Mestre Ivan and Mestre Gaiola
«There've always been two of us. If one goes away, the balance will be broken»
Looking at them, at first glance you think they're similar. It's true on one hand, but there are more differences than it seems.
Mestre Ivan and Mestre Gaiola started doing capoeira simultaneously. It just couldn't be any other way: their father is a capoeirista and he brought his boys to their first class. Ivan was 9 and Gaiola was 8 years old. From the first day they did everything together. They learned movements and capoeira philosophy together, they even competed with each other to help themselves to enhance their skills, and they did everything the same way.
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Mestre Ivan
"You're kind of tied to your brother. You always try to be better, try to outrace, but in the end you both come to the same level. Then you put new goals and try to reach them, catching up with each other".
Looking at them, at first glance you think they're similar. It's true, on one hand, but there are more differences than it seems.
Mestre Ivan
"We have different views on how to teach, we give different classes, and we have different mindsets. We are family but it doesn't mean that we should think the same way. On the other hand, of course, we are similar, because we grew up at the same academy with our master, we have the same comprehension of capoeira philosophy and we both want the same thing — to work hard, to develop our school Cordão de Ouro, and to create something really big and great one day".
The brothers say they are particularly different when it comes to communication with other people. Gaiola is very patient. He loves teaching beginners and newcomers. He has a strong faith in their success and tries to teach them how to be independent and to love capoeira. Ivan has a hot temper. He thinks that a capoeirista should want to become good and he or she doesn't need other people to push him or her there.
Ivan considers it very important for a student to create a strong connection with the place where he or she started to train. Gaiola believes that a student should try to learn as much as possible using different sources from the very start.
The brothers obviously have different characters as well. Ivan is sociable, open, and likes talking to people. Gaiola is shy, and he needs time to open himself to a community. They both admit this is true.
Ivan considers it very important for a student to create a strong connection with the place where he or she started to train. Gaiola believes that a student should try to learn as much as possible using different sources from the very start.
The brothers obviously have different characters as well. Ivan is sociable, open, and likes talking to people. Gaiola is shy, and he needs time to open himself to a community. They both admit this is true.
"Ivan is very self-confident. He always says right things. I'm not like him and I adore this
quality in him".
quality in him".
~
"I love Gaiola's creativity, his power, patience and willingness to work with new students.
He has a strong faith in youngsters. Unfortunately, I don't have such patience".
He has a strong faith in youngsters. Unfortunately, I don't have such patience".
The differences between them have come about with age. The frameworks they've been put into when they were kids have broken with time. Each of them started to express their character by adding individual features into their capoeira games.
Gaiola admits that he always looked up to Ivan as at an older brother and respected his opinion.
"I think, if you want to succeed, you need to listen to somebody who is older. Ivan is exactly this person for me. He has more experience; he travels a lot, including various trips with Mestre Suassuna. He spends more time with him, assists him on his classes. Ivan understands Mestre better, because he tells him what he thinks is important in a work of a capoeirista. Ivan shares it all with me and it helps me a lot".
Gaiola admits that he always looked up to Ivan as at an older brother and respected his opinion.
"I think, if you want to succeed, you need to listen to somebody who is older. Ivan is exactly this person for me. He has more experience; he travels a lot, including various trips with Mestre Suassuna. He spends more time with him, assists him on his classes. Ivan understands Mestre better, because he tells him what he thinks is important in a work of a capoeirista. Ivan shares it all with me and it helps me a lot".
"We certainly have a strong connection between each other. However, it's not about following your brother everywhere. It's more about supporting each other in every situation, no matter if we agree with the brother's position or not".
Mestre Ivan
Mestre Ivan
Recently Gaiola has made an important step in his life. He separated from his brother and moved to St. Petersburg, where he began to teach, together with Contra Mestre TaRusso and Instrutor Pipoca. Such a decision has been hard for the two brothers. They have made their way in capoeira together, and are used to relying on one another.
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Mestre Gaiola
"I asked Ivan what he thinks about me moving away — though, for myself, I had already made a decision. Fortunately, Ivan appreciated my idea and gave me a few tips. I'm always happy to get some advice from him. He's older and more experienced than me and his advice is always useful".
Ivan doesn't conceal that he was happy for his brother, who fell in love with Russia and felt he could find a new home there.
Mestre Ivan
"We have always been together. We are family and are used to being close. But now we are at this level when each one wants to create something on his own and promote his own ideas. Support is very important here. No matter what decisions we're making and to what extent we appreciate each other's actions, we try to understand the motives, why he wants to do this. I believe he scrutinized his decision to move and I know he is going to work hard. In Brazil there's a high capoeira competition these days, so I believe, he will be able to create something new in Russia".
Credits: Elizaveta Krainova; Tatyana Ermolaeva; Instagram
