CAPOEIRA NUS: December 2008

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Christmas Roda Confirmed!

yo capoeristas!!!!

date for out Christmas Roda has been changed and confirmed.
day: next tuesday, eve of Christmas eve(23th)
venue: no change, SMU
time: no change, 7pm....

so come down for a few hours of "Jingle Jogo" and "Capoeira Carolling"!!! haha!!!

Cya!!!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Christmas Roda!

Hey Guys!

Christmas Roda at SMU.

Friday, 26th December 2008 (technically, post-Christmas Roda)
7pm
Please bring your instruments and water!

SMU,NUS, Fight G, ADOC capoeiristas of Singapore you're specially invited, but if you're looking for a fight, then you're not invited. :P

Songlist to learn for the day!:

1. Jingle Bells
2. Frosty the Snowman
3. Santa Claus is coming to town
4. Winter Wonderland
5. Last Christmas I gave you my heart

Go find the lyrics for them and if you can't find them on youtube, just go to Tangs and stand around..you are bound to hear them.

Special Song! You MUST LEARN THIS SONG! for we will sing it that day (:
Imagine - John Lennon

Love Love
Bambu & A sexy chinese guy

Alif and Aisha's Wedding! Woot!

Hello hello, in case you haven't been clued in yet, Alif and Aisha are GETTING MARRIED!

It's this Saturday, 20 December 08, 4-8pm at Cairnhill Community Club, Newton MRT.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

When your feet itch and you're stuck in Office

Yeap, when my feet were itching to jump about, I was surfing youtube in my office and I found this slideshow of our Australian ZambiaCongo mates playing at Brazil...just look at the crowd......sexciting..I can't wait to get back home to ginga a bit haha - post batizado fever

Bambu

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Tips on Training in Capoeira

These are pointers that Mestre Luizinho raised during this Q& A session as well as tips from Formado Rocha during the Sunday workshop. If you guys can remember any other tips please post it:

1. Ginga...and ginga more....because a Capoeirista who can't Ginga can't be called a Capoeirista. No matter how nice your moves are, if you can't Ginga, you will not be able to connect the movement. When you ginga, try moving your body in a wave like motion, meaning your head will be at the highest position when you are in the starting and ending position but while you move from side to side, your head goes down low. Be creative; Just as Ballerinas express their dance with their movement, we express our art with our movements; use body sways, hand jerks, anything, to make your ginga stylo-milo and your very own. Your Ginga has to be strong such that it will not allow you to fall with a slight nudge. It has to be strong and firm yet flexible to move and change your momentum as and when you wish. This takes practice.

2. You don't have to practice 3 - 4 hours to get better. Often, practice daily for about 30 - 40 mins of intense workout. Its not the quantity but the quality. Make sure you use the right techniques during your practice. Even Mestre Luizinho practices his Ginga once in a while in front of the mirror for 30 mins at least. And ladies...this is a really good fat burner...trust me.

3. The Chair. Yes the chair. Mestre says the secret to practicing alone is the Chair. How so? Just like Wing Chun has its kungfu Dummy, WE have the Chair. Place a simple chair... those with 4 legs mind you, in front of yourself. Then when you look at it from the front, it has 2 legs, from the sides 2 legs. SO how does this help? Ginga facing the chair and practice your kicks over the chair, your Rasteirhas to the chair legs, practice your ground movement by maneuvering around the chair keeping your focus. Its alot of imagery but it works. If the dummy worked for the Kung Fu ppl, the chair will to for us

4. Be fit. No matter how good your techniques are, if you are not fit, you can't use them. Capoeira after all is still a martial art and 70% of it relies on your fitness. So if you find yourself unable to proceed past a certain stage or get a certain move, go work out, workout the muscles that are involved in that move. Do not forget about your cardiovascular fitness...because alot of us were gasping for air during the roda.

5. Do LOTS OF PUSHUPS! well in the words of Rocha: " Do pushups until you're really good at it". I guess he meant doing lots and lots of them. Ok, to clear a certain misconception- Doing pushups will not build muscle mass if done at normal speeds. It will only build muscle mass when done slow and controlled. So ladies, please do more pushups and not be afraid of gaining big arms because the truth is, the faster you do your pushups, the more you tone your arms and not build them. Do normal pushups, wide pushups, queda-de-rins pushups, both sides until you are comfortable with it.

