I just found these photos of some cupcakes I made last year, and thought you guys would get a kick out of them. 
Enjoy!
(Obsessed?? Who, me???)
Watch this video! I came across it the other week and am sharing here it for two reasons:
1. It features a mandingueira, playing a mandingueiro.
2. It’s beautiful!
The graphics are stunning, the capoeiristas themselves are “devastatingly fit” (to quote from the youtube description), the music is haunting, and their game is pure enjoyment to watch. Although it’s mostly kicks and acrobatics (as opposed to more elaborate dialogue, though that might have been hard to create well), Lena at Utopia Films did a really good job. Look out at 1:46 and 1:53 for examples of cintura desprezada!
Of course, I couldn’t help noticing their capoeira cordas as well…I’m assuming, based on the red and the white, that the woman is a contra-mestra and the man is a mestre. Why they couldn’t have both been mestres I don’t know, but I guess for the variety. (And better than a higher level woman being matched with a lower level man, I suppose?) Oh, and apparently the video is an ad for Diet Coke, though it’s subtle (well, kind of)…just ignore that part! 
Anyway, the best bit about this video is: It’s supposed to be part 1 of a trilogy! So I will definitely keep an eye out for the rest of the installments and feature them on here once they’re available. (Unless they just included that line in the video for “effect”.) At any rate, for now, press play, and breathe in the music, the motions, the scene…
Update: It has been brought to my attention that this video has actually earlier appeared on another well-known capoeira blog! So if you like, you can now have the pleasure of watching it twice. 
Here is a video of xaxado to go with the post profiling this dance! I’m so sorry for the delay and recent lack of updating; I’ve been travelling and had little to no internet access, and went to two batizados in two different places within a week of each other! They were really good, but now it’s back to normal everyday life…thank you to everyone for your patience and comments, and I will be replying to all of them (from way back) and posting regularly again as I settle down into exam-study mode!
By now, you’ve probably all seen countless games of capoeira regional and capoeira angola. You’ve played benguela, and experienced awe watching iuna. However, have you ever seen Amazonas in action? Have you played to the toque of miudinho? All of the following videos feature different variations of capoeira games, created at different times for different purposes, and they are truly interesting and fun to watch. Enjoy!
Amazonas
Amazonas, appropriately enough, has capoeiristas moving in ways that imitate rainforest animals, as well as more domestic types. It was created by Mestre Camisa of ABADA Capoeira, and is played to Mestre Bimba’s toque of the same name. It was my friend’s idea to write this post topic, but this video she sent me was the inspiration for actually doing so! It’s one of my favourites, and one of the coolest capoeira videos I’ve ever seen. It’s just so creative, and it’s amazing what people can do with their bodies. (I know that applies to capoeira in general, but somehow it really hit me with this video.)
Jogo de Dinheiro
Jogo de dinheiro, or the “money game”, involves two capoeiristas playing each other with a bill or handkerchief full of coins or money placed in the centre of the roda. The goal of the game is to pick up the money with your mouth, as reminded by the song lyrics in Apanha Laranja: “harvest the orange not with your hands, but with your feet and mouth (’beak’)”. One source mentioned this was how capoeiristas sometimes battled for their earnings after busking on the streets. This video is from a Senzala group in Croatia, and just plain fun! I love seeing how all the capoeiristas block each other from getting the money.
Jogo de Dentro
Jogo de Dentro (”Inside Game”) is generally known as the close (or closed) game where capoeiristas play low, tight and as closely to each other as possible. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any videos that for sure showed jogo de dentro being played, so instead here’s a video of Mestre Jogo de Dentro, moreover who is playing Mestre Moraes. Plenty of sweet “gotcha” moments in this one!
Miudinho
Miudinho is a particular type of close, tight game of capoeira created by Mestre Suassuna. In his words:
“The game of miudinho is generating controversy because it is being misinterpreted. People are thinking it’s a new capoeira, and it’s nothing like that. I simply rescued an older capoeira, modernized the manner of playing it, changed the sequences… the name miudinho arose because I was observing that capoeiristas were playing very distant from each other and in our time we played very close; thus, I said to people, ‘I want the game more minute, closer, play very tiny.’ Then, I created a toque on the berimbau. Miudinho is not a new capoeira, it’s a different manner to display capoeira. Just like the games of Iuna and São Bento Grande exist, the game of miudinho exists.”
The capoeira jogo in this video seems a little more acrobatic than I would’ve expected miudinho to look like, but it’s still really cool. Another video’s description mentioned how a lot of movements in miudinho are supposed to be more circular than normal so as to fit within a tight space.
I hope you enjoyed finding out about and watching these samples of “creative capoeira”. :D If you know of any more capoeira game variations or find cool capoeira videos that do a little something different, please share it with us!
(Click on image for full readability; you may need to click again on next page to zoom in!)
Following up yesterday’s post, here are a few forró dance and music videos to go along with it!
This is a fun/offbeat music video of “Asa Branca”, Luiz Gonzaga’s most famous and successful hit. It’s a rendition by Forró in the Dark featuring David Byrne, and is sung in English but keeps the original, familiar music and melody!
Another fun video showing a couple really dancing it up. I’m not sure exactly what style of forró this falls under, but it’s fast and energetic. It also very clearly blurs the line between sensual and sexual (note the non-existent skirt, innuendo, and gyrating), but you can’t say they don’t have skill. XD
Finally, a slightly more formal/”professional”/technical sample, demonstrating the baião style of forró:
A while ago I wrote about Mestra Paulinha, co-founder and sociologist of Grupo Nzinga, but somehow left out videos of her playing. The following angola videos feature her, and thank you to Steven for the links!
This is a really old video of Mestra Paulinha playing João Pequeno! If you don’t want to wait through the introductory music, the actual playing starts at about 1:50.
This next video takes place in Costa Rica, with Mestra Paulinha playing capoeira in a roda with a FICA student.
Although I’d be more than happy to describe every moment of the event for you, I figured acting on “a picture is worth a thousand words” would not only be more effective, but much more appreciated by your eyes! Enjoy (and hover for captions)!
Mestres Take the Day
Let’s Play!
Playas in the Club
Atavism
The Beat Goes On
This was a post I saw on Chan’s Soul Capoeira Blog/Site a while ago, and I’ve been meaning to appropriate it every since! I think I agree with his views when it comes to all-women rodas, etc., for fairly obvious reasons, but I also feel I need to do more thinking through of the matter, too. However, I’ll save that for some time later down the road. For now, witness some real mandingueiras in action!
Part 1
Part 2
Here is a short clip of Mestra Jararaca playing, in an old video from 1997. Thanks again to Shayna for the link!
Running Commentary