JusticeZero

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community. I was at one point recently asked if I could write an introduction to what Capoeira is really about. Among the martial arts available in the English-speaking world, Capoeira is among the less understood arts, and the only art many martial artists will encounter with African roots. Capoeira has a number of elements which render it very different from the Asian and Euro-American arts most are familiar with, and even within the art, many points which would help practitioners translate what they are doing are insufficiently examined. Capoeira has elements of dance, of performance, of informal game – informal in the fashion that it fills a social role more like footbag/hackeysack than a formal sport like tennis – and of fighting art. Friendly competition, music and "showy" acrobatics can be seen in it's most visible form alongside it's kicks, unique floor techniques, evasions and sweeps. How Does it Work? One of the common features of all Capoeira styles, one which is all but unique to it, is the heavy use of floor stances and techniques. In these, the practitioner moves and fights standing opponents using strikes and takedowns from extremely low levels, typically with at least some of their torso below the level of a standing person's knee. These techniques can be important in self defense as a response to losing or needing to sacrifice one's footing. Jujutsu or wrestling style ground fighting is tactically problematic under many situations, and the ability to be mobile and continue to fight even after one's footing and ability to stand has been compromised can be profoundly useful. Of the arts I have seen or read of, only two other arts I am aware of appear to offer similar skills in combat from the floor at any similar level of intensity. These are Harimau Pentjak Silat and Dog style Kung Fu; both of are likely inaccessible to the typical martial artist due to sheer rarity. A number of basic positions learned at the start of a Capoeirista's training are floor based, with various amounts of weight placed on the hands; in this way, if a Capoeira stylist loses their footing or is knocked down, they will land in or near a trained stance from which they are skilled in moving, or launching kicks and takedowns. All Capoeira stylists are proficient in these, though Angoleiros train this aspect much more than Regionalistas, as a rule. Capoeira is predominantly a striking, evasion style, best known for it's kicks and acrobatic techniques. Some hand techniques are taught, as well as the use of the head and a variety of throwing techniques. The base "stance," known as "Ginga," is actually a continual transition between a stance similar to the bow and arrow stance with your back foot on the ball of the foot (toes forward) and it's mirror, connected by a position similar to a horse stance. The footwork, as with most other positions found in the style, is based mainly on right angles and, as such, is highly mobile laterally, as well as forward and backward. Hand positioning, unlike most martial arts, is typically opposite the feet; when the right foot is forward, the left hand is forward, rather than the right. The right hand would in this case be near the hip, partly as a chamber but mainly to make it available as a post. These are deep stances by most definitions, but Capoeira stylists are utterly accustomed to the transitional footwork involved; for them, it is extremely mobile. They have no trouble darting back and forth, changing direction rapidly, going from upright to the floor and back again and generally running circles around people. While many think that a Capoeirista must swing in Ginga continually and rhythmically, Ginga is actually best viewed as a response to an external rhythm found in either their opponent or an outer cue. Capoeiristas are fully able to use a more typical ready stance as an on guard position. Hand techniques are not commonly drilled, primarily as an artifact of the training methodology and certain points of philosophy. When seen, hand techniques tend to use the open palm or elbows. Closed fist techniques are less common; if nothing else, because knuckle conditioning takes some effort to perfect, while a Capoeirista's palms are already conditioned to some degree by the use of their hands on the floor as a foot. Cabeçada – head butt – is trained as well; this is most commonly used as a mid-level attack with applications similar to that of a stomp kick, however, rather than the head to head banging most associate with the term. Blocking is rare; protective guard positions in stances are used heavily in order to keep vital targets covered, but defenses focus instead on "Esquiva," or escapes. Esquiva techniques consist of footwork used to evade attacks, combined with transitions including floor stances and other dramatic level changes. In Esquiva, the one learns to change their shape to accommodate attacks without blocking them with one's own body. Capoeiristas learn to duck under and beyond techniques, using the movement as an opening to footwork to place themselves in more tactically advantageous positions and they train this skill to a high level. Power generation is generally circular, heavily driven by wringing and coiling with the hips in isolation from the upper body. My teachers, and others I have worked with, teach students to