Book Three: Bimba's Rhythm is One, Two, Three: Closing the Circle of Capoeira

In Book 1, Lang Maria Liu set out to explore the heart of capoeira, immersing herself into the life of Salvador da Bahia. She joined Mestre Curio’s Capoeira Angola school, as well as Mestre Nenel’s traditional Regional school. Then, in Book 2, she found herself on the bumpy roads of Brazil exploring the many facets of capoeira. Making her way from the northeast coast to the mouth of the Amazon River, she wondered if there was a unifying essence within all the diversity of capoeira. In her third and last Book, “Closing the Circle of Capoeira”, the author is faced with several crucial decisions: will she continue on her capoeira path alone, or will she finally find a home for her capoeira school in Toronto? Has she collected enough interviews and gathered enough knowledge to write her dissertation on capoeira? And lastly, where will the love that swept her up take her?

Lang Maria Liu Ph.D. was born in Montreal in 1971 of Chinese and French immigrant parents. She grew up in the countryside south of Ottawa before moving to Toronto for university studies. Here, she embraced the cultural diversity of the city, a rich stew of influences that made her hungry for more, and prompted her to explore the boundaries of personal identity. From the disco beats rising from the neighbours' stereo through the floor of her family's living room when she was five, to her teenage obsession with Michael Jackson's Thriller, African-based rhythms stirred a deep longing within Lang. That longing drew her slowly, but inexorably, to Brazil in 1996 and sparked a long love affair with the Afro-Bahian culture. And thus were the seeds of her involvement with capoeira sown. Lang is a Bowen Therapist, teaches capoeira in her Toronto-based school, and offers classes in primal posture based on the Gokhale Method.