26th August Class

Hi everyone good to be back updating you guys about what happened on last wednesday's class (need to change the label soon)

We were taught 3 moves that day, we'll start with Rasteira or also called Banda


a tip for this move is to put more weight on the back leg so that you have more force when pulling your capoeira partner down.

Next we have Tesoura which is a take down move, can be used to counter the Rasteira and a lot of other moves such as meia lua compasso in this video.


The idea is to use your hips instead of solely relying on leg strength to put your partner down.

Last move is well...a movement called Giro which means spin ( not the one where you use to pay your fees, bills and stuff)
The one we learnt in class was similar to Aliph's move in this video at the 0.06 mark. We use it to move out of a kick during the class session.


Reminder that when doing this move as well as any other capoeira movements, your eyes
should stay lock on to your partner.

Well that's all for this little update, hope you guys keep practising and check out some of our older videos of Aliph and sequences to revise.

As in Roda, as in Life
Ken

April 2nd's Class

Another Thursday's Class recap.
Moves we learnt today:
1) Au Chibata (some call it Meia lua Solta)
2) Giro (another version)

Chibata means whip... so i guess Au Chibata means "Whipping Au" ?
For starters, we go into a cadera position. Stretch our right hand over to the left side or vice versa. If we are going to the left, the right leg should be bent while left leg is kept straight. End it with a nice hop into an esquiva position.
Anyway here's a video of a tutorial about it (although more complex and starts from esquiva)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdJVWtpZH3Q



and one more from our very own Alif :)


Anything else? Feel free to comment (or else I'll hear crickets)
Signing out
As in Roda, as in Life
Ken

12 March's Class

Wow what a class it was today. We had not one but 2 Birthday Roda's.
Happy Birthday to Youcef (I thought it was Eusoff XD) and Wei Lin. Here's my Bencao to you :)

Ok for the post proper, we learnt variations of the martelo today.
More specifically, Martelo-do-Chão which means Martelo from the floor.

The first one starts with an esquiva and uses 2 hands to support the kick.
It goes something like this but from an esquiva position.

another take


The second variation, the one more popularly used in a roda starts from an esquiva frontal.
If your right leg is forward, stretch your left arm diagonally forwards and plant it on the floor and vice versa.
Give a good hop from your back leg and kick a martelo using the front leg with your planted hand working as support. Note that the weight should be on your planted hand.
Land back in a cebra position then back to ginga.
To my dismay a search on youtube for Martelo-do-Chão returned me JJ Lin's Cao Cao music videos.....
well the closest I got to was this


The last one is a sequence of moves whereby instead of kicking the martelo do chao, we fake it and land the leg behind the other person's leg. Pull back your leg like 0:06 in this awesome video
but no need to put the hands on the floor.


Ok so that's all for this week's edition of Last Thursday's Class.
As in the roda, as in life,
Ken

Last Thursday's Class

Hello every body..

I have failed you all!! I forgot to bring my camera, and so did the rest of the guys...so we're back to just reading text and learning moves from text. Today we went through 3 sequences.

The first sequence:

A- Melua De Frente
B - Queda quatro, Sharpa
A- Drop into Exquxiada, round about
B - Negativa Role

The 2nd Sequence

A - Melua Compasso
B - Esquiva frontal, Melua Compasso
A - Exquxiada, Role
B - Role

THe 3rd Sequence....Hmmmm i'm not too sure if its this one

A - Armada
B - Entrada, trying to vengativa
A - Drop into exquxiada and take down B at the knees
B - Escape with either a giro or a martelo rotado.

Hmmm I tink this is what we covered mostly Anyways, announcements!

Next tuesday we are going to SMU at 730 for a Group roda, I need to know who will be going down. Comment on this post or email me.

We are organizing Samba classes and I need to know who is interested, its $6 per class and there are only 2 classes. Please either comment on this post or email me at capoeira.nus@gmail.com

Next Saturday SMU will be having a pageant cum performance showcase. We will be performing. For the beginners, you all will clap and sing songs to help, for the not so beginners, you may perform if you like or help with instruments, for the seniors...go down and boogie haha. Likewise, comment or email me.

Next thursday! We are having a club outing. Please poll and tell us what you prefer!

Ok thats all!

