Video by Orquidea Lima Felgueiras
Very, very proud girl! Wish I could be there to watch you at Carnaval!
Kanika xx
Sunday 26 January 2014
Fancy Feet
Fresh from the Quadra (base) of Vila Isabel samba school yesterday night (25th January), here she is, Miss Karla-Jayne Thomas working her magic.
Very, very proud girl! Wish I could be there to watch you at Carnaval!
Kanika xx
Very, very proud girl! Wish I could be there to watch you at Carnaval!
Kanika xx
Sunday 19 January 2014
The Chronicles of a "Gringa" Passista
First things first, I don't
like being called 'Gringa'. A Gringa or Gringo, is a boorish outsider, willingly ignorant to the ways of the place they are visiting... but I've accepted to a point that a "Gringa passista" is
how people will see me - and indeed refer to me - initially, once they realise that not only am
I not from the neighbourhood of Vila Isabel, but I'm not from Rio. In fact, I'm not even
from Brazil. But here I am.
I'm sure some of you have been wondering what I've been up to recently. You knew I came to Rio but then apparently disappeared (and for that I apologise). So what am I doing here?
Since 2009, when I started dancing with the London School of Samba (LSS), I've watched videos of amazing passistas (samba dancers) making this complicated dance look so easy and
graceful and magical. I wanted to be them. I chose Rio's Vila Isabel samba school because I liked what it
stood for: history, tradition, love and samba. I had been invited to
audition for Unidos da Tijuca – another incredible, prize winning school, known
for its constant innovation and explosive parades. However, as a
dancer, there was always something about the passistas that I didn't
quite connect with. At Vila, I would always see a variety of styles,
elegant sensuality but mainly ferocious samba no pé (basic samba step). And as for the male dancers, the
malandros,... I have no words. So yes, Vila Isabel was my first choice. The perfect place to
grow, learn and improve on what I'd learned from my amazing dance teachers
in London. As champion of Carnaval 2013, Vila Isabel was probably the
most ambitious one to try, but there I was, trying anyway.
I arrived at the quadra (samba school's base) of Vila Isabel one Wednesday in October for an ensaio communidade (community rehearsal) with my boyfriend by my side for
support. My aim – lofty as heck – was to find whoever was in
charge of the ala passista (passista section) and convince them to let me join and parade in Carnaval 2014.
I found the Director, Edson, and
introduced myself.
“My name is Karla, I'm here from London and I just want to know what it would take to join the passistas and dance with you guys.”
“My name is Karla, I'm here from London and I just want to know what it would take to join the passistas and dance with you guys.”
He first suggested that I could take
samba classes, some of the passistas were teachers and I
could have lessons from them. But I glanced at my boyfriend (who had
earlier told me to not be afraid to big myself up “fake it til you
make it, babe”) so I looked Edson in the eye and said “Oh, I
KNOW how to samba...” After a beat, he told me that there
isn't an exam to be a passista for Vila – you just have to
show him what you can do. Show him that you're worth it.
“Mostra, e eu vejo.” - Bring it and
I'll see...
So the following Saturday, this time
with my friend Natasha and soul sister Ana, I dressed
up, put my heels on and went to a Feijoada (a party where the traditional Brazilian dish is served) in the quadra. Edson had
told me that it would start at 14:00. I arrived at 17:00 (this was
Rio after all).
The show started at 19:00. This Carioca
timing does take some getting used to...
Once the bateria (drum section) started, the passistas
created a roda (dance circle) and each entered to shine. When they were done, Edson
came over and invited me into the circle with a male passista for
company. It was all a blur. I had been worrying about slipping out of my
shoes and making sure the fly on my shorts didn't come down but the
second the beat came in, I let the rhythm of the bateria take me because, YOLO. I went for it. Danced my heart out. I didn't realise it until the end when I looked up, that the women
were smiling at me and Edson, unsmiling, was nodding his head. At the
end of the roda, I went over to ask what he thought.
“Come on Wednesday. 20:00. Wear blue
and white – little shorts or a skirt and bring high heels.”
