Last Thursdays Class, 29th Jan

Gong Xi Fa Cai!! Hope CNY celebrations were great!

Thursday’s Capoeira was just what one needed to shed off those extra pounds gained over the weekend.

This is for those who joined last semester (most of us don’t quite like being called seniors cos its just way too formal, right guys?). We learnt two knew sequences today! And courtesy of Bambu, we have a video of Macaquinho (Aliph) demonstrating it.

The two sequences are spliced together.
The first sequence ends at about 00:10 seconds. Its a new way to buy a game and enter the Roda. Imagine, Macaquinho’s doing the ginga outside the Roda, with his back facing the Berimbau. He then enter the Roda and with an open-arm Entrada, facing the guy he’s going to play with and buys the game. He then retracts back into a parallel, then Esquiva frontau, rolls around (with the feet and hands firmly placed on the ground) to face the Berimbau. From here, it’s another Esquiva Frontau/Baxia, following which is a Pasada. You end this sequence with a Macoco (preferably) or an Au.

The second sequence the second sequence, we perform this second move called the Perafuso. This sequence starts from about 10 seconds.





We also learnt (or revised) the Zambiacongo (this is the name of the Capoeira School that we come under) School Song, Sou Zambiacongo.

The chorus goes as follows:

"Sou Zambiacongo de Geni sou da Bahia
Sou Regional do Bimba Angola de Canjiquinha"

Which translates to:

I am Zambiacongo, which came from Mestre Geni who is from Bahia
He learnt Regional (a form of Capoeira) from Mestre Bimba and Angola(another form of capoeira, which is as difficult as it is slow) from Mestre Canjiquinha

So, the entire song goes as..

"Sou Zambiacongo de Geni sou da Bahia,
Sou Regional de Bimba Angola de Canjiquinha

Sou Zambiacongo de Geni sou da Bahia,
Sou Regional de Bimba Angola de Canjiquinha

salve mestre geni que no ring tambem lutou
alem de jogar na rua e provar que eh lutador

Sou Zambiacongo de Geni sou da Bahia,
Sou Regional de Bimba Angola de Canjiquinha

Sou Zambiacongo de Geni sou da Bahia
jogo em cima jogo em baixo e com muita alegria

Sou Zambiacongo de Geni sou da Bahia,
Sou Regional de Bimba Angola de Canjiquinha

o grupo zambiacongo no brasil aqui nasceu
na australia ja chegou na espanha agora cresceu

Sou Zambiacongo de Geni sou da Bahia,
Sou Regional de Bimba Angola de Canjiquinha

Sou Zambiacongo de Geni sou da Bahia
pois eu jogo capoeira dia e noite, noite e dia"
Axe Zambiacongo!
Axe Capoeira!

Next Capoeria class is on Tuesday, at Dance Studio 7. It’s the first room after the YIH bridge. As Yusof said, just follow the music!
See you’ll then!

Another Look at our Instruments

Hello people!

Are you bored of learning the same rhythms again and again? You think your instrument skills are wearing out soon? Check out these guys:

Honda

He is a japanese student studying Chinese and Tourist Management in Shanghai and is part of the Madinga Group there. He is currently touring South East Asia to learn its history as well as to experience it (:

Berimbau Blues

This is some crazy shit. But! With practice, you guys can play like him too!

Well, hope you guys had fun watching!

Love Love
Bambu

Redang Trip!

Hey guys!

Well for Redang, we will be taking a VIP coach with lots of leg room. We will have a hell alot of time to have fun there! Let me introduce to you the Laguna Redang Resort that we will be staying at. Firstly, it is just beside the sea...literally. The view is beautiful, we will be staying in Quad Sharing rooms.

We will be eating a sumptuous spread of asian delicacies as well as western meals served by chefs.

We will be able to snorkel in crystal clear blue waters where some people have sighted sea turtles and Groupers the size of an attabaque.


For those who dive, for an additional cost, we can rent diving equipment and dive at the many dive spots too!

