Here's a little something I wrote about what I've seen in Mexico.
In search of a mestre...
Some say that experience is the best teacher, others seek out teachers to show them the way. I do both. I seek out the best teachers to learn from. I always worked hard to attend top programs at top universities and I also look for the best masters to teach me martial arts. But I also make my own path, invent my own projects, and let experience and life show me the way. I'm always on the search for knowledge, in search for experiences, in search for my teacher.
A common theme I've found in academies in Mexico is that many of them are in search of a mestre. Capoeira was planted in Mexico, but mostly left to it's own device without a guardian to look after it. Every so often good mestres have come to Mexico to show the devoted capoeiristas the way, but many capoeira groups are still thirsty for a mestre to be with them full time. Some capoeirstas turn to "Mestre You Tube". They find they movements and the songs, but they lack the deeper meaning of the art and the sublties that give capoeira its flavor. Many capoeristas in Mexico are still in search of a mestre to guide them in the path of a Capoeirista.
My mestre, Mestre Acordeon, wrote the story "The making of a Mestre" in which a mestre went out in search of his mestre but failed to find him, for he had already passed away. It's this story, among other things, that inspired Mestre Acordeon to produce the B2B documentary and its story line. The story of Mestre Acrodeon going in search of his teacher, Mestre Bimba, and taking his students to meet him. It seems to me that even great masters like Mestre Acordeon are in search of their teacher, their master, to help them find meaning in the art of Capoeira and in life. In this sense, great masters and are no different than young students because they too are in search of their mestre.
I've been fortunate to have found Mestre Acordeon, Mestre Ra, and Mestra Suelly at a young age. I've had the privilage to train at the UCA academy where great mestres often frequent to teach workshops and share their knowledge of Capoeira. But even so, I'm still in search of my Capoeira mestre. I've had my mestres present at the academy, but deeper teacher-student relationships go beyond the capoeira class. I embarked on the B2B journey to find my mestre, to know him personally and find all the subleties in him and capoeira that give capoeira its flavors. To learn how to develop the sensitivities that few men have in this world. This trip for me, among other things, is to find my mestre.
Will I ever stop looking for my mestre? It seems not because the search for a mestre is an anology for the search for knowledge. I hope one day I will become a great teacher, maybe in capoeira, maybe in biology and metabolism, maybe in Gyrotonic, or some other technique. But I will always be looking to deepen my knowledge. Ironically, I think that my best teacher will eventually become my own students.
Mariano Galan Wechsler
