News from Abolicao South Africa

Cape Town Trip

Thanks to the Abolicao Trust four capoeira boys from Hamburg, here in the Eastern Cape, spent a week in Cape Town. They played lots of capoeira, and enjoyed life in a big historical city.

They were invited to a Batizado, or graduation ceremony, by Graduado Beleza of Abada Capoeira. Graduado Beleza has been able to do a lot of community initiative capoeira programs with youth from rural deprived areas, and from prisons and young offender centres. He has been to visit the Abolicao Hamburg Group, and is very enthusiastic about the capoeira that is played here.

The trip allowed the boys to see capoeira in a wider context, with mainly adult students, and a lot of Brazilian capoeiristas. It was impressive to see how the two youngest boys, Besouro and Lampiao were unintimidated by the large size of the capoeira rodas, and were keen to play many games of capoeira in front of crowds of onlookers.

Despite the high quality of the capoeira during the Batizado week, when asked what the highlight of the trip had been, the answer was "the Waterfront", which is a beach facing shopping centre with cafes, and a promenade.

By Bailarina and Xaruto