore. Reserve by charge card by calling 693-1559.
For the group's performance Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Education Complex, tickets are $20 for all seats, and they'll be sold at the door.
For additional information, call the VICA office at 774-5984.
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