Movement

One of the good things that happened during the last two years was meeting with Ponciano Almeida. He had been looking for a calligraphy teacher, he saw my work online and then realised we lived in the same city, Brighton. He wrote to me and to my shame it took him two attempts to get me to respond. Initially he modestly described himself as a dancer but he is also a Mestre, an acknowledged master of the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira. He has his own school in London, Mojubu Capoeira. 

I have been amazed by watching how he moves, and learning more deeply about Capoeira which has deep roots in a culture of resistance and African religion. Once, when I asked Ponciano what he fundamentally teaches, his answer was 'resistance'. What I teach I think is 'vitality', in some sense we are two sides of the same coin.

Ponciano has worked in the studio and also given demonstrations to the students.  We talk about space, how one form flows into another, momentum, spirals and circles, responsiveness, grounding. 

Here is an example of something we did together for one of my online courses. Whilst watching Ponciano move one day on Instagram I suddenly saw a whole new way of moving around the capital letter A. Having made the letter I gave it to Ponciano to see how he would reinterpret my calligraphy in his own movement. You can see two performances of that A here:  an early one and then a second one where Ponciano felt he needed to add something to finish or ground it further at the end. 

Chinese calligraphy is populated with examples of calligraphic breakthroughs from seeing other people move: a sword dancer, a princess negotiating with a porter to pass each other on the same pavement. I am looking forward to working more with Ponciano. This will be a life-long conversation.