Capoeira is an art form that combines the elements of fight, dance and game. Originating from Brazil, it has taken the Western world by storm in recent years. Ironically, Capoeira was created by the underdogs of colonial Brazil - the slaves - who used innnovative movements that flowed naturally with the way the body moves to overcome their cruel slavemasters.
According to Mestre Pintor, Capoeira is unique because it is not a martial art technically since it is anti-establishment in terms of its historical roots. As a combat art form, it has an “overcoming the odds” aspect about it which often draws not just the athletic but often the “underdogs” from various walks of life who often realise their true potential in themselves as they work harder than their physically fit counterparts to perfect their form, often surprising themselves and others in the process.
Perhaps this is one of the many reasons why Capoeira is flourishing around the world because it allows people to be themselves and work at overcoming their physical and mental limitations which they may have or others may have placed on them. Its unique and graceful movements have defied categorisation such that it cannot be strictly pigeonholed as a sport, combat art or a performing art per se (leaving authorities very befuddled when trying to define it). Yet this 300-year-old art form is instrumental in giving birth to one of pop culture’s greatest phenomenon - breakdancing - which takes movements from Capoeira and modifies them accordingly.
Capoeira is a street game. So it is not surprising to find Capoeiristas playing Capoeira on the sidewalk or at street corners. Onlookers witnessing a street roda (pronounced as “hor-dah”) meaning “circle” may think that the two capoeiristas are duelling, fighting or dancing. They are right. And they are also wrong.
Pix: Courtesy of Ashish.
Capoeira movements are very elegant but they can be very lethal. Capoeira is deadliest when the uninformed assume it is merely a dance. It is at its most elegant when two seasoned capoeiristas jogar (play) within the roda, embroidering their movements, counterattacks, takedowns, floreios (flourishes) and acrobatic tricks with wit and cunning. All that done to the rhythm of the berimbau that dictates the speed and style of the game. The berimbau is usually accompanied by the pandeiro and atabaque.
Pix: Courtesy of Ashish.
As such, it is de rigueur for a capoeirista to learn how to play all the instruments in a bateria because without music, there is no Capoeira or roda.
Most newcomers learning Capoeira aspire to fly, jump or kick. Which is quite natural. However, the hardest movement to master is actually the ginga (literally means “swing”) which is also the first move that all students of this art form will learn. Unless you learn to flow with the rhythm, you cannot hope to play good capoeira.
The ginga is the only move that distinguishes Capoeira from other combat arts because in moving to rhythm, a Capoeirista finds his or her equilibrium and flow. Making it essentially Brazilian because the swing of the waist and hips come most naturally to a Brazilian - Brasileiro sem jogo de cintura, não é brasileiro.