Love love
Bambu

Thursday's Class on Joshua's Bday!

Hello every one!

Good news!! ...Our instructor, Professor Jaguar, will be coming together with our Mestre, Mestre Luizinho Barrevento, in April!! Yay!!

Bad news ): I forgot to film today's entrada sequence..My camera's battery was down and the back up camera was too tied up to come up.. I'm really sorry!!! SOOOO I'm gonna write the sequence in words and the rest of the blog will be geared to helping you with your basics and polishing it up.

For the entrada, You step from a ginga to a parrella position, entrada, then swivel and use your back leg to step into your opponent's space. Points to note: Always maintain eye contact; When you swivel, make sure there is as little time where you don't see your opponent as possible. It's best if you can keep your back low so that your vision is clearer like the guy in this video as he does a giro. Notice his eye and head movements.

Next up, lets go back to basics on the Queda de Rins ( Kidney fall ). For the newcomers who were struggling with the positioning of the elbow, this video explains it quite clearly. The rule of thumb is that you have to support your body weight on your elbow together with your head and your other hand. It's kinda like a See Saw where your elbow acts as the pivot and you have to bring more of your weight to your arms and head to bring your legs up.

Ok, now lets go to your Au. Alot of us still have problems with it. I'm no exception and I have lots to improve on. This video will take you through on how to execute a nice Au (:

Ok i hope this post helps. Please please comment if you need me to put up more videos. If not, you can go search our blog on the title " Last Thursday's Class" in the "Chapters " Section on the right bar for our previous class postings (:

Love Love

Bambu

Thursday 5th Feb!!

Hola!!

We learnt a few other Axe-pumping Songs & i'm sure we can't wait to sing it in the next roda! However, if we desire the roda maravilhosa (marvelous roda), it must not only be filled with beautiful songs and energetic singing, but also with correct movements!! And so let's review what we learnt previous class...

The basic sequence is to get down to an esquiva frontao, move back into your negativa, switch leg & supporting hand, sweep your legs via ole to return to the Cadeira position and finally end off with an Au. Remember also to begin with a few ginga steps before executing this move. Ginga, ginga, ginga...

Now for the more challenging sequence: We start off by faking a kick with quexada feinte, followed by getting down into negativa aborta, recover and get down into esquiva frontau. From your frontau, while ensuring eye-contact with the other player, turn back into negativa with your back towards the opponent (i will find out the proper name for this move :P). Lastly, switch hands to ole & re-face your opponent and recover into cadeira position with both hands crossed in front of you for defence. Pretty confusing if your just reading without an image in mind, so good thing we've a video!!!

Meantime, don't forget to practise what we've learnt in the roda. Cya guys next class!

Axe meu camaradas
Bryan

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!

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.

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

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

30th October's Class

Today's class was a bit shorter than usual but nevertheless as intensive as usual :)
We learnt a lot of new moves today which are used in Mestre Bimba's Sequencia 4 and 5.
Please refer back to the Sequencia file for the details on how to them. I'll just give a brief explanation on the new moves we have learnt (sorry no videos, can't seem to find on youtube)

Sequencia 4

Galopante

This is basically a hook similar to boxing except that in capoeira, we use the "heel" of our hand to hit. The swing should come from twist of the hips and remember to stretch your arm out and follow through.

Arrastão
Grab behind the knees of the other player and pull. The pull should be accompanied by a step back from the forward leg. More force compared to just pulling with arm strength. (but of course while practising you need not be so fierce...)

Sequencia 5

Giro
Similar to the armada except there's no kicking, just the spin (fake Armada?). Hands are help up as in a surrender position. The other player is not supposed to attack while you are doing this (a form of freeplay).

Joelhada
A knee strike. As if doing a Benção but instead of kicking the leg outwards, we just use our knee to attack. The feet should be pointing downwards while the back is arch a bit backwards.

That's all for the moves in today's class, sorry for being a bit lengthy on the explanations and not being able to find videos for these moves.(If you do find some please post it in the comments)
We learnt one song today which is "O Dona Alícia não me pegue não"
Details of the song can be found in "Every Song has an Agenda..." post.

Quote of the day. "Man are for muscle...", by Alif.