perform kicks with a mostly or fully limp leg, deriving power from core and hip movements and lateral "step-by" travel from footwork. Primary kicks in most schools I have seen are the two crescents, two 360 spinning kicks – one upright, the other a reverse spinning heel kick involving twisting the body to place the hands on the floor as an expanded base – a roundhouse kick and a front heel thrust kick. Several variants are adapted for use from the floor, at high targets; with hands on the floor, the angling of the body often makes high kicks the most natural and low-flexibility option. Targeting varies somewhat from school to school, but is typically either the floating rib or the head. Conservation and storage of momentum – energy is kept in the body and in motion, to be used and directed as desired rather than grounding the force into a solid root or using it in a war of attrition against the opponent's strikes. Use of the trunk of the body – the hips and shoulders are isolated, and the trunk is used to help move the hips for power generation. Use of falling and tumbling – a number of techniques differ from Asian equivalents in their willingness to drop to the hands in cartwheels or hand standing techniques, quite often using the energy generated by the fall as a significant part of the technique's power generation. Constant movement – some vector of movement, or significant potential movement is normally kept at all times, rather than dropping into a fixed single stance; continual use of transitions. Use of rhythm as a tactical tool – many martial arts advise against motorset rhythms; Capoeira stylists at moderately advanced levels learn to recognize, encourage and capitalize upon them. Deceptive movement – techniques should have common entrances and exits, so that the technique and direction of attack can be changed to unexpected angles as situations change or openings appear. Where is it From? To say that one practices Capoeira is similar to saying that one studies Kung Fu. There are many styles of Kung Fu with varying ends and philosophies; however, in general, Kung Fu practitioners roughly share stances and core techniques on which the rest of their art is based. It is similar with Capoeira; details vary from one lineage to another, but the core has vast similarities. Capoeira is often referred to as being divided between the schools of "Angola," or "Regional." The equivalent within Asian martial arts would be found in the division between Northern and Southern styles of Kung Fu. Angola schools tend to emphasize a slower, more tactical style with much higher emphasis on floor movement than Regional lineages. Regional schools in turn tend to focus on physical ability, fitness and speed more heavily with a more upright style of movement. Capoeira hails from Brazil; specifically, from the African enslaved peoples brought to Brazil from western Africa, mostly in the vicinity of the region now known as Angola. Without a doubt, its lineage places it as an African martial art to some extent. Its development was shaped by the skills brought by the African slaves. Some of the enslaved peoples shipped to Brazil had likely been African warriors, prisoners captured in intertribal conflicts within Africa and sold to Portuguese slave traders. Early in the 1900s, Capoeira was illegal to practice. In order to preserve the art, highly respected Capoeirista Mestre Bimba essentially re-packaged the Capoeira he knew, promoting it in the NHB fights of the time and marketing it to the government as a way to generate national pride. He collected many students, as well as colleagues of his and set down a specific curriculum and guidelines to follow in order to be within his organization. Bimba's style is more representative of the conditions in which Bimba learned in and preferred. These tend to be upright, more aggressive and faster, more innovative, with a strong fitness element. Lineages who were aligned with him are known as "Regional," a shortened form of the name of Bimba's organization. In response, some of the Capoeiristas whose style did not fit within the theme of Bimba's play style remained independent. Many would rally around the banner of other influential masters such as Mestre Pastinha, whose style was quite unlike Bimba's. From these teachers came the school of thought which characterizes "Angola" styles. Angola players tend to play slower, more strategic games, spending far more time on the floor than Regional stylists. "Old man" techniques and thinking is more predominant, where the practitioner trains under the concept that their opponent will always be stronger and faster, rather than by focusing on increasing their speed and strength. Many of these seem to have lineages from wetter and more slippery parts of Brazil, which would have more treacherous ground; admittedly, this is only my personal theory. Within these divisions are various lineages; usually, this can only be found by looking at organizational affiliations and asking directly. These can be thought of as having differences equivalent to the many ryu of Karate. What Do People Usually See? One aspect which is most often seen by observers is the Roda. This is a specific, multiple-purpose activity integral to the art, which can be viewed as competition, performance or a type of sparring drill. Capoeiristas surround a circle of limited size. On one side of the circle, the