The headline of this post is copy-masturbation at its most self-glorified best
not only did I manage to alliterate danga to 'day' but also made 'day' rhyme with 'bay'
you might think it simple, but that's some pure back-to-basics serendipity magic right there
Which ties in perfectly with our posting about our latest tour-of-duty
8am dim sum with juli was the perfect way to start the mornin
Durim was late
so he missed dim sum and cost us some time on the road
No biggie
Our driver rapheal (pronounced: Ray-feel), not to be mistaken for our graduado Raphael (Ha-fa-el) made sure we got there on time
a few paranoid moments in the van
i was sitting in front
and i'm the world's most chickenshit front-seat passenger
not the mention the fact that a friend of mine in high school lost a leg that way
cause your legs are the same height as the engine, should the unfortunate event of a head-on happen, ouch.
So i tried to sit cross legged, and get some nap.
I think ray had the same idea
i caught him slipping lanes coupla times
and when i stared right at him, he was oblivious, with his eyes semi-shut!
The Bantus Bandwagon is notorious for diversions
We have never. NEVER had a trip where we got there and back on time.
diversions are always part of the masterplan.
The first was Sunny taking us to a god forsaken part of Taman Aminah in the boondogs of JB for lunch, when there was a superb variety of food at the Danga Bay streetmall.
Ok, nobody knew and we were all hungry.
Other than the street mall
Danga Bay's a god forsaken stretch of seaside with no breeze or crowd whatsoever.
The Astro Soccer Safari was under way
It was scorching! The only people who were present were of course the 3-on-3 football participants
No matter, we're free spirited capoeiristas sword to amuse and entertain even if it was a crowd of one
one small problem, the heat was merciless
And we've all been spoilt by too many stage performances
Mental note: ROAD TRIP = SHOES (It is called a road after all)
The sun was blistering. The cement tiles were blistering. My feet were blistering. Even my slippers were blistering damnit. It got to a point where playing in the roda was a better respite than standing and clapping
Roda I
Ache: 6/10
Jogo: 6/10
Roda II
Was slightly better
we warmed up a bit to the 'nice' weather with some futsal
I scored some nice headers from Rafa's crosses
Granted that the keeper was Terry, but it was a nice feeling imagining myself actually doing that in a real game
I miss futsal.
Anyway, second roda was in the futsal arena
It was just as blistering, but at least it was a bouncy floor
the enclosed surrounding and ready-made crowd was also good for energy level
The Aseana Percussion Group were at hand. We're long-time collaborators and Krshna is also my old schoolmate. Great to have them with us on the bataria.
we had a really nice tight roda, every one was very intuitive and worked flawlessly as a unit
Personally, my Capoeira Blitz training at the park's paying off. Got more kicking up-game into my more ground-movement based jogo. Threw in a semao and flippety-flop here and there. In fact had quite an airtime one. I swore i was looking at the ground for a second before landing. Time to work on something new with all that milliseconds to spare.
We were also treated to some super-cool gumboot dance moves by some students from Botswana.
Ache: 8/10
Jogo: 8/10
Roda III
The day eased into the evening.
The crowd was building up at the main stage.
thanks to the Akademi Fantasia performers
The Aseana Percussion Group and Gumboot dancers were also a nice touch.
So we had to put up a show ourselves
and put up we did
another great performance roda
The grand finale was truly epic
Gumboot dancers, Zimbabwean (i think) bushmen with spears, garb and shield, and dopey chinese capoeiristas, plus Dr. Freestyle! Malaysia's best hope at showing the world we too know how to football, powered by the Aseana Percussion Gang
All in one stage!
It was true fun.
By this time, the ball of my right foot was already ripped to shreds
But the rest of the team had a great time doing some really cool tricks to the crowd
Durim's back flik flak across the stage
Malcolm and Durim's mirror compasso back the other way
Terry's semaos
I did some gumboots with the Botswanans.
Ache: 10/10
Jogo: 7.5/10
Roda IV
By this time, i was deliberating with the toilet lady
i looked so dirty she insisted on charging me rm1 because she didn't believe that i was only going in to use the sink to wash up, (20 sen for toilet, rm1 for shower facilities)
we were given hotel facilities though
bliss
and serendipity came along with us in the form of the Aseana Percussion dudes checking out
so we took over their rooms
which definitely saved us some time
no way 8 of us could've showered and be done in 45 mins
Durim was so happy to see the shower he decided to have a Thai Songkran Water Festival in there
the only thing left barely dry, were my wits and sanity
Anyway back to the show
once again, tough crowd
think Johor's big on family dinners and nothing else
there was hardly a crowd
and we already formulated a very nice sequence for them in hand!
no matter, crowd of one, is still a crowd
and bantus aims to please!
so we did our solo entradas, i wanted to do a flipetty flop by settled for a humble headstand
Durim did a backflip despite eating a packet of rice (showoff)
and we all had some very nice benguela games
makulele was also quite tricked out
with some simple choreography to break the routine
all in all, 10 minutes went by really quickly.
Ache: 9/10
Jogo:7/10
More tomfoolery ensued.
In no chronological order, i shall recap the day's non-capoeira highlights
1. Danga Bay has nice food but miserly bathroom attendants
2. Durim sucks at directions! Don't ever put him next to the driver
3. Malcolm always has a bag of snacks at hand
4. I don't know how Lynn stays so calm
5. Rafa, durim and I can form our own Airhorn acapella group. Lynn has the videos to prove it.
6. Curry chicken and enclosed van afterwards = gas chamber. Main suspect - Durim. Chief culprit - Rafa.
7. Road trip = SHOES!
8. Rafa submitted more than 20 entries into the lucky draw - all brasil of course, but i'm the one who put Clint Dempsey as man of the match! Lynn might walk away with a plasma TV!
9. Keep yerself hydrated and bring TWO towels for roadtrip capoeira
10. Durim sucks at directions.
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