#Proud #Nailedit #OMGWHATdoIwear!?
 |
| After a rehearsal. Sweaty and happy. Photo courtesy of Joel Bergner via Instagram |
Since then, I've gone to every
rehearsal. Wednesdays for the community rehearsal with all of the
alas; and Saturdays for the shows (except one as I was visiting
Salvador). It's important to show dedication, and there is a register
for you to sign to make sure you're there. Miss two rehearsals with
no valid excuse and you, dear dancer, are OUT. The shows are always
amazing and this close to carnival there are often celebrities
visiting, Like the time Seu Jorge waltzed in with Spike Lee, later
followed by Mart'Nalia. Other samba schools visit too. Since I
joined, we've hosted samba schools such as Cubango, Innocentes de Belford Roxo, as well as
a carnival party to which 17 schools attended and Carlinhos do
Salgueiro and his Acadêmicos do Salgueiro dancers brought this...
Video by Karla-Jayne Thomas
Yesterday (Saturday, 18th
January) I realised pretty early in the day that I wouldn't be able
to dance that night, but I knew I had to go anyway to show my face
and sign that damned register. When I arrived, there was a LOT of
commotion, cameras and clevage. The competition to elect the Gay
Queen (Rainha Gay) of Rio was to take place in the quadra of Vila. Many of Rainhas of samba schools from all over Rio were there as judges, including Ana Paula Evangelista
(Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel), Raissa de Oliveira (Beija
Flor), Sabrina Sato (Vila Isabel, of course), Patricia Nery (Portela) and Carla Prata (Rocinha). Rainhas or Queens are highlight dancers who act as Muse for the bateria, dancing in front of them during shows and parades.
During the break in the competition (which was incredible and glamorous, by the way) the bateria played some classic enredos (samba songs) and some of the queens came down to dance in the middle of them. I always feel dejected when I think about how many queens pay for the privilege of being there, but there was a moment when Raissa de Oliveira was dancing with the caixa section, singing all of the words to an old Mocidade enredo (Vira, Virou for you samba geeks) and Ana Paula joined her, that I saw all the pure joy and elation that samba brings to me. I felt it while I was queen of the London School of Samba at every gig, and ultimately it's what led me here to Rio.
During the break in the competition (which was incredible and glamorous, by the way) the bateria played some classic enredos (samba songs) and some of the queens came down to dance in the middle of them. I always feel dejected when I think about how many queens pay for the privilege of being there, but there was a moment when Raissa de Oliveira was dancing with the caixa section, singing all of the words to an old Mocidade enredo (Vira, Virou for you samba geeks) and Ana Paula joined her, that I saw all the pure joy and elation that samba brings to me. I felt it while I was queen of the London School of Samba at every gig, and ultimately it's what led me here to Rio.
So what if I have to work a little harder to
prove myself to the Carioca passistas at Vila (most of whom are
extremely nice) because I'm new and because I'm not from there. So what if I
have to work a little harder to get Edson to pick me out to dance
solos like the other girls. So, I have to root around Rio to find the
shoes they wear or to find a seamstress that they seemingly all have
had since birth but can never remember the names of. But I will do
it. Because I love it.
Karla x
Karla x
Monday 13 January 2014
Outside comfortable
This little nugget I found it thanks to @leannerimes while perusing twitter, will be making its way to a wall near me asap.
Being comfortable and sticking with what you know will not get you what you want to achieve. I know this, we all know this right, and somehow it's something that many of us have to constantly remind ourselves.
I know for sure that I could do with a daily reminder of this.
Kanika x
Catching up
It's official! In 2013 I was living under a rock.
There's no two ways about it, it's the only explanation for how I could have missed something like this - last year's TEDxEuston talk 'We should all be Feminists', by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie...what the fudge?!
Flashback to this time last month and the world seemed to gasp a collective OMFGWTF! in response to Beyonce's eponymous 5th album drop. In between all the chatter and hyperventilating (yep, hands up, I was feverishly trying to get a glimpse of the new material too), I came across 'Flawless' on which Queen Bey samples extracts from 'We should all be Feminists'.
My knowledge of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was limited. I knew that the Nigerian author had been nominated for and won a bunch of awards for her writing, but that was it. Then, I remembered co-blogger Karla tweeting me a link to an interview of Chimamanda's last year but, I hadn't read it. My bad, I should have!
At this point consider my face poked out from under my rock, head cocked ready to listen, my interest was piqued. In We should all be Feminists Chimamanda talks about her experiences as a feminist and how equality between genders (good ol' feminism) is beneficial to us all. For me her speech is spot on. In it she references issues like the gender stereotypes that we impose on our children and how these unnecessary pressures can go on to hinder our development as adults and as a society as a whole. Discussing the preconceptions she's faced as an African woman outside of her home country and a woman at home in Nigeria, Chimamanda manages to be funny and engaging.
