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 ...To win your love I tried mandinga
Learning capoeira ginga
Till I swept you off your feet
And faster set your heart to beat...
(After Verdade: By Nelson Rufino & Carlinhos Santana)
The words ginga and rasteira conjure up images of capoeira. They are the basic pattern and most familiar move identified everywhere with this form. Even in hit songs, like Verdade, sung by Zeca Pagdinho. Ginga is that rhythmic motion from which capoeira practitioners make their attack and defense moves, whereas a sweep (rasteira) is a takedown move in which your feet are swept from under you.
To understand nomenclature, that is, capoeira terminology, it helps to understand its origins and direction. Before the late 19th century there were no writings or depictions of capoeira, a martial style said to have been developed by Negro slaves who used it in self-defense in the struggle for freedom. |
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 Capoeira is one of the most powerful and meaningful expressions of Afro-Brazilian culture, an expression so multifaceted that it is understood as a martial style or styel of dance, as sport or pastime, with equal plausibility. How, then, are we to define such a thing?
Among the myriad features of capoeira, none has given rise to greater curiosity, more debates, opinions, storytelling, and handing down of legend through the oral tradition of popular culture than its mythical and religious side. This is one of the most important vehicles for the transmission of knowledge and wisdom. |
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If you want a speech about Capoeira Angola without touching on spirituality and ancestrality, you'd have to invite a professor of physical education, or of some other thing that isn't Capoeira Angola. My relationship with Capoeira Angola is one of pure subjectivity, and when I play, I externalize what I feel. If I don't feel anything, I'm in no condition to play Capoeira. This feeling not only affects me, but also reaches the Orixá, making him rise or fall through the toque. In the Capoeira Angola roda, we too invoke our ancestors by playing and singing. We invoke Mestre Bimba, Mestre Pastinha… they come back, they return… Mestre Waldemar, Mestre Bobó, Paulo dos Anjos, Caiçara… They come! But, just like the Orixás, they only come if their language is being spoken through the music or the lyrics. |
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When you crouch at the pé do berimbau to play, concentrate, relax the body, and, from the moment you enter the game, do not let your attention deviate from your partner. However, while you are playing, direct your gaze to the front or to the sides, appearing not to pay attention, without staring at your partner, because this will reveal your intentions. Your gaze must never fix itself on anything, although your field of vision should be the widest possible. |
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