So I was reading over all the stuff about TL KnowHow and all about the ideas of sharing things you know about or love, and it occurred to me that I very seldom talk about things that aren't related to videogames on my blog. Here's a post about something else I love that I think has shaped who I am a lot more than I really give it credit for, I hope you enjoy it.
Years ago, when I played capoeira every week, I felt as though I was always meeting people who hadn’t played in years, people trying to recover the strength and flexibility that they had worked so hard for in their adult lives.
I remember watching them, with their rusty movements and their stiff joints, the hips that won’t allow for wide rotation and core strength eroded too much to move as gracefully as once they would have. How could they have let this happen to them? In my arrogance, I remember telling myself, “I will never be those people.”
I love this game, especially the playfulness of it. Most of the games you see people play on YouTube seem to be really showy, standing miles apart, very little conversation between two players, but this is the sort of game I think I wish I could see more of.
I had played with grace and vitality; I had the flexibility a couple of years of taekwon do had lent me, and spent a year or so forcing myself not to fall into familiar movements, to follow the strange arcs of movements that felt odd and unbalanced, to break the rigidity of motion it had taken so long to cultivate.
There had been no conscious decision not to play anymore, just a gradual erosion, first by late classes during college, and then by a job that required I keep hours that weren’t condusive to attending classes. Neither should have stopped me playing, but both did. I spent the best part of six years “getting around to going back,” without ever quite managing to do it.
Six weeks ago a friend mentioned that he was attending a new class. The students were all new, the class was focussed on having solid understandings and good expression. I took the opportunity to follow along. We train hard, twice a week, the classes longer than I was ever used to, but it’s worth it for the way you feel after a month or so of hard work.
This image is from The Little Capoeira Book, whose ink drawings really communicated a sense of the movement of the game to me in a time when I didn't have very much of a grounding in it. I think the little book was a big part of what made me enjoy capoeira as much as I've come to.
Before you know it, you’re standing outside the gym in the rain, the horizontal haze of it drifting in the evening breeze to head along back and shoulders, sliding down your arms along the shallow dips between muscles you didn’t have a couple of weeks ago, haven’t had in years, if you’ve had them before at all.
The rain is cool on skin so hot it doesn’t feel like it could be my own; a body shouldn’t be this hot. The chill of the night rain is welcome, so I walk home in a soaked-through tshirt, my jacket in one hand, my hair no wetter than it had been during practice, saturated with a slick of sweat, sustained exertion in too close a space. The truth is that, for all the slaps, the misses and the clumsiness, there’s no way I could do anything else and enjoy it this way.
I’ve loved it all, the twinges in my knees from a poorly balanced negativa, the stray kicks that cut in under a sloppy esquiva, and the blood blisters, picked up on varnished floors and carpets we should never have played on, but that the space demanded.
For anyone curious, here are another few games that are a lot of fun to watch.
How nice. My only "knowledge" of capoeira prior to reading this came from Tekken. I little appreciated the grace involved. There's a capoeira club down the road from me here; might just take a look next time I pass by.
On July 22 2012 00:07 Slayer91 wrote: Mind blown, probe. Still looks like a ninja or wizard to me.
I thought he actually said himself that it was a ninja :o
Very interesting blog, SirJolt. Your blogs are always just fun and interesting to read no matter the subject material. And wow, didn't know capoeira could actually build muscle that quickly. Hm. Good read as always, cool how it was concise yet still very nice.
On July 22 2012 00:15 ohsea.toc wrote: How nice. My only "knowledge" of capoeira prior to reading this came from Tekken. I little appreciated the grace involved. There's a capoeira club down the road from me here; might just take a look next time I pass by.
You absolutely should give it a try. In some ways it's very much like every other martial art. However the subtle form and refinement from other martial arts isn't as immediately appreciable as capoeira. It is "mobilis in mobili". The agility met with control in capoeira is, as written above, best described as grace.
It's both very serious and very fun. It's fantastic exercise and immediately gratifying. I grew up close to a naturalized Brazilian and with him he brought his mothers awesome recipes and his homeland-cultivated love for capoeira. It was one of the coolest parts of growing up to see and play war dances. So that's a resounding Yes! Give it a shot, you may love it.
Would someone here mind explaining to me the point of capoeira? I know it's a great work out and an awesome martial art, so I'm not bashing it. Rather, what is the goal of a game of capoeira?