I wonder what woman are for...I'll leave it to you to decide. :P
As in the roda, as in Life.

Ken

23rd October's Class

Hello~
For those who wish to recap or missed the Thursday's class...

Sequência 3
X : Martelo, Cocorinha, Benção
Y : Banda, Armada, Negativa de angola

recap of negativa de angola



*no matter which moves you are making or even dodging, make sure you hand (elbow) is always protecting your face.

Next, floor movements!!!
Cocorinha entrando
Esquiva negativa rolé aú

wondering how to do an aú after rolé?



* when you are performing esquiva negativa rolé aú always remember to keep a lookout, especially at the blindspot before going back to ginga position or aú (after you did your rolé).

The Songs of the day~

Abalou Capoeira abalou
Abalou Capoeira abalou
Mas se abalou, diexada abalar
Abalou Capoeira abalou
Mas se abalou, deixa cair
Abalou Capoeira abalou

translation for this:
It shook Capoeira it shook
But if it shook, let it shake
It shook Capoeira it shook
But if it shook, let it fal
It shook Capoiera it shook


Meu Camarada Venha Ver A Brincadeira
Meu camarada venha ver a brincadeira
O cara planta bananeira, fica de pernas p'ro ar
Ja me falaram que essa luta é brasileira
Que se chama capoeira
Eu tambem quero jogar

Hmmm... this is what we had for today's class (oopps... its pass midnight, should be yesterday's class). this is my first post, please forgive me is there is any mistake. i'll try my best to find links to the songs so that you guys are able to listen to it and also the lyrics too.

To me, Capoeira is so similar to life but yet so different. Different in the way that, in life we have to think before we do anything. In Capoeira, it is more to reflex. What do you think?

First Post,
TT

18th Oct’s Class..

For those who missed this Thursday’s class, Joe was back! Yeae!!!

After some killer stretching and even-more-killer warm-up we got down to trying out a couple of new sequences.

The main focus of this class was on how to move within the Roda. You know the seniors always advice us not stick to the same position (or “angles” as they phrase it) within the roda? On how we should continuously shift or position within it?!? Well, we learnt a couple of sequences for such movement. The individual moves as such are not new to us, but the sequence in which it is coupled maybe..

Sequence 1:
Esquiva fronte. Negativa. Negativa again( this is the tricky part). Role. Au.

When your doing the second Negative, we don’t really have to pronounce each action of the Neagtiva, cos honestly this will take way too long to complete. From your first negativa position, slightly bounce on your feet, swap your legs and hands to produce the second negative.




Jus a couple of pointers.. when doing the role, you maintain yourself in a ball (you don’t need to stretch your legs) and keep yourself low. At the end of the Role, keep yourself low. This will help in the transition to Au.

Sequence 2:
Entrada, followed by Sequence 1.

We also learnt a couple of transition moves, just to move around the Roda and makes the game more aesthetically appealing! But erm, we did not know the name to it. Once I do get the names,I shall try posting videos on how to do it. (Sorry, typing down the sequence is gg to be pretty complicated, but you’ll can ask me during the next class and I’ll be more than willing to teach you’ll)

But that was pretty much it for the class!

Oh... and ya, jus rmb this, playing capoiera is like being in a relationship.. Its all about the eye contact!! (cant believe i jst typed this, nvm..)
for capoeira.
Lali!

9th October's Class

What we've learnt.
recap of Martelo:


Take note of the entrada where the foot points outwards. This makes it easier for you to swing your hips to the side.

Banda/Rasteira em pé :


Here's another video which shows the whole sweep in action (and another move).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCUQmeeJD-Y

So this cool move is used to counter the Martelo. When executing try to put your weight towards the bent leg.

Other moves which we practised:
Au com Negativa (Au to negativa)
Negativa to Rolé

Also in today's class we learnt how to sing these songs:
É de couro de boi
É de couro de boi, é de couro de boi
Olha o meu Atabaque é de couro de boi

Translation (courtesy of Eng Wen):
"Look at my Atabaque,
It's [made of] the leather of the bull"

and the first part to the Zambiacongo Theme Song

"Sou Zambiacongo de Geni sou da Bahia"

I am Zambiacongo, which came from Mestre Geni who is from Bahia

"Sou Regional do Bimba Angola de Canjiquinha"

He learnt Regional from Mestre Bimba and Angola from Mestre Canjiquinha

So that's all for my first post. If there's anything to be added or rectified please post your comments (Lalitha, Tiang Tiang, EW please edit the post if required).