In the past Beyonce has received a lot of flack for not being a 'good' feminist role model. Everything from her appearance to the content of her work and the fact that she's not an intellectual have been dissected to add weight to this critique. Despite some previous apparent hesitance to identity as a feminist Beyonce's recent body of *work isn't leaving us guessing about her feelings towards the F word. Either way I think it's pretty awesome that she sampled We should all be feminists. Being featured on the fastest selling album on iTunes to date can only help bring the talk and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to a swathe of people who may not have seen it first time round. And if it leads to more people engaging in the gender equality debate, this can only be a good thing in my humble opinion.
*UPDATE - Last Thursday (9th Jan) the latest Shriver report by Maria Shriver and the Center of American Progress was published with contributions from the likes of Beyonce, Hilary Clinton and Jada Pinkett-Smith, all penning essays in support of gender equality. You can download the report in full and read the essays HERE for free until 15th Jan.
Kanika x
There's no two ways about it, it's the only explanation for how I could have missed something like this - last year's TEDxEuston talk 'We should all be Feminists', by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie...what the fudge?!
Flashback to this time last month and the world seemed to gasp a collective OMFGWTF! in response to Beyonce's eponymous 5th album drop. In between all the chatter and hyperventilating (yep, hands up, I was feverishly trying to get a glimpse of the new material too), I came across 'Flawless' on which Queen Bey samples extracts from 'We should all be Feminists'.
My knowledge of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was limited. I knew that the Nigerian author had been nominated for and won a bunch of awards for her writing, but that was it. Then, I remembered co-blogger Karla tweeting me a link to an interview of Chimamanda's last year but, I hadn't read it. My bad, I should have!
 |
| A still from the Flawless video |
At this point consider my face poked out from under my rock, head cocked ready to listen, my interest was piqued. In We should all be Feminists Chimamanda talks about her experiences as a feminist and how equality between genders (good ol' feminism) is beneficial to us all. For me her speech is spot on. In it she references issues like the gender stereotypes that we impose on our children and how these unnecessary pressures can go on to hinder our development as adults and as a society as a whole. Discussing the preconceptions she's faced as an African woman outside of her home country and a woman at home in Nigeria, Chimamanda manages to be funny and engaging.
In the past Beyonce has received a lot of flack for not being a 'good' feminist role model. Everything from her appearance to the content of her work and the fact that she's not an intellectual have been dissected to add weight to this critique. Despite some previous apparent hesitance to identity as a feminist Beyonce's recent body of *work isn't leaving us guessing about her feelings towards the F word. Either way I think it's pretty awesome that she sampled We should all be feminists. Being featured on the fastest selling album on iTunes to date can only help bring the talk and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to a swathe of people who may not have seen it first time round. And if it leads to more people engaging in the gender equality debate, this can only be a good thing in my humble opinion.
*UPDATE - Last Thursday (9th Jan) the latest Shriver report by Maria Shriver and the Center of American Progress was published with contributions from the likes of Beyonce, Hilary Clinton and Jada Pinkett-Smith, all penning essays in support of gender equality. You can download the report in full and read the essays HERE for free until 15th Jan.
Kanika x
Monday 6 January 2014
Blast from the past
Last year one of my friends gave me a copy of The Black Hairdressing and Beauty Training Manual by Hyacinth Jarrett. I love poring over old books, photos etc and especially because of the subject matter I was all over this book.
Most of the styling in The Black Hairdressing and Beauty Training Manual takes you right back to the 80s and so, I assumed that it would be full of outdated and non natural hair friendly info. I was wrong.
Black hairdressers don't always get a good wrap in the Natural Community and unfortunately a lot of the criticisms thrown in their direction are not unfounded. Instances of ignorance, unprofessionalism and down right shocking customer treatment are definitely not unique to Black hairdressers, but they're not as uncommon as they should be. Who hasn't heard a cautionary tale or experienced themselves salon treatments gone wrong, or stylist's that don't seem to know or, perhaps worse, care about what they are doing to a client's hair? It's for reasons like this that I and many other curly girls surfing the Natural Hair Movement have stared away from stylists.
