Part of Mestra Márcia Cigarra job as one of only ten Mestres/as of the global ABADÁ organization—which now has more than 50,000 practitioners—is to travel to other ABADÁ branches worldwide to teach, perform and mentor. Just this past March she traveled to both Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Nayarit, Mexico.
Brazil
In early March, Márcia attended the annual meeting of Comissão de Mestres e Mestrandos of ABADÁ-Capoeira held at Mestre Camisa’s CEMB farm and training center located outside Rio de Janeiro. At this important gathering the leaders of ABADÁ come together to share achievements, and to connect with ABADÁ founder and visionary, Mestre Camisa. They spend countless hours problem solving, brainstorming, and dissecting and developing goals and objectives to guide the direction of the larger organization’s work. This strategic planning process is what shapes the work of the hundreds of ABADÁ branches worldwide. The trip was especially meaningful for Marcia. She deeply values every opportunity to share time with her teacher and mentor Mestre Camisa. Trips such as this help Marcia stay inspired, and remain up to date with Mestre Camisa’s plans and goals so she can be effective in contributing to his mission and legacy through her own work.
Mexico
In late March, Márcia traveled to Mexico to teach workshops and supervise the first Batizado graduation ceremony of Graduado Galan. Galan recently settled in Nayarit after training in San Francisco, as well as Brazil. Marcia reported the group of students there had great energy and trained really hard.
Each of the Mestres/as and Mestrandos travel abroad to teach and direct Batizados with the purpose of maintaining consistency in ABADÁ style, teaching methods, and core values. These gatherings also provide opportunity to interact with teachers and students from other cities and countries. At this event there were ABADÁ representatives from Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Cholula, Puebla, Guadalajara, Xalapa and Satellite! These cross-cultural events strengthen the individual groups, as well as the global organization.
For Márcia, it is not only her duty to travel to spread the work of ABADÁ-Capoeira, it is an honor. She values the opportunity to use her art, capoeira, to bring Brazilian culture to people around the world. It doesn’t matter where she goes—Brazil, France, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Germany, Russia, Belgium, Japan—the culture of capoeira is universal.
While the travel is difficult, Marcia explains “once I begin teaching the jet lag and exhaustion from loss of sleep fades away.”
Next month’s travels…
In April, Márcia will travel to ABADÁ DC for Professora Yara’s 10 year anniversary celebration from April 25 – 29. The gathering will bring together students and instructors from the US, Puerto Rico and Brazil for workshops, performances and the Batizado ceremony. Mestra Márcia invites you all to come along!