Capoeira for the Community

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that was invented by Afro-Brazilian slaves around the sixteenth century. It is a community art form that combines martial arts with music and dance and supposedly was created so Afro-Brazilian slaves could disguise their martial arts under the form of dance. This allowed them to practice fighting.

Today, capoeira is becoming more and more popular, and anyone can participate. Those who partake in capoeira form a circle, or roda, and take turns playing instruments. One person leads in song, while the others chant along. Pairs of people then take turns sparring, or play fighting.

Capoeira focuses more on skills than on actually injuring a person. There are several basic terms that anyone learning capoeira must know. The first move is known as the ginga, and it means to rock back and forth and to swing. This is the walk a person uses to prepare for other moves; also, by constantly moving, it makes it harder for the opponent to attack.

Another basic move is aú, which is a slow cartwheel with bent arms and legs. The important thing to remember when performing aú is to always watch your opponent, even when you are upside down. This lowers the risk of being kicked while upside down.

Esquiva means to escape or dodge, and it is used to move the head and torso out of the opponents way to avoid an attack.

There are also many types of kicking moves, including benção, which is a straight frontal push. Learning capoeira has a lot of benefits. Aside from being a great workout, it also promotes community and allows people to easily make friends. In addition, you learn a lot about Brazilian culture, and you also pick up a lot of Portuguese. I took a few capoeira classes over this past summer, and I was able to meet a lot of new people. Capoeira also fosters a comfortable learning environment, and I gained confidence by taking these classes. Although it was tough to remember all the new words and moves in the beginning, the more I learned, the more fun the class became. Capoeira is also the basis of break dancing, so I encourage anyone who gets a chance to watch a play fight. Advanced dancers are very acrobatic, and it is impressive to watch.