По просьбе выкладываю английскую версию моего отзыва о семинаре

Seminary Review.
After the workshop I've already flooded my blogs with dozens of spontaneous entries about my emotions and impressions of it. But when I was asked: “How did you like the seminary” - I realized, I actually can not express it in words as logic and laconic as others do. My thoughts are so scattered right now, that it took me time to think whether I even should write a full and 'final' review on this event. I'm afraid even my attempt to systematize everything now wouldn't be much of success and my review will still be a bit tangled and stuffed with endless off-topics and sudden leaps from one thought to another, so please don't make it amiss.
My thoughts are this much scattered only because it's been like 4 months since I've started capoeira in general and only 2 weeks since I've started capoeira Angola in FICA Moscou. Within these 2 weeks I got pretty much confused already. After all, with me being a former professional athlete here I've been repeated again and again that I have a wrong attitude, wrong approach and all the other 'wrongs' that you can ever think of. I honestly try to change myself completely and listen to all the advice I'm given. But as far as I'm only a newbie here, it's really hard to sometimes filter the information that you get (sometimes unintentionally from other people). So at present I've decided to only listen to my teachers, coaches, instructors, not other students or friends, because if I do so, my head will definitely explode, as everyone thinks they've got their own 'true answer'.
The week of the seminary started for me with meeting Mestre Cobra Mansa in the airport. To be honest, I thought that the idea of 'Let's meet him with all the music and make a Roda right there in the airport' was some kind of a joke. But I was totally mistaken. And we really did take all of the instruments (except for the atabaque, which I heard was 'too heavy in case we have to suddenly run away', huh, that was 'reeaaally comforting' to hear that!). Despite my fears about holding this event, I wasn't feeling uncomfortable. For starters, Ímã makes an impression of a person who knows for sure what he's doing. Second, the atmosphere of the group destroys any possible negative emotions, it's really easy with them and somehow absolutely not scary, no matter what they're currently up to. This experience was something totally new for me. We were standing right in front of the airport, playing capoeira, playing the instruments, singing and we didn't care about all the attention from the passersby (though there actually were a lot of them!). From that moment I got the point of such thing as Roda de Rua. It must be a lot of fun for sure!
When Mestre came, he stepped into the circle straight away and played with each and every one of us. My first game with him was a total confusion for me as I didn't understand a thing what I should do next. First, I couldn't even approximately guess what his next move is. Sometimes it seemed like: look, there he is! But the next moment, he ended up in a totally different location or already moving in an opposite direction so I could not ever be more confused. Second, I'm such a total newbie, I still don't get the whole point. Well, I can only say: I have loooots of things to learn so far.)
After that we went to grab a bite to eat and chat a little. Sitting with the others I was feeling kind of and outsider. There were people who were looking forward to this moment for like years. This event is something as special and long-awaited for them as it could ever be. As for me, well, I was the lucky one to have just joined the group and already taken part in such an incredible activity. I was really honored, happy and impressed with this acquaintance, but I probably didn't yet realize all of its significance unlike the others.
All the week till Friday, when the open part of the seminary started, our practices were held by the Mestre. We had physical classes, musical classes, we were given homework (for those who feel especially nostalgic for school years!)). At home we wrote, learned and explained the meanings of songs in capoeira. As far as I didn't take part in the very first practice in the week, where all of the students got their own special homework (more or less, probably considering experience or skill level), I have decided that in stead of just saying: “I was absent yesterday” and doing nothing, I should give myself my own work and make myself do a little more than I could have done. So in stead of a few corridos, I've decided to start learning my very first ladainhas. It was a little hard for me, after all, I got familiar with songs in capoeira only 2 weeks ago (the group I studied capoeira 4 months in, they don't sing at all, so I didn't really know anything about songs before meeting FICA Moscou. Italics supplied). I have decided that I do have enough time and courage to work a little harder. So I did learn my first 4 ladainhas throughout the seminary (My choice was 'Capoeira de Angola', 'A historia nos engana', 'Ladeira do Pelourinho' and 'Igreja do Bomfim'. I haven't stopped, by the way, and since the end of the workshop, I still try to learn at least one ladainha before each practice, that really helps, I've progressed a lot since then. Italics supplied) and many-many new corridos. Sometimes I even had to sit till late hours with this work and sleep less, but it totally worth it. And besides, it's my way of keeping everything under control. When I'm a total newbie and don't yet know a thing (like here:)), I feel much more comfort if I know that even though I'm a dummy I'm still working really hard. It's basic psychology, it helps me feel a little less damn than I usually do when I'm new
We also held music classes right on the street, which I think I was a little bit of a shock for people in Moscow, most of them had no idea what it was that we were doing. But it was really amazing. We were taught how to play the music, how to properly listen to it (and more important actually hear it), how to diversify our variations in a harmonic way, how to sort of keep a 'musical dialogue' between the berimbau and other instruments. I though decided to mostly play the pandeiro on those classes. I did understand that I'm almost not familiar with the berimbau so far and that I'm really awful at it – my berimbau is reeling all around when I'm playing (watch out those who are standing next to me!)), my fingers still hurt like hell so I can barely hold it, dobrao falls down every now and then, and as soon as I bend to raise it from the ground I see our Teacher's foot in front of my face ready to kick me (how, by the way, am I supposed to defend myself from such shot when I hold a berimbau?). Mestre gave us complete rhythms\themes with a whole set of variations, which was just too complicated when I you can not even elicit those three basic sounds out of the berimbau. So I've decided in stead of confusing everyone around with my poor berimbau skills, I'd better get a little more acquainted with the pandeiro. And after all, I'm currently studying in a music institute on a drum and percussion faculty so it's pretty much my thing)). I'm getting along with all the percussion instruments pretty well so pandeiro was my choice for the week. I did learn lots of new tricks on it within the week, it was really fun.
