Last night I experienced what it was like to have Axé when you least expect it, and saw what it did to my game. At the end of a class, training with Mestre Jelon's group in Salvador, we had a Roda. There was nothing energetic about the setting. It was dark, damp, and muggy in the room. The floor was torn concrete and the stench of the uncleaned bathroom was overwhelming. We were sweaty, and dirty, full of mosquito bites, and there were only 7 of us. It was essentially an open shack in the middle of a low-income area in Salvador with a somber feeling to it. But it was beautiful.
Maybe it is the energy of Brasil itself, or the energy of Capoeira, but I have never felt so drawn to the Roda as I did last night. I don't remember any of my games, which is how I know that I succeeded in letting the matter in my body take over my mind. But I do remember how I felt. I felt like I was flying. I felt like I was really, really playing Capoeira. In Capoeira, you have to feel the game. You can't think through the game like a math problem; there is not 1 solution applicable to every game. Every game is different. There is a different energy level, a different opponent, a different song, a different setting. The capoeiristas I played in the roda with moved so fluidly, almost weightless, with an eye contact so intense that you knew exactly when to esquiva. It was the real dialog that IS capoeira. I rose to the level of their game, and I thank them for allowing me to do so.
And the most unique thing about last night... there were no instruments, there was no singing, and no clapping - just the 7 of us, breathing, focusing, and an ipod chanting in the background. But the energy, the Axé of the Brazilian capoeiristas in the room, was overwhelming. You could feel it and you could taste it, and it was the most fun I've ever had in a Roda.
Beijos
Meagan