On July 22 2012 06:18 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote: Would someone here mind explaining to me the point of capoeira? I know it's a great work out and an awesome martial art, so I'm not bashing it. Rather, what is the goal of a game of capoeira?
think of it as more of a dance then two people fighting. when ever i played it was just go till someone falls or messes up but its not like the other guy is trying to make this happen, we just had a lot of people waiting there turn.
On July 22 2012 06:18 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote: Would someone here mind explaining to me the point of capoeira? I know it's a great work out and an awesome martial art, so I'm not bashing it. Rather, what is the goal of a game of capoeira?
I think nowadays the point is to be fit, have fun, and build and grow a like minded community. As in all things we gravitate to things we enjoy and enjoying them with others makes it even more fun. IMO Lazer tag owns thanks NPH and my daughter<3
On July 22 2012 06:18 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote: Would someone here mind explaining to me the point of capoeira? I know it's a great work out and an awesome martial art, so I'm not bashing it. Rather, what is the goal of a game of capoeira?
For me it's the same as the goal of having a conversation with some friends or dancing with someone; you have a vocabulary of different movements that you know and enjoy, as well as challenging yourself to learn new movements. You and the other player are in a conversation, they kick, you dodge (esquiva). The aim isn't to win or to lose, but it is often to outthink the other person by understanding the way they're moving and putting them into tricky positions. In more aggressive games, that can change, but the strategic element is what I enjoy the idea of.
I'm not sure if that helps at all, but I've added another video to the post at the top that shows a few games that are a little faster
On July 22 2012 06:18 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote: Would someone here mind explaining to me the point of capoeira? I know it's a great work out and an awesome martial art, so I'm not bashing it. Rather, what is the goal of a game of capoeira?
For me it's the same as the goal of having a conversation with some friends or dancing with someone; you have a vocabulary of different movements that you know and enjoy, as well as challenging yourself to learn new movements. You and the other player are in a conversation, they kick, you dodge (esquiva). The aim isn't to win or to lose, but it is often to outthink the other person by understanding the way they're moving and putting them into tricky positions. In more aggressive games, that can change, but the strategic element is what I enjoy the idea of.
I'm not sure if that helps at all, but I've added another video to the post at the top that shows a few games that are a little faster
Haha i'd probably go insane doing this. I'd be constantly trying to win without trying to win T_T
Jul 23 16:15:37 <JangbiProbe> your opinions are all WRONG Jul 23 16:15:49 <SirJolt> Wow Jul 23 16:16:00 <SirJolt> This is why Probe1 is revered Jul 23 16:16:03 <SirJolt> master of his art Jul 23 16:16:08 <SirJolt> GM Shitposter :D
Forgive me for this M. I liked your blog but I think I tainted the responses.
i used to do capoeira when i was little, enjoyed every moment of it, it's like you said, a conversation, you dont need to talk, you just express yourself throught the movements you know, and it's a very special feeling when all of your friends are singing in a circle around you watching you game, you just feel like home, that's your family right there.
for those who ask, capoeira was created by the slaves in Brasil around 1600 a.c. so they could defend themselvs against the "capatazes" (i dont know how u call it english, but they were the ones hired by the land lords to watch the slaves work and if any didnt work, they woud beat and whip them to bleed), but, as the landlords couldn't know that they developed this fighting technique to fight against their employees (otherwise they would get punished/killed) they disguised it as a dance
it's still a very efficient fighting technique and can be used to hurt a lot (like this cute example here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQGxr7UokF0), but it is obviously wayyyy more a beautifull way to exercise and express yourself than a meaning to hurt others
i do like capoeira, dunno why i don't get back to it, maybe will
So glad to hear it; there's always a sense of background discomfort when I'm writing about a culture so far from my own
It's really nice to read it from a foreigner's point of view. I've always found it strange how some people were so fascinated about capoeira and the culture around it when I had just moved to the Netherlands. I had heard it was somewhat popular in some other countries than Brazil, but didn't really get how the groups abroad worked.
I had a Dutch colleague who was very experienced in it. Even though he had not practiced it already for a couple of years, he could still do some of the most complicated moves in a way that seemed so easy. He even brought his berimbau to the office one day. And he played it much better than I ever did. And he had the funniest capoeira apelido (nickname) ever: Fala Fina (something like high-pitched voice).
EPT
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