head instructor stands holding a berimbau, a percussion instrument similar to a bow. Other Capoeiristas with other instruments typically are arranged beside the instructor. The head instructor opens, playing a certain rhythm corresponding to the type of play that is to be done, to which the other musicians join. They then open with a formula song, not unlike a haiku, then continue with call and response songs around the circle. This renders the entire assemblage the appearance of a dance or celebration, rather than fighting training; important at many times in the past of the art. Capoeiristas pair off in front of the head instructor, crouch and shake hands. At the prompting of the instructor, they move to the middle of the ring. What technique is used varies from school to school, but I have generally seen mutual mea lua de compasso (inverted floor reverse turning heel kick) and escapes in Angola schools or cartwheeling techniques known as "Aú" in Regional. At this point, they begin using techniques on each other. The speed of the match is outwardly moderated by the instructor through the rhythm of the berimbau. Tactical advantage can be found in relatively small adjustments in rhythm while still following the outward pace, which makes paying attention to and adapting to the opponent's rhythm important. Hand techniques, blocking, and ground fighting are generally discouraged by most schools in this venue, as are snap kicks. The focus is on dynamic flow of esquiva and tactical movement rather than on aggressive contact. Scoring is informal and ultimately subjective; however, there are certain ways to "lose." To leave the designated area in any way is a loss. The Capoeirista is expected to have control of their own movements and tactics and being forced out of bounds is a demonstration of inadequate skill. The size of the circle can vary from one Roda to the next, sometimes to exceptionally restrictive sizes. The smallest I have seen was two meters in diameter. To walk into a kick is a loss. By this I do not mean that a kick is thrown too fast to avoid, but rather that the Capoeirista has attempted tactical esquivas or other techniques in a manner which their opponent has predicted and chambered an attack to counter, into which the victim moves into. To lose balance and integrity to the point where one places something other than their hands, feet or head on the ground is a loss, though some schools permit the forearm. In the past, slaves likely did not have clothing to specifically train in and dirtying their clothing was an inconvenience or worse. They might have only been able to slip a short practice in, in the middle of some errand for which they needed to be dressed well. This serves to demonstrate that stance integrity has been maintained. This aspect makes throws, sweeps and takedowns particularly useful. The break falling training, however, tends to train Capoeiristas to be able to flip or cartwheel in any direction without falling, rather than rolling. In some schools, outwardly showing anger is a loss, as well. The Roda does not look like a fight. It has many elements alien to a fight, but it does train angling and maneuvering at a very high level against a resisting opponent. As such, it avoids many of the pitfalls of more common sparring practices seen in Asian and European arts which may breed bad habits in their practitioners along with false confidence, while giving the Capoeirista a venue to test their movements, awareness and tactics. Thanks to all these factors, the study of Capoeira can be a deep, rewarding and practical endeavor. Studying it will turn heads and turn the practitioner on his or her head in training to see the world in a whole new way. Within, the standard answers to many questions in the martial arts also can be found, themselves turned on their heads in new ways. If you need a fresh point of view, get role-ing and see what it has to offer. Glossary Armada – basic 360 spin kick. Aú – cartwheeling technique, used as an esquiva, to cover distance, to grab an object off the ground or as part of an attack Bananeira – handstand position. Bencao – front thrust kick. Cabeçada – head butting techniques. Cocorinha/Resistençia – Squatting stances. Cutelo – knife hand. Cutevelhada – elbow strike. Esquiva – Escape, general term for evasive footwork and body shifting techniques. Galopante – a slapping technique, similar to a hook with a more extended arm. Ginga – Swinging upright footwork pattern used as a base stance. Joelhada – knee strike. Jogo – "to play," an individual match, usually within a Roda. Martelo – roundhouse kick. Mea Lua de Compasso – basic reverse turning heel kick with torso inverted and hands on the floor. Mea Lua de Frente (I've heard it called Passa-pé by one teacher) – inward crescent kick. Negativa – floor stance, sitting on one foot and the opposite hand with the other foot extended. Palma – straight palm strike. Queda de Quatro – "Fall on four," a crab-walking position. Favored in some Angola lineages. Queda de Rins – common transitional position, essentially a sideways handstand with one elbow resting on the hip. Queixada – outward crescent kick, using a twist from a side-facing stance to a forward-facing one for power. Rasteira – foot sweep. Roda – the common "game" form of training usually seen. Role – Transition from negativa, a rolling "step." Tesouras – scissor kick.

