I left my bags at home, attended the class, met her students, and then her student gave us a ride back home.
In one evening with Zoinho, I heard and learned so much about her life, about her history in capoeira, that I couldn’t remember everything. This meeting was special. Firstly, Zoinho was the first female capoeira coach that I had talked to during my travels, who after the move to another country continued to practice capoeira and opened her own group.
Secondly, and even more importantly, she knew my master, Papa-Leguas, much longer than I did and could tell a lot about his years in England. And she did. My first message to the master was: “I met Zoinho, she is amazing. Thank you, mestre, for giving us so many topics for conversation.”
In short, we were on the same wave with her and could hardly lay ourselves to sleep, because chatting with her was much more interesting.
I flew away the next morning, having arranged an interview with her on Skype.
I was in Hong Kong in October 2019, and the interview with Zoinho took place in April 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, when everyone was at home and Zoinho was no exception.
Conversation with Instutora Zoinho
Curiosa: Tell me more about your background: where are you from? What did you do before you started capoeira?
Zoinho: I am from the Philippines; I was born in the USA but my family moved back to Manila where I lived until I finished high school. I did a lot of sports when I was younger but nothing like capoeira. I did concur jumping and represented Philippines in competitions. I was on a football team and did a lot of sports at school because I wanted to travel with a special program for athletes.
Then I went to a university in the UK where I hardly did any sports, I was going out a lot and was literally just a club kid for a few years. I went to the gym once so often.
I was in the music industry; once I finished university, I moved back to Philippines, worked in media and was partying professionally almost every single night. That lifestyle wasn’t so great and I was burned out. Then I moved back to the UK to do my master’s degree in Public Relations and to start my life all over again. I moved to Manchester only because my boyfriend at that time was there – “Complete mistake” – I was in the bottom of the barrel; nothing was going well. I knew nobody there, but it was the time when I remembered one girl from a Brazilian Musical Band who kept telling me about capoeira. I kept saying that I would try but never did.
So, I found myself in this situation in England and decided to give it a try. I sent a few emails and found out there were only 2 groups in Manchester at that time. I got a lovely message from Parente and thought, “Ok, he’s the one.”
Curiosa: So, what year was it?
Zoinho: In 2008. I started capoeira in my early 20s; that’s why I have such happy memories of my first capoeira years: I was young, I was nimble and all things my body was able to do! It was a good thing to find it, I think, for it changed my life.
Примечания
1
Golden cord (Portuguese)
2
A person who practices capoeira.
3
The main basic movement in capoeira.
4
Curious.
5
Monitor (a) – a person who has a blue-yellow belt in CDO school.
6
Brasilian
7
The Road Runner
8
Capoeirista initiation ceremony.
9
(Great) master.
10
A whip.
11
A relative.
12
A louse.
13
Golden day or a day of gold.
14
The highest belt according to the CDO system is white, and the white and gold belts were given to the first masters who have been in the group since its creation in order to acknowledge their merits.
15
Zumbi was a Brasilian of Kongo origin and a Quilombola leader; he is also one of the pioneers of resistance to the slavery of Africans by the Portuguese in Brasil.
16
A graduate. A student with a yellow (third) belt in the CDO system.
17
Little ant.
18
Short from Cordão de Ouro.
19
Angola or Capoeira Angola is one of the fundamental styles of capoeira.
20
A capoeirista with blue-green-yellow belt in the CDO system.
21
Small skull.
22
An eggplant.
23
Xangô is one of the most popular orishas in the Yoruba religion, Heavenly Father, the spirit of thunder and lightning.
24
Roda is the circle in which capoeira is played.
25
Something small, a piece of something.
26
A peaceful cobra.
27
A kebbe, Levantine dish, bulgur cutlets popular in Brasil.
28
Apelido is a nickname, a name in capoeira.
29
Instrutor (a) is a capoeirista with a blue belt according to the CDO system.
30
Biruta is a windsock or doll that is inflated with a strong stream of air from below.
31
Regional or capoeira-regional is one of the main styles of capoeira.
32
Berimbau is a musical instrument in capoeira
33
A warrior.
34
A princess.
35
A lemon.
36
A jumping movement in capoeira from the squat back to the arms.
37
A vine.
38
A brunette.
39
Formatura is a kind of «graduation» in capoeira, when senior students receive professor belts.
40
Zoinho is a derivative of «eyes».