 "Photo: Riane York")
What seems like a graceful choreographed dance at first sight, is actually so dangerous that it was once outlawed, and so effective that it helped free people from bondage. Capoeira (Kap-oo-air-uh) is an art form combining elements of martial arts, music, and dance. It was once rooted in Africa and born in Brazil, but is now slowly spreading throughout the world, and just so happens to be right here in our backyard. Mary Taylor, 28, a sophomore at the Ybor campus, has been training in capoeira for almost five years.
Taylor has recently begun traveling to schools, parks, libraries, and festivals with her partner Rodney Ondrus putting on a fun yet educational children’s show highlighting all the aspects of capoeira. The pair performed Nov. 7-8 in the children’s area at the Ruskin Seafood festival. The seats were filled by the beginning of the show with an anxious audience of adults and children eager to know more about the yin and yang behind this art form.
Their performance included several demonstrations of capoeira, while putting an educational spin on all the fun with some history about the animals, location, instruments, and language of Brazil. Audience participation was encouraged during their performance. Many of their young students from the Jewish Community Center in Saint Petersburg, where both Taylor and Ondrus teach, helped to demonstrate a few of the kicks and moves. While Taylor and Ondrus played Brazilian instruments and sang Brazilian roda (Hoh-Dah) songs, the young students formed a roda circle around capoeira players, concentrating all attention on the action at hand.
Taylor first began capoeira for a fun activity to keep her motivated, challenged, and in shape. However, shortly after beginning her training Taylor knew she wanted to do more than just train capoeira, and began drawing up a plan to form a children’s show with her partner Ondrus. “We both wanted a purposeful business that would teach children positive messages about the environment and world, while incorporating what we love to do,” Taylor said.
Taylor trains three to five days a week in the gym working out, practicing gymnastics, kicks, take downs, and agility exercises. She also takes yoga to keep her body flexible and loose. “You have to bend your body and all kinds of funny ways,” Taylor said, “At first I was not as flexible as I am now, but over time you can train your body to be more limber.”
For some, capoeira is not only a fun activity to get some exercise and learn cool moves, but a lifestyle. “Mary eats, breathes, and lives capoeira literally,” Ondrus said, “Eating healthy is a very key factor in being successful in capoeira; you need your strength and health to learn new tricks and moves, and Mary is definitely a good example of that. She has taught me how to eat foods that will benefit me and my capoeira game.” Taylor chooses to eat mostly natural foods. She has done lots of research on natural foods, learning that some provide energy and strength, while others are filling but light enough in the stomach to avoid sleepiness.
While Taylor is leaning towards getting a nursing degree, so she can continue to make a difference in people’s lives, capoeira will always be a part of her weekly life and one of her biggest passions.
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