I'll take Claymore here. At a certain point on the list, we're just making the rubble bounce, as it were; we don't have to hack through thick steel plate anymore as a rule. A foil. It's a symbol of a sword more than it is the sword itself. Blowgun. It's a ranged weapon with no particularly unusual rotational components and no particular defensive properties. Much like a handgun, the main body of learning would be in learning the stance and basic technique for it and then spending a bit of time on the target range. Bullwhip; it has a number of interesting properties to it that would need to be coordinated in. A yawara. For the most part it's just a short rod that you hold in your hand. Of those listed? I like the sling. It's very portable, ranged, and hits hard. My preferences for close in aren't in there really. Katara, but only by a tiny amount. Anything bulky, obviously a weapon, and lacking non-combat utility displeases me.

Sure. There's situational awareness and positioning considerations that you'll want in order to get out of that situation, and it's better to train to be aware of those than to just roll over and give up just because attackers - who aren't in their business to duel, just to pounce on apparently easy helpless prey - decided to do one of the easiest techniques to tip the odds available to them.

Sorry, been dealing with CERT, family emergencies, etc. for a couple weeks rather than here. 'Zum Zum Capoeira mata Um' "Zoom Zoom Zoom, Capoeira kills one" matar=to kill, and 'Zum' is just "Zoom", equivalent to an English song that would have something like "Doop bop doobidy wha!" as a line. A navalha is a razor blade.. I don't know the lyrics of the versions you're working with off the top of my head, they're not songs we sang much if ever for whatever reason.

Upright switches 75/25, 50/50, 75/25, and if you go low you'll be squatting at 50/50 narrow, 40/50/10 narrow, or one foot forward at 70/20/10.

There's a huge difference between "next to nothing" and actual "nothing". Banner ads bring in very little revenues, and my love for things tends to wane much faster if I have to spend money I was hopping to put into rent to keep it afloat.

Dirty fighting is completely reasonable; one of our core techniques is set up to be very useful for picking up rocks. Mostly of late I find myself setting up for throws more than strikes, as the strikes feel more like retaliations against less committed attacks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8568677.stm Spotted while checking my usual news..

Motion size doesn't increase, but you lose precision, time sense (this is why you should take a DEEP BREATH, consciously relax your shoulders, and SIGH IT OUT at the start of any altercation) and the ability to think tactically and adjust to changing circumstances. Whatever you decide to do first, you'll probably keep trying to do repeatedly regardless of circumstances. Your movements will NOT be clean and crisp; they will most likely be panicky and flaily and poorly constructed. If you overbuild the movements, it is hoped that a panicky movement will still be structurally refined enough to be effective. Also, if you second-guess your trained response, your trained response will completely go away and leave you with nothing. If your panic level gets too high, you will completely come apart.

Uhm... no, that's just geeky. Inside the training hall, use the cultural norms of the training hall. Outside the training hall, use the cultural norms outside the training hall. Don't bow. Wave maybe, or say hello.

Most (not all) arts are asymmetrical. If you do a symmetrical art, you can't favor one side to do techniques, or you will halve your ability to attack and defense, in every sparring etc. match you go in, with no ability to compensate.

I dunno - eye gouges and groin kicks can be surprisingly hard to sink under a lot of situations. Mind you, i'm not female, so my model attacker probably doesn't immobilize and bind themself with grabbing and holding and the like as much as yours do. I know from experience that my flinch reaction is to go sideways and cover - which is a standard body position from which a lot of techniques come - so I spent a bit more time working techniques that start in that position. I also don't think 'I'll grab the wrist'; rather, I have responses that may or may not involve the limb, in a 'contact somewhere along this limb and if your fingers wrap around it then bonus!' sort of fashion, and I can work good outcomes - flight or arrest, more the former than the latter - from either.

Which kick exactly are you referring to when you say a 'crescent'? From the inside, from the outside, 360 spin? There's plenty of techniques that are gold in actual combat that are of limited use in a duel, since in 'sparring' you aren't plowing into your opponent's space like an attacker would, and that reserve lets you break apart when you see such a technique. In reality that would be a fight ender because the break away defence opened the way to flee. The 360 often gets applied at unusual angles in my experience, as a response to certain maneuvers; the inside.. your form i'm not sure on, but ours it's a response to an attack that had us fade out, or to a foot sweep.. I think you usually work from a sideways stance in general, so i'm extra hazy on what the outside would even look like. (mine is from a transition through horse.) Realize though that even though we're both doing kicking arts, i'm not terribly clear on how yours assembles things; different continents entirely in lineage.

It is better to be the one who is left, than the one who was right.

I suppose... Lots of things can, though, so it's such a hazy question! I dunno, I find the ability to stand on my hands and do a snap kick to be pleasing to me, but not really happiness per se. My student, a mechanic, found the ability to creep around in low, confined places like under houses and cars without straining himself as he used to to be a great reliever of pain and fatigue. Is this happiness? It certainly didn't hurt. Being with my wife tends to make me happy. Did my training help with that? Maybe, maybe not.. Helping other people makes me happy.. does my art help with that? Again, maybe, maybe not. It's all so vague! It seems that your self-determination was stolen from you once, and your studies give you the confidence that that you can keep your autonomy in the face of adversity in ways that were impossible to you long ago. I am glad to hear this, do carry on! But is it the martial arts -specifically- that do it? Who can say. =) Train on..

