Capoeira Group Dendê - Halifax

Mestre Azeitona and Professora Paula from a recent trip to Pernambuco. So wonderful to spend time with these two after 14 years. We’ve been working together and in touch all this time, but being in a room together is different ✨ so grateful for their mentorship and friendship!

Excited to host these three masters here in Halifax this weekend: Mestra Dany, Mestre Fabinho Cuencas & Mestre Xocolate. So much capoeira and wisdom and generosity flowing directly from Pernambuco, Brazil to all of our student's ears.

Friday 8 Nov - 6-9pm
Saturday 9 Nov - 1-4:30pm
Sunday 10 Nov - 1-4:30pm

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday we are hosting our 3rd Annual Capoeira Batizado Event, and the 7th ever graduation in the history of our group here in Halifax. Very exciting! Here are a few details. I hope you are able to come and take advantage. Please get in touch to reserve your spot if you haven't already since space is limited.

We'll be hosting three esteemed visitors, Mestra Dany, Mestre Xocolate and Mestre Fabinho. All workshops are at the Citadel Community Centre (1955 Trollope) in our usual home. Cost is $185 + tax for all three days, or $65/day, or PWYC. Please wear white on Friday and Saturday. I did just restock our group t-shirts so will have those available for sale in all sizes ($25 including tax).

There will be a party at Cafe Cempoal on Saturday evening 7pm - late. There will be food for sale (Brazilian food courtesy of Mestre Azeitona and Professora Paula's daughter Isadora) as a fundraiser for the Quintal Das Artes Youth Program in Igarassu. All are welcome, no matter whether you came to the capoeira. Come have some feijoada! BYOB and snacks.

Recent class photo! Capoeira is really rolling in Halifax lately. Even more exciting is that we are hosting our annual event, workshops and batizado this coming weekend. Honoured to be working with Mestre Azeitona and Professora Paula as always (who are supporting and participating from Brazil), and together we'll host three of their long-time capoeira friends from Pernambuco here in Halifax: Mestra Dany, Mestre Fabinho Cuencas, Mestre Xocolate for three days. Can't wait. Get in touch if you're curious on those details.

What an amazing year of capoeira. Thanks to all these people and many more who made this a successful 2023 for Capoeira Group Dendê - Halifax. Salve Mestre Azeitona (Mario Moreno) and P. Paula! One more class of the year on Tuesday the 19th Dec (7pm at Citadel) and then we'll be back on Friday the 5th of January (6pm at Citadel) to get rolling again for 2024. See you all soon!

Sorry to report we can't have class tonight, Tuesday the 28th of February. There has been a broken pipe at Citadel and it has flooded the studio we use.

Also, since the flooding has badly damaged the floor, we'll have to relocate class for the next few weeks. Starting on Friday the 3rd of March we'll move our regular schedule (Tues @ 7pm; Fri 6pm) to the George Dixon Centre on Gottigen in their multi-purpose room (upstairs) until Citadel is back in commission.

Sorry to miss out on training tonight, but we'll see you all on Friday and beyond.

Any questions just let me know.

Hello Dendê,

Happy new year to you all. I hope you've all had a good break and are as excited as I am to get back to training. Our first class of 2023 is tomorrow evening, Friday the 6th of January at the Citadel Community Centre. Hope to see you there!

- Our class schedule will remain the same: Tuesdays at 7pm and Fridays at 6pm, both at Citadel.
- The cost for class is still $17.25 ($15 + tax) but as always, I am flexible if anyone needs to pay-what-they-can, or train now/pay later, et c. It's important to me that no one stays away because of the money. Please feel free to talk to me about it at any time.

If you have any questions about anything please get in touch. Otherwise I'll see you in class tomorrow and on and on into 2023

- Ross

New classes are on the roster next week! Coming up Tues, Dec 6 + 13, Lisa Phinney Langley will lead guided improvisations, slowly introducing + delving into the language of Viewpoints.

