Capoeira: African-Brazilian Martial Arts Dance Workshop

Saturday, February 12 | 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm~Deollo Johnson and Fred Simpson
Cost: $20 for the event

Capoeira is an African-Brazilian martial arts dance. Tracing its roots to parts of West Africa, the fighting system (or systems) of these Africans became disguised as a dance after their forced migration to Brazil with the European slave trade. Capoeira integrates strikes, sweeps, acrobatics, dance, music, and theatrics into a seamless flow, a “conversation of bodies”, that emphasizes improvisation and creativity, guile and grace. In this class conditioning drills, movements, and movement flows of capoeira will be the focus, and the class will generally conclude with a roda, the circle in which capoeira is “played” and comes alive. All levels welcome!

Bios : Deollo Johnson - Deollo has been teaching capoeira for over 25 years. He has taught capoeira nationally as an adjunct faculty member at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as at Arizona State University, the American Dance Festival, at festivals, and many other locations, and internationally at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and in Hayti. Fred Simpson - Drummer, teacher, and drum maker Fred Simpson was drumming his mother’s pots and pans at one-and-a-half years of age. He started drumming professionally at UC-Santa Cruz and in the decades since then has performed, taught, and lectured in New York City, at the Kennedy Center, San Francisco Ethnic Dance, and many more venues.

Photo Credit: Michael Clark