It still amazes me how many Brazilians are in Japan. Tonight at class, 7 Brazilian capoeristas from other groups came to our class. Five guys and a couple of chicks. I think Z may have known most of them, as he's pretty well-known in the Capoeira world in Japan. Z's the highest ranking ABADA instructor in Japan, and everyone knows ABADA Capoeira.
I guess maybe some of the Japanese kids in our class may have been a little intimidated because the Brasilieros all looked pretty strong. Z started our roda about a half-hour earlier than usual, most likely to accomodate our guests. In the roda, most of the visitors seemed pretty skilled. Some of them played the berimbau and led some songs, some of which I hadn't heard before. One really short girl was amazing; she was flipping and doing inverted moves on her head like crazy. The overall play was good, although it seemed a little competitive as everytime a member from our group would enter the roda, one of the visitors would jump in, and vice versa. I played several times. I played against one of the visiting guys, and got kicked in the face after doing a kick and coming up with my guard down. I wasn't kicked too hard, so I wasn't hurt, and rolled out of it into another move. Seconds later, the guy I was playing jumped out and a big, tall Brazilian chick jumped in. I played with her until someone from my group relieved me. Z played a bunch and represented his skills all over our visitors, as well as some of our group members. He's the man, without question.
I'm still young in the game, so getting kicked in the face was a good lesson in defense. The roda is the school of hard knocks. Though, there were no grudges or hard feelings after the roda. What happens in the roda,remains in the roda--such is the nature of Capoeira. At the end of the roda, I shook the hand of the guy who kicked me. Good play.
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