6. (I just remembered this tip) When you first start learning a move, you are gonna find yourself feeling heavy and clumsy and hard to move your body around. That is normal. Even for dancers, when they learn their first moves, they are jerky and not fluid as well. The secret is to keep training. Because once you get used to that movement, it will no longer feel heavy anymore as you have found the balance and technique required to execute it. You see, capoeira is not all about muscle strength. Its more about being able to coordinate than anything else (:

Well in the words of Mestre Geni: If you afraid of losing, you're never gonna win.

Start practicing at home and trust me...in no time, you will surpass many of the seniors in school hehe.

Lovelove

Bambu

Batizado Shorts!

Hello every body!

The last few days were a blast. I now have two sore spots on my neck, 4 in my lower back, sore thighs and hamstrings, and when I climb stairs, my ass hurts. Well...the pain kinda feels good. To update those of you who could not join us, we just went through a really short, but impactful and intense Batizado and Grading Ceremony. Mestre Geni, Mestre Luizinho, Instructor Principe and Formado Rocha came down to grace us with their presence.

We started out our first day with a workshop by Instructor Principe, he gave us a back breaking sequence to practice. I don't really remember much , so guys if you do, please leave it in the comments.

For the 2nd day, the senior students trained with Mestre Luizinho while the juniors trained with Mestre Geni. For Mestre Luizinho, the sequence he taught was:

Negativa, You then switch your legs so that the leg infront goes behind and vice versa, by this time you are in a semi standing semi crouching position with 1 hand on the floor. You then look between your legs as you pass from which ever side you are to the opposite side. From here, twist your trunk so that you end up in a Bote position. From here, kick our your bend leg and Role, then come to a esquiva frontal position. From here, lean back into a Bote position, swing your arm out so that your body will swivel around into a negativa position. Then stand up and continue Ginga-ing

For the Mestre Geni sequence....the rest of you please blog it cos i dunno hahaha.

For our Grading Ceremony on Saturday, we performed a cool rendition/medley of Capoeira songs mixed with modern songs such as Kate Perry's Hot n Cold and Leona Lewis Bleeding Love. If you guys have photos, please put it up in our facebook group or here.

For Sunday's workshop, conducted by Formado Rocha...we learnt 2 really cool moves..but then i kinda pulled my neck muscles cos i didnt warm up my neck muscles. We learnt to from Au: 1) go into Queda De Rins, 2) go into a headstand and move away. Its MUCH harder than it looks.

This is something like the 1st move:

For the headstand one...remind us to show you in class haha.

Ok some good news. Mestre Geni has officially recognized us as part of the ZambiaCongo international Group and this is a tough feat to achieve because many groups tried all over the world but failed. He was very impressed with the energy we had...and I saw him nodding his head in time to our Kate Perry Hot n Cold redition too haha. He is thinking of sending his younger son, brother of Mestre Luizinho, Contra-Mestre DANIEL BATUQUEGE ( sorry for the name error made previously and spotted by a VERY keen eyed capoeirista hahah)here to take helm and be our instructor. The paper work will take at least 4-6 months, so for the next semester you guys will have to train the basics with us again haha.

Ok its been an EXTREMELY hectic week for me and I hope you guys who have got your Cordas enjoyed yourselves. See you all in school!

Bambu

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Batizado Details

Hello all,

change of timing in red guys, pls take note

I think my mail didnt get to every one, so these are the details.

Zambiacongo Capoeira Group (Singapore) 1st Batizado / Grading Ceremony 2008.
Day: Thursday & Friday
Date: 11th December & 12th December 2008
Time: 18:00 - 21:30
Location: Pasir Ris Elias Community Club
Event: Batizado Capoeira Workshop

Our Batizado Capoeira Workshop is open to all. Everyone is welcomed.
One day workshop is priced at SGD 40 onlyTwo days workshops is priced at SGD 60 only

For the members of the public, please make payments in cash term at the door

Day: Saturday
Date: 13th December 2008
Time: 15:00 - 19:00
Location: Bukit Panjang Plaza
Event: Batizado / Grading Ceremony

Day: Sunday
Date: 14th December 2008
Time: 15:00 - 19:00
Location: Sentosa Cool Deck
Event: Beach Roda / Movie Screening / After Party

Click here to register if you have not: Here!

Love love

See you all there!
Bambu