I once joked that it was a good thing that February 2012 had an extra day since I’d probably have something scheduled every single day before the month arrived. February has arrived and my prediction did not come true, but that’s only because a few things are scheduled on the same day…like this past Saturday for example.
I used to have a “swim day” sketched into my weekly schedule. For the past three weeks, I’ve swum on three different days, with this past workout happening yesterday. I even debated whether I should do it since I was going to capoeira music class, tango, a baby shower and then for most of the night, Carnaval.
Of course, since I’m 41, my main worry was would I have enough time to take a nap before Carnaval! My music class turned into an informational meeting about our security duty at Carnaval. My capoeira group has been forming a roda around the samba school and drummers for the past couple of years in order to keep over zealous partygoers from disrupting the show. Although my capoeira teacher gave us a quick lesson in how to do a basic takedown, I assured him that women were the worst offenders since guys tend to be polite–even if drunk.
Tango class was jam-packed with beginners. It was nearly a cattle herd rather than line of dance. I’ll redeem myself this coming Thursday during the intermediate class.
I eventually found where the baby shower was taking place and was pleasantly surprised to see two women who used to train capoeira. As a matter of fact, the mother-to-be was also a capoeirista.
I returned home with just enough time to change clothes, put on a little eye makeup and my fun Halloween false lashes and head over to a pre-carnaval party with several other female capoeiristas who were ambitious enough to make their own theme-based costumes. This year’s theme was The Wizard of Oz.
One of the ladies had a witch’s hat; so I borrowed it for the night. I got in “line” to have my makeup done by one of two women there who were makeup and costuming enthusiasts. Although my on-the-fly costume wasn’t as flashy as theirs at least I wasn’t plain Jane capoeirista.
We walked over to the venue and miraculously all 26 capoeirists were on time. As usual, the show was spectacular and I only had to contend with one hostile, older black female during the first show.
By the time the second show rolled around, the crowd had swelled to over 5000 people and we had a time opening up the space even though we had barricades to help us.
Afterwards, all the female capoeiristas who had costumes changed into them and we formed an unofficial samba de roda and danced until the cops asked us to leave around 2 am. I had tried to get someone to walk me to my car about 30 minutes prior to that, but everything worked out.
I knew upfront that I wouldn’t make my usual Sunday 10 am bikram yoga class, but the noon class was wonderful. At least I reset my spine just in time for another fun-filled week.
