Reach for the skies!!

Hi guys!

I've thought of a new and painful torture for most of us (especially for us guys) to improve our flexibility, and it's called stretching. Here's a few pointers how we can conduct ourselves us we execute the punishment of attempted leg-splits and toe-touching in class or the privacy of our homes.

1. Stretch daily. Make it consistent: be it just waking from bed or sitting in front of the TV - there's always an opportunity to stretch; the question is, "Do i want to?"

2. Vary the types of stretches and maintain the position at least 30 secs. Let's build flexibility throughout the entire body.

3. Maintain a straight back for a deeper stretch. Do not round your back or hunch. Stretch safely: do not snap to reach further.

4. Breathe as you hold the stretching position. Control the breathing: inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Your muscles need the oxygen to endure the stress.

5. A ballet barre helps. It helps you stretch and also allows you to figure out your weight and balance distribution.

6. Patience and discipline. Rome wasn't built in a day and you can't do splits just simply after a week or a month of stretching unless your jean-claude van demme tied to a coconut tree.

Hope you guys can think up of a 'stretch schedule' and keep to it. And i hope you guys anticipate the next stretch-filled activities in class. :)

Axe!
Morcego

"Joy of Capoeira" - Mestre Cajiquinha

"I am the joy of capoeira,
In capoeira I am the joy"
~Mestre Cajiquinha

Hi,

I came across an e-book titled "Joy of Capoeira" which records an interview with the legendary Mestre Cajiquinha who popularised Capoeira Angola. I'm just halfway into reading it but i just thought i'd share a few paragraphs with you guys to ponder over:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capoeira is fight, sport, a plaything…
For Canjiquinha, capoeira is preferably playfulness. Even better if there is an audience
watching. In the roda, doing ginga in front of his partner, he often plays a joke (giving the
volta ao mundo around himself). The opponent/friend follows the rules of this
playfulness to the letter. Any initiation of an attack will be neutralized by a backwards
chapa. The game is planned – inherited from the double-dealings and simulated combats
in the rings of free-fighting, vale-tudo, and Greco-roman fighting that the mestre
practiced in the 1950s and 60s.
A new joke. He stops, lifts his eyes. The audience applauds. Canjiquinha is the king.
Canjiquinha is a happy boy. (I only want honor when I’m alive because after I’m dead it
doesn’t interest me). He generously repays the applause by unrolling his spool of
varieties: capoeira, puxada de rede, maculelê, samba duro, samango, bolero, muzenza,
self-defense, jokes, Vicente Celestino. Doing things that God would doubt that he could
do. More applause, more things: unforgettable moments to last one’s whole life.
But, every volta ao mundo around oneself has its risks. The opponent is not always
cooperative. The result: a movement given just for flourish is curbed by a very well
performed arm-lock, as a punishment – a warning that capoeira is a serious thing. The
rule of playfulness was broken. Canjiquinha protests and makes a huge fuss. He defends
himself by saying that fight capoeira is for enemies and that, in the roda, it’s for playing
with one’s friends and companions.


IN THE OLD DAYS – Capoeira was more beautiful, it was danced.
TODAY – It is more violent. It is commercial.
EXPLANATION – There was no karate, there was no judo.
COMMENTARY – I was a contra-mestre of Pastinha, in 1950. That Japanese guy came
to take pictures. We would stand still. He was there making marks, marking the positions.
Later, karate appeared here in Bahia. Then, capoeira’s popularity decreased, decreased.
Then, the youngest capoeiristas sought to make violence. So that capoeira could be
shown to be more violent than karate. Capoeira stayed in this aggression. Because of this,
it grew too much. Because if it had stayed that beautiful to-and-fro game, then karate
would have won out. You see that five years ago all anyone talked about was karate.
But today, all everyone talks about is capoeira.

Do you think this change was necessary?
Is violence necessary in capoeira?
“No. Here’s the thing: If you’re inside the academy, training with your colleague, there is
no violence. You can even train fast. Now, if you’re playing in the street, and the guy
resorts to violence, then you have to resort to violence as well. An academy teaches you
to play capoeira, it doesn’t teach you to fight. Now, in the street you have to resort to
what you know if the person disrespects you. Sometimes, you’re alone… you have to
resort to what you know, right?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll keep on reading and share with you any other pearls of wisdom i can find :) Hopefully i can pick your brains as well as the previous resident Capoeirista Philosopher.

Axe!
Morcego

Dressed to Kill

Hi Guys,

It's been a while but just thought i'd touch on something perhaps the ladies would be more adept at... looking good. Oh and i don't mean looking good in the Roda with grace and poise in the moves (although that is very important too); I would like to discuss on the dress code of a capoeirista - how it reflects upon his game and style.