First post,
Ken

2nd October's Class

You learnt:

Au Batido:


Er, I know the video calls it 'Bananeira' (Banana tree), and it is correct. The 'Au Batido' that you learnt is switching the legs while doing the Bananeira. This is the first step to learning the handstand bananeira. It is also the first step to learning how to kick while in a handstand.

The name of the game is control. Instead of kicking your legs up, you *shift* your weight onto your hands. This way, your legs can still be low to the ground (at first) and you have low risk of falling over, while still learning how to control your weight on your hands.

NO KICK UP! (Your feet can be low.)
SHIFT onto your hands.
CONTROL-grip the floor.

Queixada:
Some of you have forgotten queixada.

Do take note that:
1) you TWIST your upper body FIRST
2) when you kick, you PULL YOUR ARMS AGAINST the kick.

The other guys learnt Au Batido (yes, this movement is also called 'Au Batido' (broken Au) among other things):

Note that the one you learnt has a different starting position.

Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments section.

-EW

25th September's Class

You learnt:

Sequência 1
--please refer to your .pdf file.--


New Bit
Players are in ginga da façada (alternating).
Player 1: cocorinha entrando, ginga parallela, esquiva frontal, bote
Player 2: cocorinha entrando, ginga parallela, esquiva frontal, bote

Bote ("Boat"--previously we called this 'little coil' because we didn't know its name):

23rd September's Class

Okay, some of you might have accidentally picked up the Meia Lua de Compasso:

Although this guy is trying to kill hobbits, you should be trying to hit human-sized targets.

Everything else was realising that you're actually aiming for something with your other kicks (Martelo, Queixada, Meia Lua de Frente).

Us people who pretend better tried to kill kicking pads with:

Martelo do chão (Martelo from the Ground), which is like a Chapeu de Couro (Hat of Leather, or Leather Hat), but from Esquiva Frontal. Below is Chapeu de Couro:


Au Chibata: There are two types: one where you end up in parallela and the other where you end up in negativa. This is the upright version.


Tricky Meia Lua de Compassos

Gancho (Hook) from faked Martelo. Youtube only has the Gancho, sans feint.


Parafuso

I caution: do not actually hit with the armada of the parafuso, or you are going to crash painfully into the floor!

Yeah, it does seem like learning Capoeira from Youtube, no? Hahaha! Anyway, one last thing for berimbau players:

It's not exactly a 32 string piano (or however many strings a piano has) with an Orlando Bloom 'Legolas beat', but it's still pretty cool. I never knew you could play it like that! His name is Naná Vasconcelos. You can find other psychedelic videos of him on Youtube. Stoke up your bong pipe and prepare to get stoned!

Stay Sexy (and don't do what I did in the roda today),
-EW

Move Grooves of the Day!

Hey every body!

Today was GREAT! well you guys learned these moves:

Armada

Another shot of the Armada:

You all also learnt Meia Lua de Frente and Armada Combo. Which is part of the Mestre Bimba Sequences, sequence 1. Go check the pdf file i sent to you guys for details of the sequence.

You all were introduced today to a new move called Queda de Rins ('Fall on Kidneys'--that's why your elbow must be tucked into your side!), check our chimps moves link for the picture and the moves.

You also learnt that 'esquerda' means left, while 'direita' means right.

Lastly, you learnt a move of which I do not know the name. We'll temporarily christen it 'Little Coil'. From Negativa de Angola, pull your tripping leg back until you are in Quebra de Ginga (the 'Break of the Swing'). Then bring your front foot back and go down, supporting yourself on your back foot and your front arm. Back arm protects your face, front leg wraps around your back leg. It's like a Negativa de Angola, but with your front leg wrapped around your back one.

For the seniors, I cant find anything on the net that resembles what we learnt. But we should make our own notes and draw our own diagrams (because one doesn't need to know what a move is called to know how to do it):
Feta (?fingir?) de Au, Queda de Rins, swap over to other side Queda de Rins.

Love Love

Bambu