There are massage services, Banana Boat fun, Fishing trips and much more fun! Just visit this website

Laguna Redang Resort

Details of the trip:
Date: 28 - 31st May 2009
Cost: $350 per pax ( It will be lower if we can get more people, about 18 people or more )
Transport: Paid for , by coach

If you are interested talk to TK ( Bambu ) or Leslie. You can sms me or email me if you are interested (:

22 January's Class

Wow Bambu sure is fast at posting blogs.

Ok getting back to the post, here are some of the basic movements
that we learnt or revised today.

Meia Lua de Frente


if you have been following the posts.....it's the "youtube capoeira lesson guy" video again.
For this kick, it's important to take note of the leg entering, notice how it is pointed about 45 degrees to the direction of your kick. Make sure your kick goes all the way through , don't stop halfway.

next we have....
Armada


Points to take note of ...
1) Keep your eyes on ... whatever you are kicking at. Before turning and after turning as well. Look and aim before you kick.
2) Spin on the heel for the kicking leg and spin on the ball of the non kicking leg.
3) Give a good twist to your waist.

Practise enough and you will be able to kick 3 times in a row just like Honda-san. :)

For defense we have...
Esquiva


remember palms flat on the floor and as usual cover your face :)

Did i forget anything?
Feel free to post your comments and maybe links to other videos as well.

As in the roda, as in life,
Ken

Today's Class

Hello People!

Today for the people from last semester and with cordaos, we learnt a neat sequence. I can't find a video online yet but when I do i'll add it here for all to see. For the pair sequence:

Person 1 does Melua Compasso into a Negativa, Excuxiada (Sorry I dunno how to spell it haha), Au with the opposite leg, land in a Passiert position, tug in your back leg into a Bote position then transit into Queda de Quatro, move back a few steps before getting up to block.

Person 2 does Esquiva Frontal, Melua Compasso, Troca, Role, Ginga Position, step forward and Bencao.

It's pretty hard to visualize but please try haha, it will build your vision for the game :p

For ground work: Esquiva Frontal, Negativa, Role, Role Cabaesa, Ponte Cabaesa, Kick over sideways. Below is a video of other moves with a Ponte and a walkover. Take note of 0:10 . I can't find any other videos of a ponte and a walkover so if you can please please place it in the comments hehe

Ok for your entertainment, look at Super Capoeira Kids posted by Clare. I admit, I'm jealous looking at the video..if only Capoeira came to Singapore long long time ago haha.

Love Love

Bambu (:

Ken will post the moves that the beginners learnt.

Bantus Roda!

Today, 4 brave warriors stepped into unstepped territory! Me, Pek, Sanny and Josh played in the Bantus Roda at Clarke Quay and boy was it fun!! We learned alot from Graduado Claudinho. A surprise visitor came too! Contra Mestre Silvio do Berimbau. He showed us what a hard game would be like and I got to admit, it was a very fresh perspective.

I liked the song singing and the axe at the roda. After the roda, we had a Samba de Roda session and it was the first time for me and the boys...but when we hopped in, the music just took over and we boogied like never before( Sanny boogies all the time so he was in a natural setting..I wonder what Ian would do seeing that Ian loves to dance too haha).

Next time there is another roda, I'll be sure to call you guys down. It was good to meet other people in singapore who loves capoeira (:


*Thank you Graduado Claudinho for letting us join your roda and thank you Jemuel for inviting us hahaha*

Lots of Love
Bambu

WELCOME TEA WAS A BLAST!

Hey guys/babes,

Thank you all for coming down to welcome tea. The show up was great and you all partcipated really well. Most of us started much worse than you guys...cos we had alot of problems getting our right hand/right leg in place. Well, this are a few links about Capoeira, our previous posts that are relevant and videos to entertain you while you are attending lectures hur hur.

Capoeira History with a coool lil video (:

For a list of moves and videos that we have learnt the last semester. This includes basics, some cool moves and flourishes





Funny movie where capoeira is the baddie again:


All right, now for the people who were here since last semester, you learnt quite a few nice moves.



Ok i Couldnt find a video for this move soooo the first thing i thought of was this movie. Its at 0:22. Its similar to what we learnt. In this video, the move is from a ponte into a negativa and a role.


Ok if any of you find better videos, please post! Good night!

