Practicality of "movie" technqiues

The first video in this set is nothing more than I'd expect to see at a local contemporanea roda here in Houston: swift kicks and exchanges with fairly minimal contact--depending on who's playing, of course.

The next two videos definitely have more contact and are more what akin to what I'm used to seeing as 'jogo duro' or hard game. Of course, my critique would be that there are still a number of kicks pulled or that don't make contct at all, not due to the suavidade/mandinga of the opponent but due to not properly guaging distance. Would love to see more cabecadas in there, more completed rasteiras/takedowns and a higher percentage of kicks landing--even if you have to initially dial it back to 1/4 or 1/2 power on the strikes thrown. Other than that, good for them for mixing it up.

At the moment I'm reminded of a game between one of the guys in my group and a guy from another group visiting (both guys had been friends for years and still are); local guy goes into cabeca no chao (headstand) for no discernible reason (at least to me) and the visitor plows into his midsection with a cabecada (headbutt for non capoeiristas reading this), driving him into a stack of chairs sitting nearby and knocking them over. Just reminds me of the point you made earlier about the possibility of acrobatic movements being challenged in the roda. It does happen.

I love a good game full of elegant movements and last second, seemingly miraculous escapes. But I do also love to see people mix it up sometimes, quiet as it's kept. You never know to which side it will tip when you're walking that razor's edge:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1hz3PLrzxQ"]MESTRE MARROM E ALUNOS (MESTRE COBRA MANSA/TATIANA) 2011 - YouTube[/ame]

Okay. Enough shenanigans from me for today.

paz,

dormindo

 

I must say... whoa. :wow:

 

In the interest of not letting this thread evaporate just yet, here are some clips from actual, honest-to-goodness, competitions:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvmvI5nkvS0"]Capoeira Topazio Fight DECANIO vs SNOOPY - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqZq3m-ldJE"]Capoeira Topazio Fight PICACHU vs GARGA - YouTube[/ame]

Grupo Topazio catches flack in certain circles but I like what I see - particularly the kick catches in the first clip.

I'd make a crack about Pikachu getting beaten up but even I have my limits.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff4S4Am-Zoo"]capoeira muzenza fight professor mola - YouTube[/ame]

One of my personal heroes, Professor Mola from Grupo Muzenza. He does seem to have a ready answer for what would happen if you give a capoeirista a belt. :hat:

Here's a clip of him training:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ome8rgAXQBE"]capoeira MOLA TREINO 1 - YouTube[/ame]

As an aside, practicing head-butts on a heavy bag kinda sucks. :cry:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9nhyv_xlNQ"]capoeira fight final coelho x rebolo - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsZ-48wyIkw"]fighet de capoeira. Aruanda x Acrebrasil. - YouTube[/ame]

I have no idea what group that is but the final kick in the second clip actually made my eyes water. Heavy shots and some really beautiful take-downs. Nice.

Oh, the banner in the background says Aruanda:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkvfjGJAmsc"]quebra gereba aruanda - YouTube[/ame]

Well, there are certainly similarities. :evil:

And finally Grupo Nago, which one Andre Gusmao hails from:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-1Oe1c59iE"]capoeira nago torneo 2 - YouTube[/ame]

DUDE! Could you PLEASE get out of view while people are trying to take down one another? Sheesh...

Looks like an attempted sweep off a caught kick, countered with a banda de costas or outer reap - more like a hip throw in this case but the distinction is often purely academic - then the guys separate, one goes for the arrastao (double-leg takedown) and the other ends up flipping him over. Whew.

All in all, pretty scrappy bunch I'd say.

 

Would some mod wandering those parts and having a bit of time on his hands be so kind as to separate a thread from this one in the "Other Styles" section, beginning with post #80? Mostly because I'm not done with fighting capoeiristas by a long shot and I don't want to clutter dormindo's thread even more than I already do.

In the meantime, here are two excellent clips from grupo Sul da Bahia:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3NLq372MYA"]Capoeira Sul da Bahia - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB4VGQA1Njc"]Capoeira Sul da Bahia - 3º Encontro Internacional 2007 DVD - YouTube[/ame]

At 0:07 [heh heh] into the first clip you can see a guy throw an MLDC and nearly copping a knee in the process. I mostly keep bringing stuff up like this because it drives me nuts when people harp on about the spinning kicks with regards to cap and say "I'd just do this and this and this." First, thanks for telling me - now I know what to look out for; and I'm sure nobody thought of it before you... oh, wait.

Petty, I know. But then again, I'm the kind of guy who likes to headbutt people who can whip out more impressive acrobatics than him; which is the majority of people I'm playing with to be honest.

0:48 has a nice bit of capoeiristas getting up close and personal. I love seeing stuff like that and I love playing like that myself - nobody's trying to kill anybody else but it's definitely not through the lack of ability to do so. To quote yet another rule of Mestre Bimba: "the closer you get to the other player, the more you will learn."

Again, lots of really nice takedowns in both clips. I recently got around to watching Andre Gusmao's fight with Jon Jones and was frankly shocked at how lackluster his takedown game was - and, as you can probably see for yourselves, it is not because he had no resources to draw upon.

 

i loved the takedowns. I thought they were epic.

 

Let me see if I can find something more for you then...

Ha! Got it!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5jeaInfR7g"]VAMOSIMBORA, CAMARÃ! UCA 2010 - Open Roda - YouTube[/ame]

2:55 is the bit we're interested in, though I'd obviously suggest watching the whole clip.

Actually, it's kind of funny how all the traffic about capoeira seems to be generated by one bigmouth who's been going stir-crazy with lack of training...

 

Nice takedown.

Pretty, too.

 

^ Sigh. I don't necessarily disagree with you, I guess the word just irks me because in my experience talking about capoeira it's a preface to "as useful as a chocolate teapot."

Which I disagree with. Vehemently. You may have guessed that by now.

Same deal with people talking about "respect for all arts;" it's a nice shorthand for "what I'm about to say is liable to make you want to punch me but you can't do that, nyah nyah nyah."

Not to say that's necessarily what you meant, Blade. And I'd have a hard time being angry with you even if you did. Would it hurt you to not be so nice all the damn time?

 

No that isn't what I meant. I think that like capoeira, its very nice and pretty to watch. They disguised it as like a dance, so its very pretty to watch. And the takedowns are pretty, at least prettier than ours, where opponent as one leg in front, and you put your ankle just behind it and sweep the leg, Johnny. Its really cool, but not as 'nice looking'. Thats what I meant. I hope i make sense Not to say that your takedowns aren't useful. They look quite useful actually. I just think they look prettier. Like capoeira. Its beautiful to watch.

 

Pop right over to dormindo's thread and watch the clip of Passarinho and Faisca playing - you'll see that picture recreated verbatim. Heck, I maintain that Lyoto Machida has a really great rasteira. :hat:

And there are plenty of people who are a touch hazy on the distinction between "sweep" and "leg kick." Trust me on that. :cry:

 

Nice thread. I'll look at videos later.

and I can't help it - I'm a sweetie when people are nice to me

 

Heh, just found a clip showing something like that almost to the letter. So, just for the sake of hilarity:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdc6g1Lf7g4"]Capoeira Okinawa, Japan - Playful Roda / Practical Applications ã‚«ãƒã‚¨ã‚¤ãƒ©ã‚¢ã‚«ãƒ‡ãƒŸãƒ¼æ²–縄 - YouTube[/ame]