Firstly, i need to talk about the hair! Before i ever started finding out more about Capoeira, i've always thought that Dreadlocks are a MUST. This assumption came from attempting to master Eddy's 18-String Combo in the game TEKKEN. Well... dreads are not really a must-have for a capoeirista, but it really adds quite abit of Malicia into your game. Think about it: I would feel weak in the knees if i was joga de Capoeira with PREDATOR.

Dreadlocks aside, Capoeirista just really need to keep their crowning glory in check with a simple headband. Though i've never seen anyone joga with long hair swaying, i'd imagine it to be a pretty scary sight especially after she/he does a Mei Lua De Compasso and looks down to see his/her esquiva-ed opponent...

One of the coolest things Capoeira can achieve is how it can be played in any attire (provided its flexible enough): we don't need body pads or face masks or the likes. We just need to look good and the crowds along Orchard Road would gather around to watch (haha). So it's a norm that bright colors are often worn and white makes quite a good default color. From my Youtube observations, this is quite a popular dress-code amongst regional & Benguela players.


However, my true objective is to share with everyone the style of an angoleiro, a player of the angola style. Such a person is described to be a Malandro - a guy that is at the same time smart, bohemian and street wise. I am not saying that the other styles are not capable of Malandro, however, angoleiro capoeiristas of the past dressed the part to reflect Street-Smarts and yet guile.


So why don't we try this out, beginner learners dressing up and standing out whereas the more experienced leaners can dress down, not that we're trying to impose Malicia upon each other but just as a practise to dress and be a chameleon in the roda.

See you guys next Monday in NUS Dance Studio!

Axe
Morcego

Updates & Stuffs

Hello everyone, Ian here.

First off, good luck to those still studying for your exams. Final stretch!

This post is just to settle some admin stuff. As most of you would know that this summer period there would be no NUS training, but instead you'd have to head down to FIGHT-G to train with our new (yay) capoeira instructor.

I would really like to meet up with pretty much everyone to makan, relax and also to discuss a bit about the next semester. This would encompass the Freshman Inauguration Ceremony (maybe), Matric Fair & the general conduct of our classes (I was informed that a change of training days is required).

So PLEASE reply to either this post or the email that directed you to this post as to when you are free.

Thanks!

Axe!

Ian

cabeça

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

Announcement!!!

could any of you guys make tues the 14th free? Ratna our senior from headquarters are asking if we could do a performance for the ITE fair.(he teaches at ITE). It wouldn't be a whole day thing, but just a short performance. He's trying to introduce capoeira into the ITE community as a CCA.

post a comment on this post if you can. please do take part if you could, cause if you haven't realise it yet, performing like street basking is a tradition in capoeira. and it help introduce it to more people. doesn't matter if you think you're not good enough, cause thats rubbish talk...if you don't feel comfortable playing for a audience yet, you could help by being part of the bataria or by singing. the more capoeiristas we have around playing, clapping and singing, the better the axe; the better the axe, the better the impression of capoeira we leave for the audience. get the point??=]

hope as many of you can make it as possible.

Searching for yourself?

Hi guys,

The advise for us last thursday was "go youtube "Zambiacongo" and observe". So i did just that :)

So many have come and gone through the doors of a capoeira school and left thinking that they have "experienced" Capoeira. ...Ok, so you can ginga and throw some fancy kicks; Wow - you can even do the complex acrobatics. But can you really claim to being a "capoeirista" when you haven't found that spot for yourself in the roda?

As we heard last Thursday, every grupo has its own style. And with that style comes a certain direction that we would want to hone our bodies to meeting. We are studying under Zambiacongo, whose style stems from grace and feints:

"Now i understand why we're going through those particular feint sequences on Thursdays!"

However remember that this is just a general guideline to which you can follow. Must i be a "feint-addict" just because i am from Zambiacongo or a an awesome acrobatic because i hail from Cordao de Ouro Capoeira?

"In times of adversity, one's true nature comes out". Not that im linking the being in a roda and getting surrounded by a boisterous presence of Axe an adversity, but it is in that environment that hopefully you can find for yourself a certain form which you can best relate your personality with. As a dear friend once told me,

"There's always a place for you in capoeira: you can't do the moves? you can sing; You can't sing? Go play the instrumets; You can't play the instruments? Clap your hands; You can't clap? Go rope in friends who can; No Friends!? Capoeira will be your friend."

Many a times i have entered the roda with a "game plan" in mind so as not to appear 'blur' of un-glam in front of my friends. But then again, my most enjoyable games happens when i compra into the roda with nothing but the rythm of the bateria spurring me on. Hah whatever happened to "music can soothe the savage beast?" Apparently the "beast" hasn't heard the beat of the atabaque yet :p

The message im hoping to get across meu camaradas is: "try". You never know till you try.

Quoting Cantor who quoted Mestre Luinzho:

"Try and you may fail; Don't try and you'll never succeed."

Finally, let's see if you can spot anyone familiar here:



ps: haha could be our publicity vid since it gives a good intro for Capoeira. Yes, that's a girl at 0:55 :)

Axe
meu camaradas

Bryan