ALMA BOA PROJECT
building bridges with awareness and movement
We from the group Capoeira Canoa Grande in Igarassu are dedicated to creating a safe space of learning and practicing capoeira and cultural expressions of the African matrix for ALL participants and their families. We cultivate an environment free of prejudice in terms of religion, race and gender. We believe in transparency in relation to finaces and hierachy. We are a collective of people, young and old, beginners and advanced, who support a democratic space for expression free of oppression of any kind. We maintain our values in our own house and expect our visitors to comport themselves in accordance to our codes of conduct. We defend these values in all spaces of capoeira we occupy and will not be silenced in the face of violations that cause disrespect or harm to any person no matter their rank. We will remain attentive and protective of the most vulnerable in our midst and do not tolerate abuses of power in any way. We stand by all those who are united in cultivating a community of capoeira that is healthy and empowering thus maintaing the essence of capoeira as an art form that liberates.
Canoa Grande, Igarassu, 2017
ORIGIN
The concept for the project was born during a cultural exchange residency in Recife, Brazil. In 2002 theater artists from five different countries came together under the name Les Metissages to stage the play The Good Woman of Sezuan translated into Portuguese as Alma Boa. The play was performed by young artists from the Organization Movimento Pro-Criança in the public plaza São Pedro in Recife. At the end of the residency, the project manager asked how we envisioned taking our experiences into our future artistic work. The juxtaposition of racial injustice and poverty on one hand and the rich cultural heritage very much alive in the Northeast region of Brazil on the other, was the incentive to bring the principles of sustainability and reciprocity into my work as an artist and educator. I continued to travel to Brazil from 2002 to 2012 until I left Chicago in 2013 to dedicate myself exclusively to the Canoa Grande Capoeira organization. Over the years we have been able to build a modest building for cultural activities in which capoeira, percussion and theater are taught regularly. In response to the rising violence against women and the obvious inequalities in the capoeira world, women from various Capoeira groups in the Recife region launched the movement Flor da Cabaça, which organizes an annual event and smaller workshops throughout the year - all highlight capoeira women in leadership positions and promote younger women in capoeira as well as an open dialogue with men in the art form.
After six years of organization building in Igarassu, Brazil, the Alma Boa team has been working in Europe since 2018 teaching and performing capoeira and theatre.
Alma Boa (The Good Woman of Sezuan) Patio de São Pedro, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil - 2002
impressum
ALMA BOA PROJEKT
Sharon Danielle Göpfert
Rua São João 255, Igarassu, Bela Vista 53600-000
Pernambuco, Brasil
dgoepfert66@gmail.com
55-81-9-8623-1256
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Our team
Jameson Rosa de Oliveira aka Contra Mestre Betinho
Sharon Danielle
Göpfert aka Contra Mestra Bamba
Betinho grew up in northeastern Brazil in the Recife region. He came into contact with Capoeira as a child and committed himself to this art despite resistance from his family. Practicing capoeira quickly became an important part of his life. Today he can tell about the time of the street rodas in Recife and Olinda. At the age of 18 he started teaching Capoeira himself and was awarded the title Contra Mestre by the Federation Unicalen in Igarassu in 2017. He leads the Canoa Grande group together with Professora Bamba and his acrobatic talent can be seen on stage at performances and events. Since 2018, Betinho has regularly spent time in Germany for a few months every year to teach Capoeira. With this income they finance their work with the children and young people in Brazil.
Born in Germany, Daniela emigrated to the USA in 1986. After studying acting at the Theatre School DePaul University, she acted on the Chicago stages from 1994 to 2013. During this time, she was a member of the Plasticene Ensemble, which has influenced today's physical theater scene in Chicago with its innovative rehearsal and production methods. Daniela taught acting at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Theater School and in city schools. She began practicing Capoeira in Chicago with Mestra Marisa in 1999: then inspired by longer stays in Brazil, she began leading the Canoa Grande group in 2009 and moved to Igarassu in 2013 where she has been living with and for the art of Capoeira. In 2021 she was awarded the title Contra Mestra by the Federation Unicalen. During her training as an actress, she had the opportunity to sense the interplay between consciousness, body, mind, breath and movement. In addition to acting, she took classes in Yoga, Feldenkrais, Authentic Movement, Contact Improvisation, Alexander Technik, Linklater, Laban, African Dance and Movement to Music. This somatic-expressive training became the cornerstone of her specialization in the field of movement. In 2013 she completed her training as a Feldenkrais Practitioner and in 2020 she certified as a Yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. She is constantly deepening her knowledge of the interaction between body and mind preferably in nature.
