The Big Hits

I just came back from Seattle (Grupo Candeias – Professor Fenix) and have a variety of videos.  I figured I’d put one together of the “greatest hits” ha!

Park Day: End of Roda

Mestre recently has been ending our classes with a spark of Maculele.  The entire class joins, and sometimes.. rotates to the right.  It’s amazing how fast even the new people pick up the steps and movement when it’s done together, and regularly.  After Maculele, he usually brings the drum beat down, we sit down in the roda and have a wind down, announcements, and then finally, we stand to join our hands together baseball-team-style and shout axé!

Old School

Time to time, I like watching this video – it reminds me of the joy of just trying to do the things you never imagined you can do.

I gotta say… today.. I can do that Au Cortado!

Workshop 2005

The reason I spent years not wanting to throw a kick at our Mestre….

Essa Arte

Cuiabá 2009 (Special Guest Mestre Barrão)

Mestre sang a song in roda the other day and it shot me back to a roda I was in, the warmth of the roda and hearing it sung by the person who wrote it, Mestre Barrão.

Essa arte me encanta
Eu não quero mais sair
Oh! Bendita capoeira
Que vem dos nossos ancestrais
Salve, salve o meu mestre
Que me ensinou o A B C
Deus lhe salve, Deus lhe ajude.
Nunca mais vou lhe esquecer
Cada salto é umas reza
Cada reza é uma canção.
E o que faz levar vantagem
É a malícia do negão.
Essa ginga incendeia
Um coração de uma donzela.
Entre as pedras preciosas
A capoeira é a mais bela

(Eu vou girar!)
Vou girar o mundo
Vou girar o mundo
Vou girar o mundo
Vou girar, vou girar, vou girar o mundo.

Shoes Part 2

Saucony Bullet, Vibram Five Fingers, Champion

For those of us who’ve played Capoeira for a few years, we know.. the hunt for the perfect Capoeira shoe is always on.  I played barefoot for years and it’s still my preferred way to play, but sometimes, I need shoes.  Particularly at one of our locations, where the floor is slick and the coldness of it causes my feet to cringe and cramp.

Over the past year I’ve tried three different shoes:  the Vibram Five Fingers Sprint (~$60), Saucony Bullet ($20-Ross) and Champion (Payless-$20).   Yeah, I know.. what about Puma?  I’m tired of their look, their style and I haven’t been able to find low form ones with the right amount of support and grip.  They have some real low ones that just seem like mesh tied together.  Bah.

The Champions, yes the cheapies from Payless, actually worked out quite well and were quite comfy!  I was very suprised, and even the style looked good with the uniform, I got quite a few comments.  I had two problems with them, though.

The first was that they couldn’t “tie” strong enough.  After a couple of weeks they stretched out and there wasn’t enough velcro on it for me to really tug and fasten it tight enough.   This contributed to the second problem, my foot sliding out the back and the shoe coming off.  This is a HUGE problem with some of the low profile shoes.  They’ll fit great and have the perfect grip for stretching and spinning.  Then, you get into the roda, for example, and do a switch from negativa to compasso and well.. either the shoe stays behind or.. it goes flying at someone.  Luckily, mine stayed behind – I was playing Mestre.  We had to have a bit of a negotiation at the top of the roda for me to get my shoe back, but it would have been much worse had it flown at his face.

Vibram Tear on Big Toe

Before the Champions, I bought the Vibram Five Fingers.  They worked out great for a bit, but the grip near the top ended up being too much, particularly on spin kicks.  Everytime I spun, they had a bit of traction and finally something had to give.  Over time, the big toe started to peel off.  Apparently, I wasn’t the only Capoerista this happened to.  I went to a roda and saw another student with athletic white tape *over* his Vibrams, covering the same tear around his big toe.

Finally, the Saucony’s.  I had bought some other Saucony’s (Original Jazz I think) that I thought looked ok on Amazon, but ended up having a much too high heel and the sole too prickly.  The other day at Ross, though, I saw some wack colored ones for $20 that were the perfect low profile (Saucony Bullet).  I’ve done my first week with them, in training, in a brutal warm up, and thru a few games in the roda and they held up NICE!

Saucony Bullet

The laces have the advantage of being able to loosen and tighten them as needed during class and they have a especially high eyehole that goes to the ridge of the shoe.  The inside back doesnt have that poof on the achilles heel that I think sometimes causes space and helps the slide out.  So far.. So good!

Negro Nao Quer Mais Sofrer

The 2nd verse really pulls me in, but it’s the third verse I really like; particularly the first two lines:

Ai meu Deus o que eu faço
A imagem não se apagou
Até hoje nessa vida
A escravidão não se acabou
Ô-ô-ô , Ô-ô-ô , Ô-ô-ô Ô

My favorite is Mestre Museu’s singing of: “Ai meu Deus o que eu faço!”  ah! Definately worth repeating!

O Vento Que Vento No Mar

(sung by Mestre Demétrius)

O vento que venta no mar,
Traz a sereia pra me ver cantar…oh!
O vento que venta no mar,
Traz a sereia pra me ver cantar…oh!
Oi o canto que eucanto na roda,
é pro capoeira jogar,
o capoeira é um cabra forte,
que jogadentro no olhar,
na cantiga ele manda mensagens,
no coração algo ele tem pra lhe dar,
ele aceita qualquer desafio,
porque não tem medo de lutar,
porque vale a pena correr o risco,
para seu grande amor não abandonar…oh!
O vento que venta no mar,
Traz a sereia pra me ver cantar…oh!

Open roda em Cuiaba circa 2002