And then there was Lent...
So Carnaval was big success. I managed to get a few people to go (Yeah for John and Lenny) and they seemed to have a good time. I enjoyed the party quite a bit. It was a big show, though some of the acts were not so good. The Swing was very disappointing, as was the Samba and Pagode. But the Capoeira was awesome, and the African Drum and Dance was so much better than I would have thought. Seriously, it was great. Unfortunately I missed out on the fire dancing because I was working the bar during that, but that's ok, according to Adrienne it was the same routine as at the Fire & Ice show, so I didn't miss out much. I was working the bar from 11:00 - 12:30 and even though there were quite a few people near it, we had a very good view of the rest of the acts. Plus, most people were too busy watching the shows to want drinks at that time. Worked out pretty well. There was also Belly Dancing which was not what I expected. Adrienne's step-mom is from Lebanon and does belly Dancing. She's done it a few times at parties they've had and frankly that's more what I was expecting. But at the party it was like Techno-Goth belly dancing. It was good, but not what I had expected at all.
But the highlight of the show had to be the ADB act. We did the Capoeira, Batucada, and Macudlele (I think that's how it's spelled), was fantastic. The Batucada may just be a bunch of people playing different size drums but there is something hypnotic about it. I mean, they're ot just playing drums they're moving around and kinda dancing, and yeah, you wouldn't think it would be so great, but it is. The Macudlele was next at it was pretty cool. It was only a two person show (with the Batucada still playing behind them) so it wasn't as spectacular as at the Batizado in September, but it was still good. Although one of the performers (Dante) told me they were worried about kicking people in the face because they had a lot less room then their previous performance. Still, they managed not to kick anyone. After they finished that Galego did a short Berimbau solo, and onto the stage comes...Erin. She's this 10 or 11 your old girl who does Capoeira who wasn't planned for the show, but Galego asked her to perform with them at the last minute. It was pretty cool, and she's very good for someone who only gets to come to class once or twice a week. She's a good kid. She helped out at the bar too, we had her tapping the keg (for reals). But after her comes our special guest Contra-Mestre Mariano from Santa Barbara. He performed quite well I think, unfortunately he seemed to have a short solo there before they started up with the Joga. But that's alright, he really started to show his stuff when he was playing against Tornado, and then I think against Bodge. It was great. And there was this great part where Tornado and Bodge did some take downs and it looked like they were going to fight. Everything comes to a halt, like it wasn't suppose to happen. I'm sure it had most everyone fooled (though many people are loathe to admit they've been tricked). I was convoking they were getting into a fight there. Anyway, it was great. It really made everyone stop and watch if they had been drifting off (not that I think anyone was). And after the Capoeira finished they went back to more Batucada, and we had some people from the Academy just up and start dancing in the stage. I'm not sure if it was part of the show because they didn't look to be very unified in the dancing, but that's ok. After this the band marched out into the back courtyard for the fire-dancing (with everyone following of course). After that it was time for people to get their groove on with DJ Larry Rodregiz. During which there was a birthday Roda for Bodge that didn't last long because they police showed up (we're not sure why they were called, Maybe the fire-dancing, maybe just the big Roda that looked like people trying to kill each other). Anyway, it was really good times. And I have to say, working the bar is a lot more fun that clean-up. So yeah, it was great. Anyone who missed it is out of luck because the parties don't usually have that much show to them and the next one most certainly won't have Contra-Mestre Mariano at it.But I encourage everyone to go to any other parties in the hopes that with more people showing up there will be more performances. Enough about Carnaval then, but it was awesome. I think I'll just finish up by saying Adrienne and I will be going snowboarding next weekend with several of the people from ADB and it should be good times. We'll be gone for 2 nights. I've never snowboarded more than one day and this should be an interesting test of my body's ability to stand up to punishment. So yeah. See ya'll later.
Quack Quack ~Emu Sound~
But the highlight of the show had to be the ADB act. We did the Capoeira, Batucada, and Macudlele (I think that's how it's spelled), was fantastic. The Batucada may just be a bunch of people playing different size drums but there is something hypnotic about it. I mean, they're ot just playing drums they're moving around and kinda dancing, and yeah, you wouldn't think it would be so great, but it is. The Macudlele was next at it was pretty cool. It was only a two person show (with the Batucada still playing behind them) so it wasn't as spectacular as at the Batizado in September, but it was still good. Although one of the performers (Dante) told me they were worried about kicking people in the face because they had a lot less room then their previous performance. Still, they managed not to kick anyone. After they finished that Galego did a short Berimbau solo, and onto the stage comes...Erin. She's this 10 or 11 your old girl who does Capoeira who wasn't planned for the show, but Galego asked her to perform with them at the last minute. It was pretty cool, and she's very good for someone who only gets to come to class once or twice a week. She's a good kid. She helped out at the bar too, we had her tapping the keg (for reals). But after her comes our special guest Contra-Mestre Mariano from Santa Barbara. He performed quite well I think, unfortunately he seemed to have a short solo there before they started up with the Joga. But that's alright, he really started to show his stuff when he was playing against Tornado, and then I think against Bodge. It was great. And there was this great part where Tornado and Bodge did some take downs and it looked like they were going to fight. Everything comes to a halt, like it wasn't suppose to happen. I'm sure it had most everyone fooled (though many people are loathe to admit they've been tricked). I was convoking they were getting into a fight there. Anyway, it was great. It really made everyone stop and watch if they had been drifting off (not that I think anyone was). And after the Capoeira finished they went back to more Batucada, and we had some people from the Academy just up and start dancing in the stage. I'm not sure if it was part of the show because they didn't look to be very unified in the dancing, but that's ok. After this the band marched out into the back courtyard for the fire-dancing (with everyone following of course). After that it was time for people to get their groove on with DJ Larry Rodregiz. During which there was a birthday Roda for Bodge that didn't last long because they police showed up (we're not sure why they were called, Maybe the fire-dancing, maybe just the big Roda that looked like people trying to kill each other). Anyway, it was really good times. And I have to say, working the bar is a lot more fun that clean-up. So yeah, it was great. Anyone who missed it is out of luck because the parties don't usually have that much show to them and the next one most certainly won't have Contra-Mestre Mariano at it.But I encourage everyone to go to any other parties in the hopes that with more people showing up there will be more performances. Enough about Carnaval then, but it was awesome. I think I'll just finish up by saying Adrienne and I will be going snowboarding next weekend with several of the people from ADB and it should be good times. We'll be gone for 2 nights. I've never snowboarded more than one day and this should be an interesting test of my body's ability to stand up to punishment. So yeah. See ya'll later.
Quack Quack ~Emu Sound~
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