for a brief history read about Capoeira - click on: http://www.capoeiratexas.com/history.html .
you may be wondering - why the sudden interest?
well, being self imprisoned in the house most of this week in the hope to do more studying (which i have done lah - but as always - i don't think it's enough and i'm still in an unstable state of mind in terms of whether i'm preparing adequately or etc... but been doing work nevertheless) - part of the self imprisonment rules are - i'll only go out for legitimate reasons. like when i need food. :) or like yesterday - i met up with a friend i thought i had lost. but it appears i hadn't. (let's just leave it at that.) basically, it's good news.
so, there we are, havin' dinner and talking like we've not been alienated from each other for God knows how long and she tells me that, just as i have picked up kickboxing, she's picked up capoeira and has been quite actively involved for the past 3 months. this immediately brought to mind this old memory of myself watching ONLY THE STRONG, Mark Dascascos.
i think i was only 14 and i remember thinking to myself - "Woah...cool dude..." (said in BILL & TED's Excellent Adventures tone...)
and this presented me with the perfect opportunity.
i went for the class. 1st class is free. it's situated at the area around Atria in Damansara Jaya. i loved it. i'm a very musically driven person - and as this quote suggests, "Capoeira has been described as a martial art, a dance, an art form, a form of self-defense, or any hybrid of these." therefore, it only makes sense that i should enjoy it thoroughly.
1st 20 to 30 minutes of the class was the warm up. there were a series of stretching that are - well, can be aptly described as tremendously challenging. which was then followed by 50 push ups...at 1st i thought, he said 15...but there no problem - 50 push ups - i can do now. :)
but after the push ups - we were all told to do 20 - erm - bridges? you know how you lie on your back, then you prop your whole body up with your arms and legs... now - this was tough - i think i only managed like 10 - and very, very slowly.
i learnt the GINGA (http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h96b/h9650297/cap-basics.html#ginga).
i think i learned the Meia Lua de Frente (http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h96b/h9650297/cap-basics.html#frente - illustrated above). - although, i don't remember the instructor saying anything that complicated (it was difficult to hear with the music so loud in the background) - but i definitely learned this kick lah.
the ARMADA (http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h96b/h9650297/cap-basics.html#armada - illustrated above).
i also learned like 3 'evasive' techniques - for the life of me - i cannot remember the names of right now - it's not in the site above - and i can't be arsed to go look for another one. but yeah, that's basically all i learned.
and then the class ended with what had to be more than 100 crunches, sits ups - it was all about the abs at the end. woah.
although, it has to be said, the atmosphere felt friendlier and it felt less 'uppity'. i guess that is attributed to the kind of people who were there. as opposed to my kickboxing place in hartamas, where all the people are of course very nice...just that there are also a lot of young execs on the go - and it can't be helped that ego's will definitely be in the air. but for me, it was the music and the sense of 'history' of capoeira where it was an art practiced by slaves in the beginning. i don't know.
i do know that in june, after my exams - i'll definitely be picking this up. :)
ok then.
signing off, the commonjack.
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