Richmond's Capoeira Resistencia meets for an informal fundraiser and barbeque. The Brazilian dance fighting troupe hopes to raise money for an official event, called a batizado, in the fall. The school's founder, Robson Alexandre Pedro, known to his students as "Mestre Panao" hosts the event behind his house in on the Southside. The Brazilian barbeque, called a churrasco, originated in southern Brazil's gaucho country and traditionally uses wooden skewers to smoke beef and sausage over hot coals. This churrasco used a more American grill to smoke the meat which was smothered in coarse salt and oil.

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Graceful fighter, dangerous dancer

 

One of the most celebrated masters of Brazilian dance fighting lives right here in Richmond.  

A group of young men in white pants stands in a circle in the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School gymnasium.  There is no air conditioning in the building and sweat runs into everyone’s eyes and soaks through shirts as the men clap and sway to a driving rhythm. 

In the center of the circle is a small Brazilian man, Robson Alexandre Pedro. He is flipping, spinning, and kicking in an intricate improvised dance with one of his students.

Known to his students as Mestre Panao, Pedro is a master of capoeira, a form of Brazilian dance-fighting.  In 2005, he moved to Richmond at the behest of his friend and student Rod Davis.  With Davis’ help Pedro established Richmond’s first school of capoeira, the Capoeira Resistencia.

Pedro was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1968 as the youngest of six children.  His father was a boxer and he began studying pugilism at a young age.  A rough and tumble youngster, he fought frequently.  It was capoeira that finally took hold of him and gave him direction. 

“When I saw capoeira the first time, I loved it.” he said. “Capoeira is not just a martial art.  Capoeira is dance, music, folklore.”

And Pedro instills his passion for Brazilian art and culture in his students.

Once a year he takes a group of Americans to Brazil to train them in capoeira and learn more about the culture that the art represents. One of the students who went with him  is Matt Blanton.

Blanton described the trip as an opportunity to grow in knowledge, not just of capoeira, but the lifestyle and experience of a true “capoeirista.”

Andrew Whitehead, another student, echoed Blanton’s sentiment and added, “It was one of the premiere experiences of my life.”

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Capoeira Resistencia is a Brazilian dance fighting school in Richmond, Va.  One of the only schools in the region with a Brazilian mestre, they practice every weeknight in the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School gymnasium, 7:30pm-9:30pm and on Saturdays in the Richmond Christian Center, 2pm-6pm.  Students, called capoeiristas, hail from diverse backgrounds.  Many students have earned “capoeira names” which they use in and out of class with their classmates and teacher.  The names are assigned by the school’s founder, Robson Alexandre Pedro; himself known by the name “Mestre Panao,” and are often humorous. Andrew Whitehead who appears in this video is known as "maracujá" which means "passion fruit" in Portuguese.

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All of the students describe a reverence for the name Panao in the capoeira community.  Citizens on the streets of Sao Paulo stopped Americans wearing Pedro’s name to ask about the expatriate mestre.

Pedro’s explosive acrobatics and lightning fast technique quickly elevated him to prominence.  His boundless enthusiasm and dedication to every aspect of the art led him to teaching.  He made several appearances on Brazilian television and received national attention for an interview in the magazine Revista Capoeira.  

In the 1990's and early 2000's Pedro’s reputation as a dynamic instructor garnered him invitations to travel and teach capoeira worldwide.  He visited the United States many times during this period.

Davis, one of Pedro’s students in Richmond, met him on such a visit. The two corresponded for a few years until 2005 when Pedro’s school in Brazil closed due to financial trouble. 

Davis said his teacher’s great love for students sometimes takes precedence over collecting on their dues, which landed the Sao Paulo school in debt despite hundreds of patrons. 

In the midst of these financial troubles and what Pedro describes as a “bad personal situation” Davis devised a plan to bring the capoeira master to Richmond. 

The middle school teacher and capoeira student used his own money to buy Pedro’s plane ticket and provided a home for him until he could afford his own. 

Davis says that the year living with Pedro is the reason he became good at capoeira; the two would practice six days a week.

The training is physically demanding and repetitive.  Pedro drills his students with hundreds of kick repetitions every night. But students agree that the benefits of Pedro’s approach to capoeira extend beyond the gym.

“Your perspective becomes more healthy, your body becomes more healthy, your understanding of people and culture becomes more healthy,” said Blanton adding that his teacher gets an enjoyment from passing that on.”

Pedro said that Richmond is an excellent place for his school because it is an opportunity to “start from zero.” 

Pedro and his students work tirelessly to promote the school, staging demonstrations, seeking sponsors, and soliciting guest instructors.  Pedro is planning a large “batizado” in October.

The Portuguese word, which means “baptism,” is used to describe a gathering of capoeira mestres for the purpose of testing students.  Pedro has plans to make this the largest batizado ever held on the East coast, potentially bringing the most respected capoeira mestres and schools to Richmond for several days.

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Facts about Capoeira

Until 1960, Brazilians were identified as "South Americans" by U.S. immigration records, making it difficult to determine immigration numbers prior to that year. Even as recently as the 1990 census, Brazilians were grouped into the pan-ethnic "Hispanic" category which is problematic because the term "Hispanic" refers to peoples of Spain and Spanish speaking countries. Brazil's official language is Portugese and many native Brazilians are of Portugese descent.

While the U.S. census bureau estimates that there are 60,000 Brazilians living and working in the U.S., that number is very likely too small as it requires self-identification in the "other hispanic" category. It also doesn't account for undocumented Brazilians which could number as high as 350,000 according to anthropologist Maxine Margolis.
Further complicating ethnic identification is the multi-racial background of many Brazilians. According to the United Nations; more than a third of Brazilians are of mixed race heritage. This racial melting pot also accounts for the diversity expressed in Brazilian culture.

One uniquely Brazilian martial and dance art that has immigrated to the United States and Richmond in particular is capoeira. The art is part dance, part game and part martial discipline. Coming from Afro-Brazilian culture specifically, capoeira itself is of mixed ethnic heritage. Participants stand in a circle or roda and play traditional percussive instruments. Singing and clapping are also a staple of rodas. Two participants enter the circle and perform spontaneous. intricate dance moves around each other. The movements are characterized by spinning kicks and acrobatics and may involve physical contact.

The origins of capoeira are hotly debated but it is generally accepted that it was practiced by slaves brought from Africa to work the sugar plantations of Brazil. Slaves of common sub-Saharan origin were separated to prevent organization and the resulting cultures and traditions have a pan-African origin. The dance-fighting aspect of capoeira has not successfully been traced to any specific African tradition and may be unique to the Afro-Brazilian culture. Many theories hold that capoeira was a way for Afro-Brazilian slaves to disguise martial training, or that it was developed by escaped slaves as a form of defense for their persecuted communities.

In Richmond, the rich culture of capoeira is sustained by students of Capoeira Resistência, a school founded by Brazil native Robson Alexandre Pedro. The school is in the midst of training for and organizing a large Batizado (conference) to take place October 9th - 12th. The school hopes to host the largest gathering of capoeira mestres on the East coast.

(Reported in July 2008)