Um, probably the best way of doing it for now is to go here: http://capoeira.org.nz/index.php?pageID=6 and sign up to the national mailing list (capoeira-nz) that we have. That's where all of the details about our events get sent to as they come up. I think the next one will probably be in December, and probably in Wellington.

Oh, here's a direct link to the mailing list sign up page if that's easier:
http://lists.bazombo.com/mailman/listinfo

Just click on Capoeira-nz then fill out your details in the 'subscribing to capoeira-nz' section. I think it'll send you an email with a link to confirm your address or something like that. Feel free to send me messages if you've got anything else you wanna know about or whatever :)

Well, we have events every year in our various centers throughout the country, which keeps us all in touch with each other. So you get to hear stories from senior students who have been to Brazil and trained with Mestres etc. etc. But we also bring Mestres over for 2 of our main events. We have a big 4-day long camp over Easter and we always have a guest Mestre at that event. Sometimes 2 or 3! We've had 8 of those events every easter since 2002 I think, and we also have an end of year event in the first week of december that we bring mestres for. Between those 2 events we have brought Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha (several times), Mestre Jogo de Dentro (several times), Mestre Cabello (twice), Tisza, Mestre Lobao, Mestre Joao Grande (what an honor!), Mestre Roxinho, Mestre Augusto, Mestre Plinio, Mestre Virgilio, Mestra Sorriso, Contra-Mestra Daisy, COntra-Mestre Bengala... Not sure if there are others. But the main thing is, events are great to go to for exposure to capoeira and meeting mestres so you can learn about how much more there is to capoeira in the country, and the world, than just the group you train with at home :)

I realize now that I'm here that 5 years is nothing. I used to be in awe of people who'd been training for that long. Now our groups main senior students are coming up on 10 years of capoeira (next year) and one has been going for about 13-14 (with some breaks for family) and that seems amazing to me. But in the general scheme of capoeira, it's nothing. Our Mestre has 25 years, but there are mestres who are in their 70s/80s and have been playing capoeira since they were tiny little kids. Now THAT's experienced.

As for that post, being around in capoeira for a while means that you get the chance to hear what a lot of Mestres have to say. We've had a lot come over to our events, and because capoeira is relatively small in NZ we get a lot more of a chance to talk to them in a smaller group. So I've learned a lot of valuable stuff about the history and philosophy of it from listening to them at camps and such. Enough to know that people like that dude have a lot to learn before they can even start learning capoeira, because all they've done is put up a wall and made it so they're not open to learning.

Heya, I've been playing capoeira for about 5 years now. Sounds pretty crazy to me, haha, still feel like a n00b. So much to learn, I guess that's why! Still enjoying it as much as the day I started though, it's so much fun :)

We're also planning an event with a guest Mestre for December in Welly I believe, but more details about that will come out over the next couple of months :)