Lisette Spaargaren (47) from Haarlem is almost always in pain. But when she sings, dances or fights, it disappears. Then she feels strong. Physically and mentally. For Lisette, the Brazilian martial art capoeira is more than just a sport. Last weekend she was the first Dutch woman to receive the highest award in capoeira.
A day after her exciting weekend, Lisette, owner of capoeira school Semente, sits contentedly in her house in the Rozenprieel. With her Brazilian patroness Omara Silvia da Conceicão Santos in front of her. Lisette was presented with the white cord by her during the ceremony. “Exactly twenty years after the founding of my school, I like me mestra, which means master. A great honor,” said the capoeirista.
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Despite barely sleeping for three nights, she feels fantastic. “For more than an hour I played with more than twenty different teachers. The strength and energy that is released means that I can still continue with little sleep.”
According to Lisette, that is also what is special about capoeira. “In this sport everything comes together. The dance, the martial arts, the music, the history and therefore a lot of energy.” In a circle of musicians and singing people, a pair exchanges attack and defense techniques opposite each other, without touching each other.
“They were treated like animals. Through capoeira they could also express their feelings”
When Lisette has to explain what capoeira actually is, she prefers to do so from the perspective of history. For example, she explains how the sport was practiced by the enslaved in Brazil. “For them it was a way to free themselves. Physically, emotionally and spiritually. Their humanity had been taken from them. They were treated like animals. Capoeira was a cultural manifestation, which also had to be camouflaged. From martial arts to dance, to dodging. To become stronger in the meantime. This martial art also allowed them to express their feelings.”
All in one
When the Haarlem native left for England in 1999 and came into contact with capoeira, she could not have dreamed that this sport would dominate her life so much. Yes, she had done gymnastics, dance and Kung Fu, but she had never thought about the fact that there was something that combined those three sports. After the first trial lesson in England she was sold. “Capoeira is all in one. And much more.”
“She reminded me of a dolphin”
She felt in everything that she always wanted to move like that. After studying theater and business management, Lisette decided to travel to Brazil. To Salvador da Bahia, among others. The place where capoeira started and where she first met Mestra Omara. He still remembers that moment well: “I saw her swimming in the sea. So curious about everything around her, eager to learn and so much life energy. She reminded me of a dolphin.”
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Lisette trained in Brazil for two years and learned Portuguese, then decided to return to the Spaarne city. To open her own school, Semente, there in 2003 seed means, to set up. “For from a seed everything germinates.” She places her hands together and moves them smoothly up in a V to illustrate her words.
“Because of my broken legs I couldn’t stand”
She herself is living proof of everything that can arise. According to her patroness, with whom she has contact every week, Lisette deserves the highest title like no other. “Twenty years after she started school, she has proven her worth. She has passion, perseverance and overcame so many boundaries on a physical and mental level. After twenty years, this was the right time.”
By those limits, Omara is referring to the motorcycle accident that Lisette had in 2008. She broke her back, her left fibula and tibia and shattered her right heel. She ended up in a wheelchair. “I had to recuperate in a ward for people with spinal cord injuries. People who know they will never be able to walk again. That was terrible.”
Standing on hands
At first, the doctors did not know whether she would ever walk again. That only became clear after an operation. In total, she underwent five operations and practiced as best she could. “I had severe pain in my back. To relieve that burden, it would be better to stand, but I couldn’t do that because of my broken legs.” But thanks to capoeira she was able to stand on her head and hands. And so it happened that she regularly recuperated standing on her hands.
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Capoeira literally kept Lisette on her feet. “Capoeira gives me tools to keep going. Such as in slavery, where they were able to resist through movements in the most difficult situation.” It makes the chronic pain she has lived with every day since the accident bearable.
Singing, dancing, fighting and making music; Lisette has made capoeira her life’s work. She calls it a strategy. “A wise master called capoeira the ‘dance of the fighters and the fight of the dancers’. Capoeira is so big, has so many aspects, so many layers. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. Even as a mestra, I am only at the beginning.”