Discover the benefits that capoeira offers to the bodies and minds of elderly people. Carlos Alberto Rosa (Mestre Rosa) of Grupo Barauna is working with older capoeira students in Mogi das Cruzes, Sao Paulo.

How did you get the idea to teach capoeira to the elderly?

It started because I had many parents of my students who would come and watch the classes, wanting to take up some physical activity – but they thought they could never do capoeira. We had a meeting and agreed that capoeira would be very good for older people, because it could be taught as recreation. So we began a capoeira group with this goal in mind. Today, it has 20 members.

What teaching methods do you use?

We emphasize the full range of each movement. Because elderly people often feel “old.” So we have them work the full range of each movement in order to help them value their own bodies. We work with recreation, playing around, joking with the song lyrics. We begin the physical movements with simple somersaults, so that the students can re-discover their own bodies. In peoples’ later years, they often forget to continue physical activities.

What benefits does capoeira offer the elderly?

One of them is psychological, because older folks feel forgotten by society. Then they discover capoeira, and it changes their lives. Their behavior changes, and they begin to feel useful. There’s also the physical part – the benefit of increased balance, flexibility, and muscle tone. The students begin to do movements that they thought they could never do, and this gives them more confidence in life.

What style of capoeira is taught?

My group is Regional, and I only teach Angola after the 3rd cord, because Angola is a matter of feeling and tradition. In order to train Angola, a student has to really enjoy capoeira and feel it deeply, not just go through the motions. But with elderly people, our work is different. The first thing I teach is the relaxation, and then the musicality, and finally the movements. After they begin to do some movements of Regional, then we teach them floor movements. I teach Angola to elderly people, because we concentrate more on the playfulness of the art. It’s a project that’s separate from all the other ones in our group. Everything is different – from the movements, to the methodology, to the way of explaining things.

Do your older students participate in batizados?

They have in the past, but not this group of elderly students.  We took two or three students and baptized them together with the other students. We’re thinking of doing a special batizado for our elderly students in the future, where they perform samba de roda and maculele, and play instruments.

What precautions must be taken for an elderly student practicing capoeira?

It is like working with children; there are many of the same precautions: taking care that they don’t get hurt, overstretch or overexert themselves. Everything must be done carefully.

Watch some videos of older students playing capoeira:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BrNyOw8Afg
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1H5cUmKbbM