Hi, my name is Al

Capoeira - The Deceptive Art of Dance-Fighting

This isn’t really an art I would consider doing on its own, but ever since I saw Blanka in Street Fighter 2, I’ve always looked at the players as kind of amazing. Capoeria isn’t looked on as a practical fighting style but, this was not always the way. The players still train relentlessly to develop incredible balance, flexibility and strength and ‘fight’ to a rhythm of african instruments, but the sinister side of capoeira isn’t thought about often. Capoeira involves acrobatic dodges, flying attacks, sweeps and spinning kicks, but in its first stages of development, it was more along the lines of the players hurling their bodies(often head first) at each other in an attempt to take the other out quickly. The instruments of capoeira were also not around at this time but were introduced later on. Earlier players(capoeiristas) also used weapons, the favored weapons were barbers razors and other small knives and blades, due to their easy concealment and how well they could adapt to the flowing movements.

The instruments are something that I thought was really cool, because they were a huge part of disguising the sinister motives of slaves ‘playing’ capoeira. The main instruments are:

• the berimbau(the long bowed, single stringed instrument that controls the roda)
• the pandiero(tambourine)
• the atabaque(primitive drum)

Most of the instruments are percussion to reinforce primitive human tendencies and induce rhythmic thought forms. However, the playful appearance and beautiful movements of the game would draw the attention of slave handlers, military soldiers and other passers by. The onlookers were sometimes encouraged to take part in the roda and within the ring, the capoeira trap was sprung. The fighters often used small bladed weapons to cut their opponents with long sweeping movements and used the ring of people and the sound of the instruments to conceal the battle going on inside the roda. When more than one outsider was involved, the instruments often contained hidden blades and the gang would strike out as one. Although gangs were common, the media would describe single capoeiristas injuring or hurting several men in while escaping from captivity, and although some stories may be exaggerated or completely made up, they all referred to the unorthodox attacking and flowing defenses of the fighter.

Modern capoeira of course does not involve weapon fighting, and is mainly used as a way to keep the body fit and strong. Personally, I would love to give it a go, but I don’t really like performing, or dancing.