Saturday, February 17, 2007

Capoeira

Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that was created by African slaves in the 16th century, and it's my son's newest passion (Bee enjoys it too, but not like he does). It combines sparring, dancing, singing, drumming, high kicks and acrobatics - what more could a seven year old boy ask for?

If you've heard the Mazda car ads with the song "Zoom, zoom, zoom", you've heard a traditional Capoeira song. It's one that they sing in class and it's very easy to get stuck in your head for the rest of the week.

It's amazing what the instructors are able to do, things like spinning upside down on one hand with seemingly very little effort - the strength and flexibility that it requires is incredible. The women who do it are an inspiration, and the men - well, as one dad put it upon sitting in on a class for the first time, "I can see why it's standing room only with the moms.".

Ridiculous, we're only there to support our kids, honest. ;D

To learn more about Capoeira, click here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've seen this on television. It's amazing!

I'm sure my son would love it too.

Portrait of Peter said...

I remember seeing the ad and the music is the type that kinda stays with you.

It looks fun too for the kids.

hestiahomeschool said...

Our family trains in Aikido, a Japanese martial art. One of our sensei also trains in your martial art. It is very lovely, and the reason it developed (slaves practising their martial art in secret) is also very inspiring!

http://journals.aol.com/hestiahomeschool/HomeschoolingJournal/