Love, Life, Joy and Conversation in Circle

I find Capoeira more interesting day by day. Last night I went to one Capoeira workshop at Fairview International School in Wangsa Maju. The workshop is actually part of ‘Capoeira Camara Festival’. It is tiring but, it was exciting and I had fun there. It was not enough for me and I believe for other Capoeiristas too. The workshop started at 730pm and as usual, we started with a warm up and after that Mestre Bola trained us with some movements.

For those who don't know about Capoeira, let me share with you some of the basic movements. Anyway, below is the source that I took from ArodaCapoeira.

Ginga:

The most basic movement of Capoeira. Instead of fixing position on the ground, the fighter is always moving, almost looking like is dancing.

Au:

Au is basically a windmill, practiced normally is gymnastics. Also Known as Au Regional it's used in Capoeira as a quick way to escape or trick your opponent.

Au Angola:

Au Angole it's a Au, but this one is only used in Capoeira Angola. Is difference to the Au (above) is the fact that the knee are bent.

Cocorinha:

Cocorinha it's an evasive move, which consists in a way to avoid circular kicks made in a close range. In this movement, it's necessary that the hand that touches the ground mantains balance, and, such as in all the other movements it's always necessary to mantain eye contact with your opponent.

Source from : ArodaCapoeira

 

My Second Life In Circle.

Yesterday, during the Roda, Contra Mestre Bola talk about few elements and details which related to Capoeira. Exercise, food and the most interesting part for me is ‘breathe’, ‘communicate’ and ‘face expression’ in Roda.  
 

Roda. It is a Portuguese word meaning circle. It's a physical circle made up of Capoeiristas clapping and singing or playing instruments. The roda is where the Capoeirista fight or Jogo (the fight in Capoeira is called a Jogo) takes place. It's within this circle that the Capoeiristas (two players) use the movements they've trained to both attack and defend. The entrance, leave and the restart of the Jogo’s point is in front of those Capoerista who playing the instruments, specifically in front of the Berimbau player. Capoeirista can hurt each other, but Jogo is more like physical game, each movement has purpose and effect both players. And from there, where the Capoeirista started to interact and communicate with each other. It could be either being picked or buying the game, setting them up for your movements and using their movements to determine your moves. It is very interesting because all of that happen without saying any words. Capoeirista communicate and interact through face expression and body language. And those Capoeirista who is not playing in Roda, it is important for them to keep the circle besides participate in the clapping and singing to keep the positive energy going, making the Roda better for all within it.

 

Communicate in Circle
 

When first I joined Capoeira, (Capoeira Camara Malaysia) class in Havana Studio, TTDI, everything seems alien to me. And one of the senior Capoeiristas, Fadinha (which means Little Fairy) taught me the basic movement in Capoeira which is Ginga. After that, the Instrutor, Soldado – Brazilian guy came and checked my Ginga. Fadinha and Soldado made me feel like it wasn’t my first class that day. They were so nice, and I felt welcomed. Plus the rest of Capoeirista, all of them were so nice too! The first day I saw all of the Capoeiristas in Roda, I felt excited and the second day of the class, during Roda, Instrutor Soldado signated to me to get into the Roda. Honestly, I didn't know what to do and not confident at all but I just stepped into the Roda.




And guess what, the moment I started ginga inside the circle, I fell in love with Capoeira. Because,

Capoeira for me, it's more than a martial art, more than an exercise, more than a workout. Peace, joy, music, love, dance, beach, life… I felt this inside the circle, the Roda.

It’s fun to ‘talk’ inside the Roda without saying any words. The eye contact, the body language, the face expression, When people clap while me and other Capoeiristas enjoy the game, I felt alive, I felt being surrounded by love because everyone actually give you joy while me and other capoeiristas inside the Roda having fun ‘communicating-with-no-words’ & do many kind of movements with peace and joy. With the music and the ginga movement it felt like dancing but at the meantime, while having ‘fun’ I have to be careful and alert, that’s ‘life’. It is symbolic for me because everyone want to have fun and want to have a happy life, nowadays - you have to be alert, you have to know how to defend yourself. And if you read my first & second post, I did mention that I love beach and first I saw Capoeira was through "Only the Strong". For me, Capoeira is synonym with beach, and everytime moving around in Roda, i feel peace and relax. Felt surrounded by music & beach. =)

Time management & measure the distance

For me it sounds a little bit like doing business logic or some calculation, don't you think so? When we play inside the Roda, Contra Mestre Bola keeps on remind us to measure the distance between the opponent. Well, yes, we don't have time to measure *takkanlah nak ambil pembaris atau measurement tape nak measure jarak, ye dak?* - because if we stay too close with the opponent, we are the one who will get hurt instead of the opponent. And also, budget the time - when to kick (Martello), when to defend (Esquive), when to avoid (Negativa) the kick or anything else. My Instructor Soldado once told me, 'We, Capoeiristas - we think differently from others." Now, I'm truly understand what makes he said that. To be a Capoeiristas, we have to be smart, we have to think fast, we need to be fast, we have to score 'A' in Maths because we need to measure the distance without measurement tape *okay, joking*, we have to know when to kick, when to defend because there's more than thousand skills in Capoeira I must tell you and the opponent could be smarter or faster than you. *wink*

 Well, that’s all for now – about Capoeira.

Eh? Before that. If you ever wonder how  and where to Ginga with us, it's HERE.
When? This is the DATE & TIME.

 

Xoxo,

Gillette Flores