When it comes to hair, I'm of the opinion that if it's growing out of my body I should know how to look after it better than anyone else, and if I don't, I'll learn! If I want hair advice I don't look to stylists or magazines or even female relatives, I go to the 'Net. I look to women, many of whom don't have formal hairdressing qualifications but who, through lots of research, trial and error and patience are walking around with awesome healthy heads of hair.
The Black Hairdressing and Beauty Training Manual made me check some of my assumptions about Black hairdressing. Although there isn't much information specifically about natural hair care, there is lots about basic salon hair and beauty from the scientific breakdown of treatments to how to provide proper client consultations and even how to successfully set up and run a hair care business. The Black Hairdressing and Beauty Training Manual has the all information that you would expect to be a standard part of hairdresser training, but from previous visits to salons where some of the stylists seemed to lack basic hair care knowledge and customer services, it makes you wonder.
 |
| Make-up tutorial for Skin tone no.2 Medium Olive (left) and Skin tone no.3 Dark brown (right) |
Black hairdressers don't always get a good wrap in the Natural Community and unfortunately a lot of the criticisms thrown in their direction are not unfounded. Instances of ignorance, unprofessionalism and down right shocking customer treatment are definitely not unique to Black hairdressers, but they're not as uncommon as they should be. Who hasn't heard a cautionary tale or experienced themselves salon treatments gone wrong, or stylist's that don't seem to know or, perhaps worse, care about what they are doing to a client's hair? It's for reasons like this that I and many other curly girls surfing the Natural Hair Movement have stared away from stylists.
When it comes to hair, I'm of the opinion that if it's growing out of my body I should know how to look after it better than anyone else, and if I don't, I'll learn! If I want hair advice I don't look to stylists or magazines or even female relatives, I go to the 'Net. I look to women, many of whom don't have formal hairdressing qualifications but who, through lots of research, trial and error and patience are walking around with awesome healthy heads of hair.
The Black Hairdressing and Beauty Training Manual made me check some of my assumptions about Black hairdressing. Although there isn't much information specifically about natural hair care, there is lots about basic salon hair and beauty from the scientific breakdown of treatments to how to provide proper client consultations and even how to successfully set up and run a hair care business. The Black Hairdressing and Beauty Training Manual has the all information that you would expect to be a standard part of hairdresser training, but from previous visits to salons where some of the stylists seemed to lack basic hair care knowledge and customer services, it makes you wonder.
Good hair?
Ever wondered why Black women are obsessed by hair...well, some of us are, more than others ;). How and why anyone would spend prolonged periods of time thinking or writing about their hair?
Intrigued, or just plain confused, let me take you by the hand child and explain.
Before the new year BBC2 aired Good Hair, a 2009 documentary about Black hair by Chris Rock. Now, if the idea of spending an hour and a half watching Chris Rock navigate the world of Black hair sounds like your idea of hell, stay with me. Good Hair is a lighthearted, funny and enlightening look at the complicated and intricate topic that is Black hair.
Good hair itself is a loaded term, a hang up from African slavery in the Americas which is still used to denote hair that is supposedly more 'European' in appearance. Slaves who looked or acted less 'African' were favoured over those who didn't, and all aspects of Africaness were deemed inferior.
Simply explained,
Good hair = long, thick, loose curls or straight, shiny, manageable, like European hair.
Bad hair = short, nappy aka tightly curled, dull, unmanageable, like African hair.
I'll admit that unless you're a Black women the subject of Black hair is pretty confounding. On the surface it might seem niche and superficial, but in trying to deconstruct the topic, Good Hair delves into an issue that's a symptom of systemic denigration of people of African descent and their culture that sadly didn't end with the abolition of slavery. Sounds deep huh, and it is.
I thought I knew a lot about Black hair when I first watched Good Hair 4 years ago, but I didn't know for example that in the US the Black hair industry is worth upwards of $9Billion, yep Billion, or that some US women fly across states to get their hair done! As a life long Relaxer virgin I don't know what it felt like to have a Relaxer, a solution derived from caustic Sodium Hydroxide that's applied to your hair and scalp in order to straighten curls. Seeing the affect Sodium Hydroxide has on chicken flesh and on metal as well as descriptions of the likes of Nia Long, the Rev Al Sharpton and other interviewees, that it's akin to your skull being on fire was enough to vow to keep me relaxer free for life!
