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Capoeira, really

February 17, 2007

My previous Capoeira-related post sparked some questions about what learning Capoeira is actually like. Thanks to my trusty (if slightly grainy) new camera phone, I can share some crappy, low-grade pix with you.

Drill Time

70% of the class time is spent doing simple movements in pairs, usually 2 or 3 moves in combination with the other person ducking your kicks and then doing the same thing back to you.

20% of the time is spent on individual drills like "do hand-stands all the way down the hall until you're totally sick and dizzy and/or have fallen on your spine and have become permanently paralyzed."

Play Time

The remaining 10% of the time is spent "Playing Capoeira", which is when you go into a circle surrounded by the rest of the students, some of whom are playing instruments and the rest of whom are clapping. You then frantically do moves at random, trying to demonstrate that you can remember the moves you learned from the class. Or failing that, trying to demonstrate that you remember anything at all besides just cartwheeling. (I usually freeze up and just do cartwheel, spin-kick, hook-kick over and over again until they throw me out of the circle.)

Evil Time

Sometimes the instructors wax sadistic and select moves that burn up your muscles (like these lame leg-lifts), or moves that invade your partner's personal space in a super-uncomfortable way, like last night's "head-butt-the-other-person-in-the-chest-while-they-cartwheel-around-you" move--- extra fun for girls!

The hand-shake situation

As a fellow OCD-afflicted person, you need to know something important about Capoeira: During the pair exercises (which are most of the class) you have to shake hands with your partner once to select them (which itself is like a little mini-prom 20 times a night, where you get stuck with Angry Guy over and over). You then have to shake hands again a few seconds later to start the exercise, and again at the end to thank your partner. Over the course of a night you'll definitely shake hands with every person there at least twice. So if you're squeemish about shaking hands with people who have been touching the floor and each other all night, Capoeira is not for you. On the bright side, it's a good immune system builder, I guess.

Posted by rus at 12:22 PM

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