Interview UmWhat is your name?
Chris Zaseck. How did you get interested/involved in Capoeira? Capoeira is an afro Brazilian martial art started in Brazil by African slaves. A friend of mine, born in Brazil, invited me to this thing called Capoeira, kind of explained what it was, and I went along. That was in 2004, and I’ve been doing it ever since. When you first got interested in Capoeira, were there any expectations or preconceived notions you had about it? Fortunately no, I just had no idea whatsoever of what it was. No preconceived notions, because my friend never even told me what it was. It wasn’t until I started doing research on it until I started getting some notions. I never really got into the “it’s all dance... etc.” I loved the acrobatics, wanted to learn all of the flips. The more I did it, I realized that there is a balance between things, the music, everything. What do you do outside of Capoeira? Capoeira is probably my biggest hobby. I love to visit family, used to go to Indy and do rock climbing. But capoeira is mostly it now. I did it particularly in undergrad, but now I’m too busy to work. How often do you practice? This has changed a lot. Two times a week, sometimes on the weekend. It used to be five to six times a week with my brother, but I don’t do that anymore. My brother was the guy that (motions butting heads) kept me going. (Clarification: He’s an identical twin) I can’t have this guy looking exactly like me doing better than me, so that’s what kept me pushing it forward. I would want to practice as much as I could. Would you consider capoeira to be a defining factor to you as a person? Oh, absolutely. It’s been my only real hobby, static hobby, for the last 8-9 years. Especially in undergrad, I spent a lot of money, and time, so yeah. It has definitely contributed to me as a person. It brought my brother and me closer to each other too. Capoeira was the main way we saw each other and hung out. The language- How hard was it to learn that? Do you speak it at all, or is it solely for capoeira? Yes, so the first year I didn’t quite understand it. But as you go to the practices and meet the mestres and learn more of the music, and the people involved, a lot of it is in Portuguese. The mestre will speak in Portuguese to really get a point across. I took two years of Portuguese, 4 semesters of it, and I used to be decent at it. Haven’t spoken it in years. Goes in through one ear and out the other. It was useful too, it’s too bad! Especially in capoeira, where certain types of music means different things. Certain songs mean only girls play. If you don’t know the music they could be making fun of you, you know? “This guy plays like trash”, you don’t know if you don’t understand the language. When they want to raise the emotion, they change the music. Do you prefer a certain style of Capoeira, such as Angola or Regional? It’s Regional and Angola , and contemporenea is sort of the modern adaptation of these. Angola is a slower game, more traditional, what the slaves originally practiced. Emphasis on trickery, rather than speed and agility, to make the opponent fall into a compromising situation. It’s very cerebral, but very boring for people who don’t understand what they’re watching. Regional is based more on speed, and it’s the flashier type you see today. Contemporanea is the contemporary type, so they’ve updated the crap out of it to make it more useful. What about the nicknames? My name is Um, and my brother’s name is Dois (like twin 1 and twin 2). My instructors name is Bambu, because he’s tall and skinny. There's another guy named Etheh, because he has a large head like E.T. One of the guys I used to spar with, his nickname was Zebra, because he had a large Tiger-stripe tattoo on his arm, so the instructor called him Zebra to take the punch out of the tattoo. |
"Certain songs mean only girls play. If you don’t know the music they could be making fun of you, you know? “This guy plays like trash”, you don’t know if you don’t understand the language. When they want to raise the emotion, they change the music." - Chris Zaseck (on music) "The mestre will speak in Portuguese to really get a point across."-Chris (on the importance of language) “I don’t really know the language. I just learned the names of the moves and how to pronounce them… Though I’m still not very good at it.” - Kayla Sutton (on the Portuguese language) "A lot of people just think it is dance, or something like that. I mean I guess it kind of is dance, but it’s supposed to be a… you know, martial art, so that’s not how I’d describe it really."- Kayla Sutton (on how people see Capoeira from the outside) |
Interview DoisWhat is your name?
Kayla Marie Sutton. How old are you? 20 years old for a week now. Where are you from? Indianapolis… I have family in Nebraska, and I was born there, but I grew up here and most of what I know is here. How did you get interested/involved in capoeira? How did you hear about it originally? It was free- I decided to try it out with Maribel (her roommate). It was mostly all guys there; we were the only two girls. It’s still that way the majority of the time though. When you first got interested in it (capoeira), were there any expectations or preconceived notions you had about it? Did they change over time? I had never heard of it, and didn’t know what it was until I got there. I guess I thought it was a bit like break dancing, but I’d never seen it before. Actually, I think I’d seen it in a movie or something but I had no idea what it actually was, just that it looked interesting. What do you do outside of capoeira? Study, whatever needs done for the club. I have to send the emails, and I’ve been working on the website- or trying to- for some time now” She actually messed the code up and I had to fix it for her. How often do you practice? Twice a week for about two hours; (shameless plug) Tuesdays and Thursdays! Sometimes on the weekend we meet at the Co-rec and practice some acrobatics and moves from the week. Would you consider capoeira to be a defining factor to you as a person? Does it matter in your life? It is important to me, but it isn’t really an important factor in my life. I do enjoy it… If the club were to die, it’d suck, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It’s a lot of work, practicing and managing the club. Especially around exam time, when a lot of people don’t show up and we still have to go to make sure people can have their weekly routine. The language- How hard was it to learn that? Do you speak it at all, or is it solely for capoeira? I don’t really know the language. I just learned the names of the moves and how to pronounce them… Though I’m still not very good at it. What do you think people outside of the club think about it? When people hear about it, they really don’t know what it is. They always amazed when they see it performed. A lot of people just think it is dance, or something like that. I mean I guess it kind of is dance, but it’s supposed to be a… you know, martial art, so that’s not how I’d describe it really. Do you prefer a certain style/type of capoeira, such as Angola or Regional? Or contemporanea? Benguela… A type of contemporanea That’s the only style I know, to be honest. I know a bit regional and Angola, from what Chris and Drew (the mastre’s) have taught us. It’s a middle ground between the two. What drives you to continue to practice? It's fun, I enjoy the people. It makes me flexible for dance, and I like that. Mostly the people though. *Quick Note: The questions were changed for the first interview shown (which was actually the second interview conducted) due to time constraints.
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