If you're not black is it relevant? Well hair is part of your appearance, your identity. As an individual if you were subconsciously and implicitly told that part of your identity was unacceptable and unattractive it would become a deep rooted internal issue no? Worse still, if these messages are relayed to a group of people to the point were they themselves began to police and subjugate their own community in an attempt to keep everyone in line, imagine the long lasting impact. It's something that we have all probably experienced to an extent at some point in our lives regardless of background. Whether it's your hair, body, sexuality, religion or life achievements, we're all taught we should be striving towards some sort of ideal. How successfully we do so dictates our self worth and affects our position in the world.
'Hair as a metaphor for life', yeah why not! So watch Good Hair, if nothing else it'll explain why you should never, under any circumstances touch a Black woman's hair without asking!
You can watch the first part of Good Hair by clicking the link above (sorry, could not find a better quality version in full and without subtitles, but if you're trying to brush up on your French, win win!). This video channel has uploaded the doc in 6 parts so when the end of video screen comes up just look for Good Hair part 2-6 and so forth until part 6-6.
Kanika x
Intrigued, or just plain confused, let me take you by the hand child and explain.
Before the new year BBC2 aired Good Hair, a 2009 documentary about Black hair by Chris Rock. Now, if the idea of spending an hour and a half watching Chris Rock navigate the world of Black hair sounds like your idea of hell, stay with me. Good Hair is a lighthearted, funny and enlightening look at the complicated and intricate topic that is Black hair.
Good hair itself is a loaded term, a hang up from African slavery in the Americas which is still used to denote hair that is supposedly more 'European' in appearance. Slaves who looked or acted less 'African' were favoured over those who didn't, and all aspects of Africaness were deemed inferior.
Simply explained,
Good hair = long, thick, loose curls or straight, shiny, manageable, like European hair.
Bad hair = short, nappy aka tightly curled, dull, unmanageable, like African hair.
I'll admit that unless you're a Black women the subject of Black hair is pretty confounding. On the surface it might seem niche and superficial, but in trying to deconstruct the topic, Good Hair delves into an issue that's a symptom of systemic denigration of people of African descent and their culture that sadly didn't end with the abolition of slavery. Sounds deep huh, and it is.
 |
| Chris Rock interviewing a little girl getting a Relaxer |
I thought I knew a lot about Black hair when I first watched Good Hair 4 years ago, but I didn't know for example that in the US the Black hair industry is worth upwards of $9Billion, yep Billion, or that some US women fly across states to get their hair done! As a life long Relaxer virgin I don't know what it felt like to have a Relaxer, a solution derived from caustic Sodium Hydroxide that's applied to your hair and scalp in order to straighten curls. Seeing the affect Sodium Hydroxide has on chicken flesh and on metal as well as descriptions of the likes of Nia Long, the Rev Al Sharpton and other interviewees, that it's akin to your skull being on fire was enough to vow to keep me relaxer free for life!
If you're not black is it relevant? Well hair is part of your appearance, your identity. As an individual if you were subconsciously and implicitly told that part of your identity was unacceptable and unattractive it would become a deep rooted internal issue no? Worse still, if these messages are relayed to a group of people to the point were they themselves began to police and subjugate their own community in an attempt to keep everyone in line, imagine the long lasting impact. It's something that we have all probably experienced to an extent at some point in our lives regardless of background. Whether it's your hair, body, sexuality, religion or life achievements, we're all taught we should be striving towards some sort of ideal. How successfully we do so dictates our self worth and affects our position in the world.
'Hair as a metaphor for life', yeah why not! So watch Good Hair, if nothing else it'll explain why you should never, under any circumstances touch a Black woman's hair without asking!
You can watch the first part of Good Hair by clicking the link above (sorry, could not find a better quality version in full and without subtitles, but if you're trying to brush up on your French, win win!). This video channel has uploaded the doc in 6 parts so when the end of video screen comes up just look for Good Hair part 2-6 and so forth until part 6-6.
Kanika x
Sunday 5 January 2014
Happy 2014!
Come on 2014 give us what you got!
However the last 12 months have shaped up for you, wishing you all a fantastic 2014.
Don't know why but we've got a feeling it's gonna be a goodun!
Karla & Kanika x
 |
| Couldn't agree with you more Winston |
However the last 12 months have shaped up for you, wishing you all a fantastic 2014.
Don't know why but we've got a feeling it's gonna be a goodun!
Karla & Kanika x
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