Bahia Comenca Com B

We sing "Bahia Comenca com B, Bahia temina em IA." Well duh. I think it's rather obvious the word begins with 'B' and ends with "ia." But on to the good stuff...

Bahia is one of the 26 states in Brazil where Capoeira is played. What is capoeira you ask? Have you ever played the game Tekken? Well then you've answered your own question...

Capoeira began over 400 years ago. It was a form of self defense for slaves against their owners. They disguised the mixed martial art to appear as a dance so that they wouldn't think anything of it. When capoeiristas play, they do so in a "roda" pronounced joda. Which really just means circle in Portugese. When you "buy the game" and decide to play with someone, you usually incorporate several kicks, esquivas, and aus. Forgive me, I forgot how to make accents on this keyboard. But in any case, music is very important while were playing. We play instruments such as the berimbau, the atabaque, the pandeiro, and the agogo. The berimbau controls the other instruments, and also the tempo of the roda. We also sing. It's really fun.

Lastly, what most people don't know is that there are two main styles of capoeira. In Kari's class we play capoeira regional. Additionally, there is another style called angola. Mestre Bimba developed capoeira regional. It is fast paced, opposed to angola which is much slower but doesn't involve as much acrobatics. Angola was developed by Mestre Pastinha.

A blogger once said "If one picture is worth a thousand words, one capoeira roda is worth a thousand articles." I couldn't agree more. Here are some photos..

To the left, one capoeirista is flipping, whereas the other is esquiva-ing decida basica so that he doesn't get hit. (capoeira regional)

In this photo to the left, they are playing capoeira
angola, and as you can see the game is much closer.

I hope that you have learned more about Capoeira, and also about the class. I hope that more underclassmen join so that when the seniors leave they can also train. I am excited for the next batizado in June, so I can get a new cord. :D