HI. MY NAME IS JOHN KEVIN ASHTON.

Since I put the “Mission Statement” of this website in the side bar and on the home page, I thought I would use this page to tell you about my history in this art, and where I practice..

Well guys, here we go.

You know, I wanted to learn this martial art for many years… Even before I knew what it was. The very 1st time I saw a capoeira movement was in the late 80’s, in a movie named, “The Mighty Quinn”, starring Denzel Washington and Robert Townsend.

It’s been a couple years before I found out that this was indeed capoeira. I read in an old M.A. magazine about how these were Capoeira fighting sequences, and how they were choreographed by a man named Cedric Adams.

The first time I saw capoeira actually mentioned in a movie was this old movie called ROOFTOPS…

…Although I don’t know why they named this YouTube video Capoeira City.

But anyway, since then I was hooked.

I wanted to find a school, but this was the late 80’s, there were no schools where I lived, no internet, and I couldn’t find anything in the yellow pages.

I was out of luck. Until…

In 1989 Panther Productions decided to make 8 VHS tapes about Capoeira.

I bought them in the mid – 90’s, and watched them from end to end, and learned all the movements. In fact, I can still do some of them…

And I also watched and studied every video clip I could find on the art, from movies , travel shows, commercials…

And I must have watched the movie Only the Strong about a thousand times…

But I stopped practicing, because I had nobody to practice or play with.

Fast forward a few years, I had given up on learning capoeira, and started learning another fascinatingly beautiful, and deadly martial art called Pencak Silat:

But, CAPOEIRA WAS NEVER FAR AWAY… And then, a few years ago, as summer was ending, I became a student of this guy:

CHARLES WILLIAMS. The man who is my 1st teacher, guide, and role model in this wonderful way of life called capoeira.  The above picture was taken on my very first class with him. I was on my way to the Griffith Park observatory,  and I happened to look across the street, and there he was, playing that same berimbau he has over his shoulder. I walked over to him, he gave me a music lesson, and I knew then and there, he was going to be my teacher.

Anyway,  Here he is in action…

There’s a huge plethora of other things I want to say about my teacher,  but if you want to know more about him… Well. I’ll let him tell you a little bit about that.

And also, please go to his website at http://www.solsinmotion.com.

I will tell you all about everyone else else I train with in the NEXT PAGE.

Anyway, this is the story of my love affair with Capoeira Angola. The practice of this beautiful art form has taken over my life, and whatever else I do with my life, I will be an angoleiro, even after I die…