The First Roda of the Year

The distant thump of the drum quickens my hearbeat, and the pace of my steps.

The soulful singing, beckons me into the thick of the roda. Instantly I am one. Eu sou Bantus capoeira.

The clapping takes me to a trance like state. I scan, and I see the various extensions of myself, in the friends that I now call family. My family. Bantus.

I see a familiar face. Beth from Bantus Australia. I see Soldado from Capoeira Camara. I see the berimbaus, pandeiro, atabuque and the jogo.

I jump in. And I tumble. I move. No. I don’t move. The rhythm moves me. I am but a puppet playing to the tune of the berimbau. And I’ve never been happier letting go of myself.

But not completely. It is now somebody else’s turn to play. And my turn to give back my energy. And I do. I take the berimbau. Almost weightless. A part of me. I play the most important instrument I have, my voice. I sing. And every part of me, every one of you, sing with me.

This is the best description of something that words cannot do justice to.

I see the enthralled crowd. Cameras flashing. I see the smiling faces. Suddenly danger. I see the countless permutations of the language of capoeira. What is said. What isn’t. And what could have been.

Another voice leads the song. And I am once again, an instrument to the roda.

I see moments shared. Lessons learnt. Egos bruised. A couple of skins torn. Blood cements the ties of the roda to the ground we play on. Friends made, lost and at once made again the moment they absorb themselves back into the roda.

This is Bantus Capoeira. This is the roda. This is the jogo. And right now, nothing else in the world matters any more.

The music stops. We break. We hug. We walk away. Knowing we will always take this moment with us, and bring it into our lives and back into the roda the very next time the berimbau calls to us again.

Bantus Capoeira welcomes back all Bantulinos from their long break. It’s gonna be another great capoeira-filled year.

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