Roda De Rua – Series 4

It’s that time of year again, we all know that summer is just around the corner when the berimbau begins to sing over Coogee beach and caporeistas from various groups congregate to create an energy that draws in beach goers and passer bys alike. We’ve become somewhat of a staple at Coogee now for the past few summers and I have had a few random people ask where we have disappeared to. Clearly breath stealing winterly cold should not be an ‘excuse’ NOT to be playing capoeira!

Series 4 originally was originally meant to begin Sunday the 25^th October. However, due to the Noah’s Flood that inundated Sydney with a month’s worth of rain last week, we officially begin this Sunday the ^1st November in Daceyville with a Samba and Afro dance workshop with Cristina Ramon, then the RDR roda on the grass at Coogee Beach.

We’ve structured Roda De Rua a little differently this time around, with official workshops centred around Brazilian culture and dance beginning earlier at 12pm and then the roda at 2:30pm at the usual place. Sure, these workshops take the focus off capoeira for awhile, but I’m willing to bet that there hasn’t been a time where the samba beat got riffed of the berimbau and you thought, ‘How do I get my feet to move like that?”.

Enter Series 4 workshops – taught by professionals, they aim to introduce another aspect of Brazilian culture to those already hooked by it from playing capoiera. The schedule looks like this;

If you were wondering who Cristina is, here’s a very quick run down;

Cristina “Chocolate” Ramon is a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from a very young age, she has been dancing and has appeared in internationally renowned productions of AIDA and The Nutcracker. At the age of 15, Cristina discovered the love of Samba. When she moved to Australia she was instantly labeled the ‘Samba Queen’, and has danced the Samba with the Brazilian Fantasy Show around Australia and internationally in the Asia Pacific arena in Indonesia, India, Japan and Singapore.

Cristina has been teaching Samba for the past eleven years at numerous studios, dance schools, high schools, universities and international events such as the Latin Dance Coroboree, Australia Salsa Championships, Australian Latin Dance Congress and Jambalaya Festival (NZ) with more than 300 people in each class. In 2007 she founded her own Dance Company VIVA BRASIL, with a debut show appearance at the FIESTA (Latin Festival) in Darling Harbor, Sydney. Cristina now teaches Samba and Afro-Brazilian Dance classes all around Sydney. Her performances include the 2008 Australia MTV Dance AWARDS opening number, The Lion King, Dancing with the Stars and more.

So as you can see we’ll be in more then capable hands and by Sunday afternoon, a Samba De Rua probably wouldn’t go astray!

The T shirt

There’s one thing that I can think of that a capoeirista likes more then a good roda, and that’s a t shirt to remember that good roda by! Roda De Rua November 2009 is looking abit like this fashion wise;

We’re pretty confident that the design is lookin’ rockin’ with the red, thanks to Miss Greer for the design and Shanna for organising the production – these will be worn on the back of you guys in the next couple of weeks.

Pricing is as follows;

All 4 remaining workshops + tshirt = $90

Casual

1 workshop + tshirt = $50 (Entry Fee)

Each additional workshop = $20

Looking forward to seeing you all over the next four weeks for some awesome energy, brilliant games and intoxicating music and capoeira in the spring sun!