Skill in a specific competitive venue will not always be an accurate measure of effectiveness. The attackers I train to fight are of substantially inferior skill, but who are cheating mightily and vigorously to give them the edges they feel they need to grant them an easy win. They have friends, weapons, they don't tell anyone when or where the fight will be. I'm training to cheat too; I train to have much higher levels of skill that cannot be removed or left behind. I'm training to see dangerous places and situations and avoid them. I'm training to be able to stage responses to minimize my blame. A gun or knife fails all of those, badly. You also train to cheat, by optimizing your response around a very specific scenario with limits and conditions peculiar to it. Most arts don't do that, and certainly not around the specific scenario you chose. And then after all that, you still have people who train the traditional arts you sneer at who find some success in your venue; it's just that every time they do, the MMA world adopts the techniques they used and then conveniently forget the origin. Your art is very 'traditional' too, being made up of a medley of several TMA's - they have their own traditions and quirks and foibles that are just as mystifying to a space alien as any of the ones the other TMA's have.

Well, there is also the issue that there is another claimed lineage other than the one Song Duk Ki follows, which is disputed. As noted, it as only brought to my attention by claims that it was not Korean at all, but a modified form of -my- art. It isn't. =)

Multiple attackers requires you to not tie yourself up with any single attacker. A throwing art should still work.

I think you are underestimating the exact purpose of stance training, and it is furthermore not clear what stance you refer to. Certainly -my- feet are not closer together, because I need structure and mobility; I don't use it to change my 'mentality'.

Make sure to mention to your future training partners that you're having some fear reactions that you are having a hard time controlling, and that if you start panicking you need a few seconds to regain your composure for both of yours' safety. Step away, recenter, move back and reformat the scene in your head before going back to start again.

Sounds just a little odd.. taken without any inflection to it, it's just maybe that you respond well to teaching. I'm not sure that you don't have some feelings on the matter from how that was worded, though..? Imagine you were someone else and read what you wrote from different eyes. Maybe i'm just being overly sensitive, though. It seemed like there was some back and forth in your description. I tend to push and encourage students who ask questions, personally. The ones who show up, do their workout, then wander off, not so much.

Ginga form: Front knee forward; back leg you should be able to make a line from the ball of the foot to the hip joint that passes through the knee (that is pretty much where 'casual straight' is), don't slouch (which got translated into 'stick your chest out' in terms both cutesy and vulgar for the young female student, *not* by me but it did explain the concept well enough for her to understand..), importance of not excluding the center, running-horse position. Transitional positions are important. Falling: Lots of having to repeat myself that yes, for this I need them to launch themselves ballistically through the movement to throw themselves over their hands and head and land on their feet with their hips; I generally stress not doing that, but it's about controlling an excess of kinetic energy, and they need to get it from somewhere. Next exercize: Stand looking out the window; find a point on the windowframe and keep the scenery outside of the window stationary with the windowframe, then move the hips in isolation, then anchor the hips and move the upper chest in isolation. Purpose: Develop skill in moving the spine as distinct units rather than as a block. Frustration of the day: The revelation that the student whom I have been trying to fix the form of by likening movements to 'just stepping' with little success has, in fact, apparently WALKED a single step in their life; they ambulate through a different sort of shuffling movement that uses different mechanics, and seems to be both more tiring, less efficient, and corrosive to their posture. Along these lines, I have been told that my focus on posture and body dynamics has made me more effective at curing body aches and pain than regular visits to a chiropractor, as well as more affordable. Very cool.

I generally feel that if I have to put much effort into constructing or modifying it, it's too exotic to be practical. I've tried poking around a bit with shovels, crowbars, and sledgehammers, though.

It's a severe sensitivity. I have been notified that iodine is not a substance to which someone can actually be 'allergic' to in the technical sense. They do, however, break out in a nasty and miserable rash and such if they eat more than a tiny taste of oceangoing seafood. It's a whole freaking fish, more or less, in a single vacuum pack. One of the halves would make for a couple meals for me, and i've got no good way to repackage the other half.

Well.. I like salmon, but I wouldn't feel right eating it in a house with people who are allergic... I'm concerned that he may have heard that from the comment in the background.