Mestre Valmir’s visit

On the 7th of May we had the good fortune of having Mestre Valmir from FICA Salvador, Bahia with us for the week. Valmir did classes in the YMCA and also FICA London Valmir is an old friend of ours and it was great to see him and train for a week — even if it was hard to do a class every day for 7 days! For those of you who don’t know Valmir he was Mestre Moraes student for many years before setting up FICA Bahia. Here’s is an old film of him playing in Rio in 1991 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHg8Aby7RKo). He is just about to celebrate 30years of Capoeira.

Valmir, as always, did some great classes — lots of basics with a focus on self-expression and making sure that we stay relaxed, flexible and happy! Valmir also made us think hard about what the objective of our capoeira was — and making sure we kept that in mind at all times.

Valmir also brought with him lots of positive energy and experiences to share. Together we made food for everybody on the Saturday (arrumadinho de Bacalhao — http://tudogostoso.uol.com.br/receita/5842-arrumadinho-de-bacalhau.html)

He gave a caxixi making lesson. We all learnt how hard it is to make a good caxixi! The lesson covered both preparing a raw materials to putting everything together — Valmir made sure he brought everything we needed from Brazil even the seeds..

Valmir was special guest at Joaozinhos roda which went very well (www.marazul.com). A good roda was had by all — including Mestre Joazinho who took the opportunity to play as much as possible!.

Thanks to all who took part and help make the visit a success. Stand by for the next visit!