We went into the restaurant that sits in the belly the Solar de Unhao. Tonight there were few touristsand we were able to sit at a table near the centerstage. The entire restaurant is situated around a big wooden deck in the center of the room. We sat and waited a few minutes until the first fewmen entered the room and began to set up theirdrums. There were about five of them, three on tall drums, one on a fat round one, and the lastman, who was missing one of his hands, played a tulip shaped bell. They began their warmup andthe show started.
At first, all the men entered flipping and jumping.This was absolutely astounding. Some of the studentsdid hand stands and slid across the floor on theirheads. Others entered running and flipped in theair, touching their feet on the straw rolls pinnedto the ceiling. Every one of them demonstratedextraordinary agility and strength.
Then four people entered, three women and one man.They all had dresses on, the man in blue, and the three women in red, gold and the final one coveredfrom head to toe in straw. They began to dance asthe rythm accelerated. The man danced first. Hiscolors represented water. He spun and weaved on thefloor and when he finished, the woman in red danced, followed by the one in gold and finally the womanin straw. After the final dancer had completed her steps, another man entered, dressed in red. I wasinformed that he was the king, and in the ceremonyhe was married to the woman in gold.
After they finished, the dancers exited with the Capoeira students. After a few moments, some of the men returned wearing fisherman hats. They were soonjoined by the women, dressed in flowery dressesand headdress. The men sat on the floor and rowedin place. Then one of the men grabbed a net, andas they all chanted, he through it into the air.The women crowed and the men grabbed parts of thenet and spun around.
Everyone exited again, and in a few moments all returned and circled the stage. One man, topless and wearing red pants entered carrying two saucerscontaining red hot coals and burning flames. Heplaced these on the ground and began chantng and dancing about, stomping his feet inches from the saucers. He then procured two lances whcih he placed in the fire and set aflame. He stuck one in his mouth until it was extinguished. He lit it again and placed the other in his mouth untilhe had achieved the same effect. He then ran theflames down his arms and repeated what he had justdone until both we extinguished. Then he replacedthe lances and grabbed the plates of fire, swoopingthem around as he spun and muttered.
As he finished, another woman entered, topless aswell, and she danced about, although I couldn'ttell what was special about what she was doingother than the fact that she was doing it topless.
Following this, six of the Capoeira students reentered the room, topless and wearing straw skirts.The carried swords and their sheaths and they spunas they danced, at first whacking the sheathes againsteach other, and the using the swords creatingfantastic sparks. The drummers accelerated theirpounding and the students quickened their dancing.At first it was one-on-one, with two dancers, spinningcounterclockwise, smacking their swords together,and then spinning back clockwise. After time passed, four of them worked together, two spinning into each other, while the other spun apart, and then fallingback apart while the other two spun together. It wasa terrific rythm and the clashing of the swords andthe sparks gave a tremendous effect.
Finally, it was time for the Capoeira. Once againthe students entered flipping and weaving theirway onto the stage. The began to spar, which is a much different form of sparring from other martialarts that I have seen. In Capoeira, the flip andcartwheel, testing the other person. Once they see an opening, they kick, never landing a blow,but kicking and spinning, blocking and flipping.When two warriors are well practiced, they can kick in complete rythm so there is a flurry of feet passing by each other's noses. The continued.The drummers sped up their tempo every other minuteand as the pace increased, the higher ranking studentsentered the ring and the fighting became more frenzieand acrobatic. It became almost dizzying to seethe feet whipping through the air. Supposedlyone of those kicks could impart 160 kilos of pressureif it hit you in the face, so it was fortunateno one was hit.
At the en of the show, all the students and the women in the troupe came out and began to dance,plucking people from the crowd. The musiciansperformed their own acoustic version of "SambaJulianne" by Bom Balanco, one of the favorites in this year's Carnaval. The only drawback tothe entire night was that we found ourselves stuckwith a bill of $R 38,00 after drinking nothingbut water. Apparently, according to our waiter,they have been charging for 12 years, but my girlfriendsaid she had come several times and never receiveda cover charge. We agreed it was most likely a bill for the fact that I was a tall blond American,but the show was almost worth that cover anyway
Posted by Chris Dawson |
