{"id":44,"date":"2010-08-04T13:32:56","date_gmt":"2010-08-04T13:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=44"},"modified":"2012-09-04T14:07:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T14:07:00","slug":"capoeira-artistic-militarization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/capoeira-artistic-militarization\/","title":{"rendered":"Capoeira: Artistic Militarization"},"content":{"rendered":"

By GiGi Olorga<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Eileen Tan, writing for Media G8way Corp.’s Enterprise Magazine<\/em>, interviewed advertising agent Kandice Teng about Capoeira, her reaction was definitive: \u201cCapoeira is about commitment,\u201d she says.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Meaning, \u201cthe kind of dedication that Capoeira demands is something that is not to be taken lightly. (While the steps) may look easy, but the mid-air acrobatics and graceful kicks executed by Capoeiristas are not learned overnight, or even after attending a few sessions at the Dojo Gym in the Manila Polo Club where classes are offered four times a week. They are a product of long, hard work.\u201d
\nAnd hard work is what Capoeira is.<\/p>\n

Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art (initially developed by African slaves in Brazil starting sometime during the colonial period in the later part of the 1400s) largely known for its fluid acrobatic play since its techniques and strategies seemingly blend dancing. Informal at first, Brazilian Mestre Bimba (born Manuel dos Reis Machado, 1900-1974), a mestre (master practitioner) of the Capoeira, is mainly credited with \u201cformalizing\u201d the sport \u2013 dubbed as the Father of Modern Capoeira, Bimba founded the first Capoeira school, the Academia-escola de Capoeira Regional, in 1932 at the Engenho de Brotas in Salvador, Bahia.<\/p>\n

For a time, Capoeira was just practiced on the streets of Brazil, with members of the upper class Brazilian society of that time discriminating against the sport \u2013 something that Bimba is said to have changed by setting new standards for the art, e.g. developing a Capoeira teaching method that includes commandments, principles and traditions that, even now, are still part of the curriculum of those teaching Capoeira.<\/p>\n

But things have been changing for Capoeira, as it has been popularized by such films as Charlie\u2019s Angels, Ocean\u2019s 12, and Catwoman, among others.<\/p>\n

This is, largely, because Capoeira, deemed complicated, is said to be simpler than perceived \u2013 e.g. the lack of knowledge in both dance and martial arts does not in any way prevent anyone from getting into Capoeira since students are slowly introduced to the martial art, with warm-up exercises accompanied by music done before the sequences\u2014a series of attack and defense moves\u2014start.<\/p>\n

A focus on the benefits shows such pluses as: self-defense, since Capoeira is, after all, a martial art; physical changes (Capoeira encourages one to be \u2018clean\u2019 because even smoking, drinking and sleeping late at night limit you \u2013 so that Bimba\u2019s teachings stress for capoeiristas to stop smoking and drinking since they interfere with a player\u2019s performance); and openness of the mind, with a better understanding of cultural and spiritual contexts.<\/p>\n

In search of an artistic form of militarization?<\/p>\n

Try Capoeira \u2013 it may just be the perfect fit.<\/p>\n

Escola Brasileira de Capoeira Philippines offers classes four times a week at the Dojo Gym in the Manila Polo Club. Weekend classes are conducted at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center in the Ateneo de Manila University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time to get into Capoeira, the Brazilian martial art (initially developed by African slaves in Brazil starting sometime during the colonial period in the later part of the 1400s) known for its fluid acrobatic play. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":45,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,35],"tags":[24,27,26],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness","category-wellness-2","tag-benefits-of-dancing","tag-brazilian-martial-art","tag-capoeira"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/60"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}