Friday was the first day of the open workshop, definitely more people around including those who came from other cities (the major part of students came in already) and other groups. Classes were structured very well, we were alternating musical and physical activity. That helped us regain strength when we felt really exhausted. We also did some acrobatics and I have discovered a totally new and incredible ability of mine to ignore my fear when it's necessary. After doing a simple 'cartwheel' only facing your opponent, we were told to do almost the same move, but sort of bend your back and turn your body in the final phase of the move (what was the name of this move by the way? I haven't quite caught it. Italic supplied). It was unusual and I somehow couldn't make myself make that move. Even though I didn't really feel any 'visible' and 'obvious' fear, my body flatly refused to make that move and no matter how much I tried, I still did the usual Au. On one or other of our classes we did the same kind of acrobatics but in pairs as a move-away from the Tesoura. As soon as I couldn't do any of that acrobatics we were shown so far, I've decided that I'm going to use the basic Au. But suddenly (a total shock for me!) I did turn my body and bend my back. When I finished I realized it was that move I couldn't make on our previous class. Considering my and my partner's positions or my direction this move actually turned out to be more appropriate and suitable for the situation and my body made it just naturally, ignoring all fears that I had. It was a real discovery for me.
Saturday morning started for me with a whole collection of different pains in my body. I'm usually capable of great endurance when it comes to physical pain, but the worst thing that morning was realizing that I must have actually pinched some nerves in my neck. When I woke up it seemed as if I got totally boozed the night before). My legs were limp, arms and shoulders were terribly aching, and because of the neck I couldn't quite turn my head in any direction. At that time I thought, I'm gonna be definitely out for the weekend, because it was really hard to even move or walk slowly, I couldn't even imagine how I was going to do any capoeira moves or any acrobatics. But I'm sort of indefatigable (that has always been my curse before. In football or tennis, which I played professionally for many years, all of my coaches always repeated one thing to me: “You would prevent at least half of your injuries if you could just make yourself skip the extra-training sometimes and just sit down on the sofa and relax for an hour or so”). I can never just sit down and do nothing, especially when it comes to sport, I just don't get the idea of wasting even a second on resting. So I took some analgesics, warmed up my neck and sat down to finish my homework for that day. I just couldn't let myself skip even a single day of this incredible weekend I had ahead of me. By the time I had my ladainha already written down, translated and explained, all I had to do was learn it by heart. I could sing it, but I don't know why, I plumb forgot every forth line of the lyrics (Frankly, I don't know why exactly forth, not third or first, it was always about just those forth lines. Italic supplied). Unfortunately, I had some stuff to do in the morning before we started our activities. So I had to keep learning and repeating the lyrics on my way. I had to feed my sister's cat so I went to her house and had to like sing that ladainha a few times right there...) It seemed like I sorta shocked the cat with my singing...)
Saturday was really informative with all the musical and physical classes, with the lecture about Mestre's trip to Angola and in the end with all the free games we played, we spent there our whole day. The lunch brake was very opportune, which somehow ended up with Samba de Roda (was it the mood or the positive energy, the flow that everyone caught at once). During the break I was sitting with guys and we were playing the berimbau. We tried to remember all of the rhythms we knew, though we did confuse something we called 'Santa Maria' with what turned out to be just a variation of Jogo de Dentro (we were arguing about that for like 10 minutes or so, opinions were divided))). I'm still very confused with all the terminology in capoeira (as long as it's all very new to me), sometimes it seems like my head is really gonna explode!). Special joy was playing Iuna, couldn't help myself, it is sooo very beautiful! So, we were playing the berimbau and as soon as Samba de Roda started, we just stood up and started playing the Samba rhythm. Gosh, I thought my fingers are gonna tear off literally! I have never played such a fast rhythm and it was a surprise to me that I did play it after all (though I'm a very bad player so far, as I told before). No matter how hard it was, we had sooo much fun that it was absolutely impossible to stop!!) Everybody around was smiling, everyone was having real fun. I might even call these 15-20 minutes we spent there the background of the whole workshop, because people were just having soo much fun no matter what they did – performed any moves or played the instruments or sang. It was all about fun. I know I probably have so many emotions (and that is why I'm actually chatting so much, can't help it.)))Italics supplied) because this is my very first capoeira seminary so far and because of it all conceptions I had about capoeira so far turned completely upside-down.