Oh ya, for those people who missed today's welcome tea but didnt turn up, no worries, you can drop by any time (:

Love Love
Bambu

Change of Timing

Hello every one!

There is a change in our training timings this Semester. Please take note. The change is only for Tuesdays. These are the new timings

Time: 7 pm - 9 pm ( We will most likely end earlier, its only our booking time, and we definitely WILL end earlier when its nearing the exams)

Location: SRC Dance Studio

Please take note. 

On a side note, I'm helping the clinic i work for to find subjects to hypnotize. Wanna try getting hypnotized? We will pay you $20 for 20 mins of your time and we won't make you do stupid things but just relax (: . SMS me or email me at ihypno@gmail.com to register. First come first serve!

Love Love

Bambu

Capo Chicks!

Hello every one,

Today at the chingay rehearsals we were trying out random moves when someone mentioned to me that men do moves easier cos we have bigger muscles..welll.....I beg to differ, yes men tend to do more explosive moves, but men sometimes just lack that grace that a lithe feminine body can exude. So it brings me to the mail that our senior ******** sent. I decided to just cut and paste it to retain its original flavor:

"Hey people at Capo NUS, 

Sometimes in moments of weakness, I surf youtube for capo videos, and strangely enough, the first few I find before I get a hold of myself are pretty damn good! Maybe you might want to put these on the blog:



Wow, I don't know how to describe that one. It's not flashy, nor fast-paced, but it's very intense. There's so much sophistication and maturity in these players. Erm, you'll probably get what I mean when you watch it, and if you don't, well, just take my word for now. :)



This next one has some really cool acrobatics done by ladies. The acrobatics are cool, regardless of sex, of course, and that's not really why I'm suggesting this video. Check out the cruel cutavelada at 1:35! OW!!!!

Cheers,
*****"

Yup... just watching those women flow in the roda makes my knees weak. And to add on to the thought about women in capoeira, here's a link to a post by our dear friend joaninha

Here

All right, Happy reading and keep practicing!

Love Love

Bambu

Grass Skirt + 2 Wooden Sticks = Cool!

I believe if i told most of you in Semester 1 that capoeira - an afro-brazilian martial art-form created to simulate a fight-like dance; a dance-like fight, involved putting on grass skirts and banging 2 short wooden sticks together, i would understand if you kindly suggest i register myself into IMH.

That's right, i think its about time i brought up Maculele (pronounced ma-kœ-lay-lay) "the dance of the sticks" since we have the good fortune of learning it from our seniors and some of us will even be performing it for the public's appreciation :)

Here's one of the many (and my favourite) legends behind Maculele:

The story is that of a village whose people went to hunt and left a single boy to protect the children and women. A neighboring tribe attacked the village, and the boy (along with divine aid from a warrior-god) picked up two sticks on the ground and ran around with so much energy and bravery that he chased away all the attackers. When the hunters returned he became a big hero and they created the dance of Maculele in honor of his bravery and spirit.

Therefore, the moral of the story is...Maculele is likewise a dance-like fight and a fight-like dance and likewise Maculele should be performed with the similar zeal and zest one experiences in a Roda

And if some lay-man tells you its the dance where we hop over long bamboo sticks, tell him to shove it up...........

axe meu camaradas

Bryan

SCHOOL'S BACK!!

HELLO EVERY ONE!

Skool is starting in about a week's time! Our first unofficial traning starts on Tuesday (13th Jan) at the usual timing and usual place. Thursday (15 Jan) will be our first official training and will be our welcome tea as well. Every one is welcome!

To readers who are not part of the club, feel free to come and give it a try. If you are too shy, just take a look. Its free! Refreshments will be provided

Nus Capoeira Club Welcome Tea 09!
Date: 15th Jan 09 Thursday
Time: 7 - 9 pm
Venu: MPSH 4
Attire: Barefoot and exercise clothes
Cost: Free AH FREEE AH!!!!
Anything else to bring: Your waterbottle and an open mind

*Please register by sending us a mail or an sms stating your Name and Matric number
Looking forward to the new year and new moves ahead!

Love love
Bambu