Mestre Nenel has come and gone.

Last week Mestre Nenel visited us from Brazil to officially inaugurate our group as a Filhos de Bimba nucleus here in Toronto.  Mestre Nenel also led a week full of workshops,  classes and talks.  It was an incredible experience for all of us who had a chance to spend time with him.

There is so much that could be said about the experience….I’ll write more when I have a little more time. For now, here are some personal highlights:

• I passed the first three stars or Estrelas in the Filhos de Bimba system.
• I had a chance to play with some new capoeira friends….and an old friend.
• I heard Mestre Nenel play the berimbau.
• I seem to be stuck with my nickname….don’t get me wrong, it’s a great name, I just hope I can live up to it.
• I was made fun of all week by Mestre Nenel….I did get one back on him though.

As I said, there is so much to write about that I can’t do it all now, but to give you some idea of what kind of experience it was , here’s an excerpt from some words I said after our final roda with Mestre Nenel:

Like you, Mestre, I am very shy. But on an occasion such as this I feel it’s important for me to put that aside.

First, I would like to thank you,Mestre Nenel, for coming all the way from Salvador and sharing your knowledge, wisdom and spirit with us here in Toronto. This past week has been a tremendous experience for all of us. It has been especially great for me for unlike many of the other students here I have yet to travel to Brazil and unlike some, this is my first encounter with you. For me, the most powerful experience I will take away from your visit was to hear you speak about what capoeira is. The clarity and humility of your words are surely the sign of a true master. When you said that capoeira is simply capoeira and that of Mestre Bimba’s thousands of students each of them had their own style it became clear to me that we must all find our own path in capoeira. This doesn’t mean that we cannot share the same path and it certainly does not mean that we must find it alone….

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