And Ross Burns will be teaching Capoeira classes on Thurs Dec 8 +15 - movers of all levels welcome. Big congratulations to Ross from all of us here at Mocean, for his recent elevation to the yellow belt of a Capoeira Professor!

All classes run from 10 - 11:30 am at Halifax Dance, 1505 Barrington Street.
Drop in rate: $15/class

**Click the link in bio for more info + registration.**

📸: Scott Munn featuring Lisa Phinney Langley in her work “Woman Standing on a Chair in a Red Dress”
📸: Nick Wilkinson featuring Ross Burns

ID: A combined image. On the left, over a dark green backing, a woman with light skin and hair in a red dress lifts her arms up and to the side. Her body is arched slightly backward as if she is swayed by a breeze. With her eyes closed, she seems to savour the sensation. On the right, in black and white, a light skinned man in a button up shirt and dark tie sits alone in an empty theatre. His arms rest across the seats beside him as he looks slightly upwards.

We are hosting a capoeira event this coming weekend here in Halifax (11-13 Nov)! All events are open to all, so let me know if you have any questions or would like to attend. Excited to host our great friends Mestre Xocolate and Mestre Fabinho for the occasion.

Thanks to Mestre Azeitona and Profesora Paula for their support as always!

--------------
Friday 11 Nov - 6:30-9:00pm @ DanSpace (1531 Grafton Street)
Workshop w/ Mestre Xocolate & roda

Saturday 12 Nov - 1:30-4:30pm @ Citadel Centre (1955 Trollope Street)
Workshop/Batizado/Troca de Corda ceremony & roda
w/ Mestre Xocolate and Mestre Fabinho

Sunday 13 Nov - 11-1pm zoom with Mestre Azeitona and Paula
1:30-4:30pm @ Citadel Centre (1955 Trollope Street)
Workshop w/ Mestre Xocolate and Mestre Fabinho

The price for the event will be $45+tax for each day.

Thanks to Mocean Dance for hosting two morning classes this week. Along with our normal Tuesday class there will be capoeira on Wednesday and Thursday at 10am, open to all. (No class Friday for the 1 July holiday). Hope to see you!

We are excited to offer something a little different for the final two professional classes in our 2021/2022 season - join us on Wed + Thurs*, June 28 + 29 for Capoeira with Ross Burns! Classes run from 10-11:30 am at Halifax Dance.
(*NOTE - First class is on a Wednesday instead of our usual Tues + Thurs!)

Ross Burns is a professional musician, performer, capoeira player, and teacher based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Training in the Afro-Brazilian dance/martial art form capoeira since 2003 Ross has led Mestre Azeitona’s Capoeira Group Dendê - Halifax since 2007. His musical résumé ranges widely across different territories - jazz, rhythm & blues, Brazilian, Jamaican, modern art music and free improvisation - as a guitarist, singer and percussionist.

Capoeira is a Brazilian art form combining elements of martial arts, dance and music. In the context of colonial Brazil, enslaved Africans and their descendants developed the form to share fighting techniques disguised within dance and music. Practitioners continue the ritual of capoeira today as an expression of old traditions, as a joyful pastime, and to remember its roots in resistance against oppression and racism. Combining the skillful development of the body and immersion in the cultural and musical language of Brazil, capoeira teaches students strength, creativity and resistance all intertwined with the African Diaspora.

📸: Viviana Muccio
Featuring Maya Williams, Ross Burns, Mary Frances Lynch

ID: Two people wearing red and white clothing dance together on a stage. Facing each other, they are low to the ground - one leans back on their hands to raise a leg; the other balances with one arm and leg planted, reaching their free limbs out to their partner. Behind them, a person stands at a microphone holding a long stick and a percussion instrument. Text over top of red graphic triangles reads: Capoeira with Ross Burns

Nice class recently with some of Dendê-Halifax's "old guard". (No one here thinks they are old though!)