Angoleiro: Can you play five variations on every type of berimbau toque? I wouldn’t mind learning a few more of those.

We’re a traditional regional group, and therefore we focus on closeness, interaction, takedowns and we do not perform flips. One of Bimba’s many rules is to have one point of contact with the ground at all times. Plus, if you flip around, it leaves you open to rasteiras, vingativas, tesouras and even a good old push (which we don’t practise, but it can accidentally happen). Plus, if you’re close to each other, flipping around is dangerous for both the practitioner and his opponent.

I have a role in our university capoeira group, which is to organise social events, and as such, am recognised and people approach me expecting me to be friendly etc. Plus, I kinda stand out even more so due to my physical appearance (as I wrote on your blog). Since I’m easily recognisable and I’ve been practising capoeira much longer than the majority of the uni players, they have me as a sort of role model slash skill reference point. When they first joined, they kept asking me how long I’ve studied capoeira for because I guess they were setting targets within an approximate time frame for themselves.

Although they thought I was good at playing capoeira (relative to the rest of the group – I’m still a beginner, don’t forget), I personally didn’t think I deserved the credit they gave me. I felt like a fraud on the inside and that felt really bad. I don’t like cheats and liars, yet now I was made to feel like one because of their praise. I also hate letting people down. Outwardly, I didn’t say anything to that effect because I didn’t want to seem modest when I would just be being brutally honest.

In order to live up to their expectations in my eyes, I had to up my game quickly. I didn’t go crazy and practise capoeira every moment of every day. Rather, during classes I paid more attention and gave more effort. I was more focused with a clear target if you will. Eventually, it paid off when my professor congratulated my game with another capoeirista, and for the first time remarked on my fluidity inside the roda. I was elated because finally, my capoeira was no longer stuck at a plateau that I felt I had reached but was continuing to improve.

Also, during a visit to the other half of our group in the city, one of the most senior members (both skill-wise and amount of time spent with our professor), who I hadn’t seen in awhile, said to me, “Akira, your play style has… it’s like… it’s totally different!” I’m going to take that as a compliment.

However, I don’t want to get complacent. I want to continue improving, but not for others now, but for myself. I really enjoy capoeira and I can’t imagine my life without it any more. Sounds sappy and cliched but it’s true. I’m going to be sad when I graduate from university, because back home there’s no capoeira of any kind. But that’s a topic for another time.

Respect for oneself.
9) Respect for others.
10) Courage
11) Awareness (situationally, emotionally, introspectively)

I’m still a beginner myself! But since the half of my group I train regularly with is based at university, the term ‘beginner’ has been skewered since the oldest members at any point in time will only have had 2+ years of experience (excluding the players from the city). If a firm definition of ‘beginner’ for our group had to be set, it is anyone who has practised for under a year and hasn’t been taught all the basic movements (including rasteira and tesouras of all variations). In a less defined manner, though I’ve only played caps for 1.5 years, I have (at long last!!!) got a certain fluidity about my movements plus comfort while rolling about on the floor that the others who have only studied for half a year have not discovered yet.

Mind you, it took me a full year to achieve that, so it’s not a big bragging point. I remember watching the new people at the beginning of this (uni) year developing quickly after only a couple of months, and thinking to myself, “I’ve been doing this for a year and they’ve already caught up… Damn, what is wrong with me?”

Through necessity, since technically I’m supposedly one of the more senior members of our university band, I’ve had to shape up and fit into their expectations of my skill level. You know when people put you on a pesdestal than you don’t think you deserve, but you have to carry on the illusion because you don’t want to let anyone down, then it becomes reality? It really happened in my case (fortunately!).

Thanks! I’m glad you got something out of it. =) If you’re thinking about traits that make a good capoeirista right now, funnily enough Faisca just wrote a fairly relevant post on that, as he mentioned! You can check it out here.

1) athleticism
2) tenacity
3) ingenuity
5) the ability to control your body and your emotions
6) an understanding of the game
7) the ability to withstand emotional and physical discomfort
8)?
9)?