Paulo is right, it is a martial art, but personally as a capoeirista I’m proud to say it’s also a dance and that’s why I love it! For me, the dance side is far too often neglected, and has been more and more sidelined over the years because of a modern stigma attached to the term in Capoeira communities. I think it’s a kind of machismo because dance is often seen as feminine, somehow detracting from Capoeira’s ‘toughness’ or martial effectiveness. It makes me sad because it’s a very limited view of what ‘dance’ is.

Other capoeiristas out there, ask yourselves what you love most about Capoeira: do you talk about the strength of the kicks, the take-downs, it’s effectiveness in attack and defense? Or do you talk about self-expression, flow, the beauty of the movements, theatre, malandragem, mandinga, music, rythym, or any of the ritualistic aspects (like the ‘roda’)? These latter things in my view are all related to dance more than martial arts and are present in many other African and Brazilian dance forms (like samba, lundu, the dances of the orixás). So, how many of you would still be attracted to Capoeira if these ‘dance’ elements were missing? And therefore, by my definition, how many of you are actually ‘dancers’ rather than ‘martial artists’?

And hey!! those are my favourite sayings too!!

Thanks for your interest in the SambaJozi post!

Please contact Chris Bicourt on 076 591 7450 or alternatively via email on sambajozi@gmail.com but we are pretty certain that the information on times and days is up to date.

Enjoy!

Regards,
Nandi