Capoeira is joy, it is good humor, it is not that competition business; it is spontaneity. –Mestre Suassuna
Emily O'Dell
(Photo:
The best time is now,
the most beautiful space is inside your heart,
the greatest virtue is the truth.
– Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha
To my surprise, I started my week off just right, with some morning capoeira. Capoeira music was playing in the background while I was waking up–and before I knew it, I was up and practicing my moves, singing along, and greeting this morning with a dance and a smile. How can that music not help but bring a smile?
Even if you’ve never tried practicing the moves of this amazing Afro-Brazilian art, just putting on some capoeira music in the morning (on youtube) can help get you out the door, and make you feel like you’re dancing all day.
(Photo: Emily O'Dell)
Capoeira is a game, it is dance, it is fight, it is of war and it is of peace, it is of culture, of music, it is a portion of things.
– Mestre Suassuna
The picture at the top was taken in the White Valley of Cappadocia in Turkey–when I felt like adding some vertical dimension to that dazzling stone surface. What’s beautiful is that capoeira these days is everywhere–I’ve played and trained in Russia (left), Colombia (pictured above), and Greece–and even had the opportunity to teach it in Egypt. So if you want to learn capoeira, there’s probably a place and teacher nearby to teach you. In the meantime, if you need an instant pick-me-up–turn on some capoeira music online–and start activating your inner fighter, dancer, artist–and trickster.
A venerable capoeirista once said to me: “I wished to be a dancer and I could not be. Today I dance in capoeira. I wanted to be a fighter, so I now fight in capoeira. Because I want to be an artist and express myself, have self-esteem, and be a real human being, I am a capoeirista.” For us capoeiristas, the play of capoeira transcends each occasion of its actual performance and translates to every moment in life. Capoeira is not a costume to be worn and taken off according to the situation or tournament. It is our own skin. We carry it all the time. We are cats, rats and monkeys, ferocious and gentle beasts in cavalcade through the many rodas of life. We are clowns, masters and slaves of the art who regain the freedom of ourselves only when cooked in the cauldron of Medea–which is the play in the capoeira circle.
— Mestre Accordeon
