CDC takes the stage at the World Cup Opening Ceremony

Jun 24, 2010 by Capoeirasa    6 Comments    Posted under: Featured Article, Newsroom

So… There we were. Basking in the glory of our 15 minutes. We had NAILED it. Every Ginga, every au, every quixada, every cocorinha. On point and on time.

The months of late night rehearsals, dress fittings and hours in traffic to Nasrec had paid off. Trying to get capoeiristas in sequence is like trying to herd cats, but we had done it, one flawless machine. And we had done it. In front of two billion people. WE HAD DONE IT

The Calabash crew, was chilling at Nasrec coming down from one of the biggest highs any of us had ever experienced. We were settling in for the big match, getting our Bafana on. Face paint was flying, flags were being raised and those bright yellow jerseys donned. When all of a sudden English Ian, the stage crew manager, came over the PA asking us, the 96 calabash extraordinaires, to gather at the centre of the hall. We were told in hushed tones that we had been allocated tickets to the match. Barely able to contain our excitement we split up to try and gather the troops.

Once everyone – well almost everyone – Steve, Thalia and Chris – you were missed – was accounted for we were told that we had 5 minutes to make it to the Stadium. As we’d demonstrated earlier that day the distance to Soccer City from Nasrec, even at a brisk walk behind a marching band, takes roughly 15 minutes. But fuelled by the adrenalin rush of the stadiumand the lure of free tickets to Africa’s first world cup kick-off we were given flight. Some of the girls felt they might just give up, but we banded together and the ground fell away beneath our feet and we flew to Gate no 6.

Although we weren’t dressed for the occasion – running in Spanish cowboy boots isn’t fun – trailing orange spandex and purple bibs we huffed and puffed our way up to the gate. We received our tickets and once again, after barely a moment to catch our breath, we set off for the top of the prettiest soccer stadium in the world. Bouyed by the healthy weight of our golden tickets and the songs of our Pantsula partners we veritably danced up the ramp to our seats. Although we had thrown our weight around on that very field only moments earlier seeing it from those seats surrounded by Bafana faithful was enough take your breath away. Every single capoeira, PK and pantsula skin pimpled in goosebumps. As we took our seats and were hit by the wave of atmosphere at Soccer City, seeing the smiles on every face, watching the high fives shared between calabash friends I realized the truest meaning of AXE. And then Bafana scored and the nation joined in.

A big thanks to Monitor Sting for this great write-up and a final thanks to all of you that made CDC’s participation in this massive event possible. Axe’!

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