[Capoeira] What is Copoeira?

[STASH]

I never even heard of this before? What is it?

[Cooler]

Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art check out

Capoeira.com (http://www.capoeira.com/)

Cooler

[Andy Murray]

OK, if you are not on broadband, this takes a while to load. Great fun though.

Click Here! (http://spiritonin.com/capoeirafighter/capoeirafighter2.html)

Andy

[furio]

There are quite some funky little animations going on there. It seems like a very interesting style. I've got a couple of questions though. Is there at any point when ones stance is somewhat still? Or is even the ready stance a constant flow of movement? Does it involve any ground fighting?

[Dragon_Princess]

I've checked them out wayofthedragon. Nice animations.

[rick_nz]

from my understanding caporeira today focus more on the dance type movements,caporeira was originated fom africa then to brazil
.it was originated in the old slavery days where the hands and feet were bound with chains and it was survival..concentration was on the pivot points of the attacker...when the slaves were not tied up they had a game they played (capoirera as we know it today,dance type movements)i dont know how much of this is true,it is just what i had learned in a seminar a few years ago.

[pesilat]

Originally posted by furio
There are quite some funky little animations going on there. It seems like a very interesting style. I've got a couple of questions though. Is there at any point when ones stance is somewhat still? Or is even the ready stance a constant flow of movement? Does it involve any ground fighting?

From what little I know about it (seen a couple of classes and read some stuff about it), the players are never really stationary. The basic "stance" is the "jinga" which is a triangular stepping pattern. They stay mobile and apply their various techniques from there. There are kicks and strikes (from some pretty interesting positions I might add). There are sweeps and evasions.

From what I've seen, it uses a lot of timing and range awareness to cover, evade, and take advantage of openings in the opponent's defenses.

I think that some schools play it strictly as the "dance" (they call it "roda" [pronounced "hoda"]) and do it more for exercise and historical interest. But at least one of the classes I saw, they also brought out applications for various techniques. It was good stuff. A little too acrobatic for me ... but interesting. And beautiful to watch.

Also, the music is integral to the art. Learning some of the songs (in Portugese) and learning to play at least one of the traditional instruments is mandatory in all the classes that I'm aware of.

There's also a style called "Maculele" that uses sticks. I've only seen one very brief demo of this ... but it looked interesting, too.

And there are two major schools of Capoeira ... "Angola" and "Orehenal" (spelled phonetically ... I'm not sure I've ever seen it written). I believe (but could be mistaken) that Orehenal is more acrobatic in general.

I think it's a very interesting system with an interesting history. I doubt I'll ever study it ... it's been about 20 years since I could even think about doing some of the acrobatic maneuvers they do ... but it is interesting and fun to watch.

Mike

[Scuzzi]

Originally posted by pesilat


The basic "stance" is the "jinga" which is a triangular stepping pattern.

I think that some schools play it strictly as the "dance" (they call it "roda" [pronounced "hoda"]) and do it more for exercise and historical interest.

There's also a style called "Maculele" that uses sticks. I've only seen one very brief demo of this ... but it looked interesting, too.

And there are two major schools of Capoeira ... "Angola" and "Orehenal" (spelled phonetically ... I'm not sure I've ever seen it written). I believe (but could be mistaken) that Orehenal is more acrobatic in general.

Mike

The basic stance is the "Ginga" but is pronounced as "jinga". You are right it that it is a triangular movement. Ginga simply means "to swing and sway".

Some places, mainly in the USA, are teaching Capoeira more as a dance/aerobic exercise but the majority of all Capoeira schools teach it as a martial art, as it originally was. But regardless of the fighting elements, the fact that the ginga is an integral part of the art it will always be classified in some ways as a dance.

The "roda" of which you speak is also an integral part of Capoeira and is present in every possible incarnation of the art form. Without it Capoeira would cease to be Capoeira. The roda, simply meaning "wheel" or "circle" is a circle of people, which represents the world. This roda, which also consists of a bateria (orchestra) of instruments (Berimbau, Atabaque, Pandeiro, Agogo Bells, Reco-Reco) is the place where two people at a time enter the circle and "play" the game of capoeira.

The game, depending on the rhythm played ont he berimbau, is a sort of question and answer approach whereby one of the players attacks and the other defends and then he attacks and so on and so fourth.

Maculele is not a style of Capoeira, it is an african dance, which has become very popular in Brazil but has very strong ties with Capoeira. Maculele is most commonly done with sticks but was tradiationally (and still is) done with machete or knives.

You are almost right about the two major styles of Capoeira. The traditional "Angola" and the newer style "Regional". The Regional style was created in the early 1930s by Mestre (Master) Bimba and is probably the most common style taught today. It consists of a structured teaching method and sequences of movements which the Angolan style never had, but does now!

I hope that has cleared up a few misconceptions.

If you want more information you can always check out my website at http://www.capoeiragem.com

[pesilat]

Thank you for the informative post. As I said, my exposure to Capoeira has been *very* cursory and informal and I had only heard many of the terms but never seen them spelled.

Thank you for the corrections. Always good to get clarification :)

Mike

[Tonto]

what is capoeira? go to www.axecapoeira.com. ;)