Capoeira

[Goju_boi]

I guess they look at it the way they look ar tae bo.

[Why_Worry]

Well, i call it a dance art because its learnign to fight from basically a dance. It doesnt have the same feeling as a dance but they use instruments and music so it resembles a dance, just you get other thing sout of it.

[RDsynMBZ]

ya they do it now i think as more of a dance using instruments , and the tempo of the music indicates how they should be "playing/fighting" but none the less i think its a magnificent art

[Goju_boi]

well I can say is that besides all the aformentioned things it looks like a great workout to turn your keg into a six pack.

[elbows_and_knees]

Well, i call it a dance art because its learnign to fight from basically a dance. It doesnt have the same feeling as a dance but they use instruments and music so it resembles a dance, just you get other thing sout of it.

thai boxers fight to music also... the music goes with the pace of the fight. I see what you're getting at though.

[elbows_and_knees]

hey ive looked into capoeira i dont practice it because it is unavailable to me but it is a style of fighting, it started a long time ago when portugal inhabited brazil and slaves were forbidden to fight and there hands were always tied up, so the used a style which involved kicks and mostly only kicks, however they were not aloud to practice fightin so they had to make it look like a dance but at the same time use it to train, the later rebeled and fought off the portugese , then they took over brazil or somethin to that affect , didnt mean to go into a history lesson but it is a style of fighting, but ya most people now probly interpret it as a dance/fight rather than a fight,

To be honest, I don't think there is a lot of truth to the "they use the feet because there hands were shackled" thing.j Look at the maneuvers they do on the ground - even simple ones, like negativa - the hands are positioned pretty far apart. If they were shackled, there was A LOT of space between the chains. Also, I've heard an old saying that states: "the hands were meant for building, but the feet were meant to destroy" This alone tells me that the use of the feet is intentional as the legs are much stronger than the arms.

[Goju_boi]

that makes sense

[elbows_and_knees]

here's some backup for my belief - I just found this on capoeira-angola.org:

"It is interesting to note that there is little use of offensive hand techniques in capoeira. Some have attributed this to the belief that slaves had to fight with their hands immobilized by chains and therefore emphasized foot and leg techniques. It is more likely however that the absence of hand techniques is based on an ancient kongo tradition in which the hands should be used for good work, i.e, creative activities, while the feet should be used for bad work, i.e, punishment and destruction. Fu-Kiau explained one relevant proverb in kikongo "Mooko mu tunga, malu mu diatikisa" (Hands are to build, feet are to destroy). "

[Goju_boi]

sounds kind of like the history of korean martial arts.It said that Korea was going through a period that arts and crafts were important so they took care of their hands and fought with mostly feet.