York Woods District Blog

What's "capoeira" ?

Capoeira is a Brazilian
martial art that combines elements of dance, music and game. What I love about capoeira
is the physical conditioning all while singing, dancing and having some playful
competition!

Marcio Mendes from Muiraquita
Capoeira will be at the Downsview Branch on Saturday September 29^th,
at 12:30 pm for a one-hour workshop to talk about the history and culture of
capoeira. His students will demonstrate an energetic round of capoeira and teach
everyone some basic capoeira moves!  

To give you a sneak peek
of what to expect, here’s a short interview with Marcio!

D!ana: You
mention on your website (http://www.muiraquitacapoeira.com/) that your first
contact with capoeira was in a spontaneous way…could you tell me a bit about
that experience?

Marcio: Everyone in Brazil
tries capoeira at least once in their life and most people start like me… right
on the streets! Capoeira is everywhere in Brazil. Every afternoon after school,
my friends and I would hang out in this little soccer field to play soccer.
Some of us imitated capoeira movements we would see capoeira players doing in
the rodas (a circle formed by capoeira players when they practice the
movements).

D: What inspired you to open a school in Toronto?

M: It was when I became a capoeira instructor
in the early 90s! Capoeira was in every aspect of my life. Everything I did, I
associated it with capoeira such as my course at university and my volunteer
work at the YMCA and the Red Cross.

D:
Do you have any memorable moments/experiences with capoeira?

M:
Yes, a lot! But the two that are most important to me was when I met my
capoeira master Mestre Bezerra and my first
capoeira graduation.

D:
There are so many great benefits to learning capoeira! What can someone new to
capoeira hope to get out of it?

M:
A sense of balance in life…not just physically, but spiritually and mentally!

Thank you Marcio for the mini interview!

A capoeira workshop + demonstration is not to be missed out on especially if you've never seen one before!

The workshop is FREE and open to
everyone. Paren'ts must accompany kids under 14 years of age. No registration
required. Please call the branch for more information.

Want to learn more?

The Toronto Public Library has great books and DVDs about the history of capoeira, the philosophies behind the art and basic to advanced instructional material!

For more information
about Muiraquita Capoeira, please visit http://www.muiraquitacapoeira.com/

For a listing of the Culture Days Programs at the Toronto Public Library, visit http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-and-classes/featured/culturedays.jsp

For more
information about Culture Days and the different activities, visit http://culturedays.ca/

*The first 10 people to post
a response to this capoeira post will receive a special Culture Days
treat! The treat will be sent to any Toronto Public Library branch you visit! 
Post your response below about whether you'll be attending the capoeira program or
which Culture Days program you'll be checking out! 🙂