
MEDIUM: Video
DESCRIPTION:
Lacouir has been working doing performances with Professor Peggy Choy and I was quite impressed by some of his renditions. Since he is a capoeirista I asked him to so a dramatization of a Capoeira song I heard in Mozambique. The song deals with a request to the spirits to master the art of capoeira and involves a comparison of the learner to birds and fish. Lacouir then creates moves to accompany the song based on what is being said. When it talks about birds flying he leaps into the air, when it talks about fish he imitates swimming and diving into the sea. He goes to one side for the female voice in the song and to the opposite side for the male voice. You have to know Portuguese to follow the movements; but all capoeira songs are only sung in Portuguese or an African language. We are planning to make another version of the song with three green screens instead of one.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT:
The video was made for the BLAC Foundation whose aim is the exaltation of tropical cultures of the world. Though founded in NJ, the Foundation has been based in Madison for a long time as I am both the founder and CEO. We feature capoeira on our website (www.blacfoundation.org) and it is a main discipline in our new “rising star initiative” which aims to unite mind, body, and spirit. Capoeira is used for the “body”, yoga for “spirit” and the Zulu board game umlabalaba for development of “mind”.
CREDITS:
Edward Powe conception and filming
Lacouir Yancey performance and choreography