Now about the Roda on Sunday and that TV event we had. To be honest, I didn't think I'm gonna be so lucky to play with our Mestre on both events, I frankly didn't even think I'm gonna step into the circle at all, we had so many participants on Sunday! But in the end I did. And may I also add, I was really lucky, because not everyone of those who wanted it had this chance after all. When I played I tried to concentrate my attention on things I'm usually worst at, which is moving away from the shots and not freezing in one position. That is why my whole brain activity was concentrated on those particular things – constant moving with no rush and bustle and trying to miss the shots, not collect them as I usually do. But because of it I wasn't much attacking myself. That caught Mestre's attention and after each shot he stood in front of me, almost completely open saying: “So? Come on, do something” - and all I did after all was sort of crawling around the floor as if I had just lost my contact lens...))

Well, I can only do a couple of things at once so far. I can not correct all of my mistakes (as there are like thousands of them!) at a time. So I try to correct at least one thing at once. Watching the game of the Mestre and his other students (especially those who were really experienced) was incredibly interesting. I've already seen some videos in the internet, but seeing that by myself was absolutely breathtaking. He's not just moving, he's sort of segueing from one position to another and doing it so fast and the same time so very smooth and natural, that you end up asking yourself: “How did he even get here\there, I haven't seen it!” Never does he fall down either! When he loses his balance (which is also a very rare occasion, I haven't seen it so far) standing on his feet he turns himself upside-down to a handstand\headstand and vice-verse. This is totally amazing! And his shots. He calculates those so good, that the shots he only 'designates' stop like half an inch (or even less!) in front of you. And of course the shots that are meant to be 'in the target' end up right there (it was visually demonstrated by the people who literally dropped down on the crowd sitting around the circle after such shots).
On Monday we had our last Roda on a TV. The system of this internet TV-channel (which is located on a repetition base) implies a live broadcast. Finding that place was like a real challenge for me. We were 'almost there' at 5 o'clock, but somehow spent another hour (I mean like really, an hour!) searching for the right door to knock on. We were straying around with instruments (I was unintentionally hitting the passersby with covered berimbaus on my back), asking people for the right direction, but of course no one was of any help. I'm a musician, I'm used to that. The first thing I said when we left the subway was: “Ok, prepare to get lost!” - as I know that all repetition bases for bands are located like on the other end of the earth in Moscow. At 7 o'clock we started our Roda. I thought I'd be out of it, but I did enter the circle after all. And I was lucky again to play with the Mestre. This time it felt a little more 'natural'. Even though I did miss lots of shots as usually and was 'relatively killed' a dozen times, I was moving with less bustle and I sort of knew what to do next, I wasn't suddenly freezing not knowing completely what next as I did before. It was a progress. Maybe because our Roda on Sunday was sort of a departing point for me. Before I would still try to correct everything at a time, now I knew exact things I should more concentrate on. So it was sort of easier. Once again hearing my favorite song about the Cutia, I did my best to show what I have learned within these 4 months\2 weeks).
Meeting Mestre Cobra Mansa was something absolutely special for me, even though I was after all probably the 'newest' and the least experienced girl in there. I didn't know this person and I saw him for the first time in my life, but he somehow created this incredibly friendly and family-like warm atmosphere. Communication wasn't of any discomfort (despite the language difference) – he makes in impression of a very kind and affable person. The whole seminary was fulfilled with jokes, laughter, friendly smiles. Mestre was very attentive to all of his students – he always asked us about our thoughts or how we feel, what we've learned, what we're thinking about and so on. And it was also very instructive that he never actually answered questions such as 'how to do this move' or 'which direction to take' and so on. When such questions appeared, he asked the person with the question come out in front of everyone and perform the move again and again until what he\she did was answer his\her question himself\herself. He always repeated: “I'm here not make to make it any easier, it's just the opposite!” - and it was not the only thing I remembered. He actually shared lots of very smart thoughts, which were sometimes not even much connected with capoeira. These were ideas that could be easily transferred to anything else in our lives. He shared his experience. And for that I truly thank him. I will never forget this week and I'm already looking forward to the next seminary.