Capoeira Workshop and Batman Alley

By Wendy Meraz

On our Sunday in Sao Paulo we began our morning by taking the subway to visit the Vila Madalena neighborhood and attend a Capoeira workshop. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art and its name comes from an indigenous group that used to live there.

Capoeira means the place where the trees don't grow anymore. This practice originated from slaves, they used it as a form to defend their bodies and fight for their freedom. Slaves would practice, but to not raise suspicion to their owners, they would create different tempos: slow for when the masters were around and could think it was just a dance, and fast when masters were not around and it got more intense. In our workshop we learned that now, when you do Capoeira you are not fighting instead, you are playing with your opponent.

We got to learn the basic moves used in Capoeira and ended our lesson by putting our learned skills to the test and playing with our instructor. This was a very great activity because I got out of my comfort zone and tried something new all while having fun.

The Batman Alley is an alley filled with graffiti on all its walls, lots of vendors, food and snacks to choose from, and music to enjoy. Its name was given since the Batman character was painted on the walls in  the 1980s. Now there are many different paintings and designs and this has become a common spot for tourists to visit. Some of the walls even have powerful messages relating to politics or other issues that citizens have to deal with. This was interesting because we had an opportunity to explore the creative side of Sao Paulo and be part of the culture.