Life is a struggle? Life is a battle?
The player sees that capoeira is teaching him to dance within and
during this fight.
Nestor Capoeira
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Eu sou mestre que aprende, [I am a master that learns,]
Disciplo que da licão. [And a student who teaches.]
Old capoeira song
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What does it mean (to me) to be a capoeirista?
Someone put this question to me recently, so here's what I came up
with:
= To play with and enjoy the energy of your camaradas.
= To conduct yourself well in the roda and in the world.
= To respect your fellow capoeiristas and all other people.
= To be always learning and growing.
= To face your fears and weaknesses, and overcome them.
= To keep a cool head under pressure.
= To be ready to fight if you have to.
= To oppose oppression and strive for freedom.
= To learn about the history, traditions and philosophy of capoeira.
= To express yourself through your body.
= To train hard and push yourself beyond perceived limits.
= To experience Afro-Brazilian culture.
= To share knowledge.
= To be a musician and a singer.
= To be wary, cunning, playful, courageous, shrewd, spontaneous,,
unpredictable, ready.
= To flow.
= To avoid arrogance, envy, loss of temper.
Marimbondo
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For thousands of years, survival was linked to our ability to kill
and destroy. Today and in the future, survival will depend on our
capacity to live in peace with other men and with nature. Modern man
needs to reprogram his mind. He needs to channel in another direction
the energy used in war and in the killing of other men and animals.
We think capoeira can make a contribution to this process.
Nestor Capoeira
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Once upon in time, someone asked Pastinha
What was capoeira
The old and respected master
Kept silence for a moment
Searching his soul
Then answered calmly
Singing a ladainha
Capoeira is a game
It's a toy
It's to respect (your) fear
And to measure well (your) courage
It's a fight
It's a mandingueiro's trick
It's the wind in the boat
It's the lament in the senzala
It's your body having the chills
It's a well played berimbau
The laugh of a little kid
Capoeira is the flight of a bird
It's the attack of coral snake
[It's] feeling in the mouth
The sour of danger
And smile at your enemy
Shake his hand
It's Zumbi's shout
Echoing in the quilombo
It's stand up from a fall
Before touching the ground
It's hatred
It's just borned hope
The slap that hit the face
And hurt the heart
It's, after all
To accept the challenge
With desire to fight
Capoeira is just a little boat
Alone in the sea waves
Mestre Toni Vargas
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Na roda de capoeira, [In the capoeira roda]
Grande e pequeno sou eu. [Both great and small am I]
Mestre Pastinha
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Capoeira is the culture of the oppressed!
Nestor Capoeira
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Quem aguenta tempestade e rochedo. [Only cliffs face the tempest]
Mestre Bimba
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Valente nao existe [The fearless don't exist]
Old capoeira saying
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...Capoeira can be a tool in the First World, a tool against the
forces that tend to turn people into robots that do not think, do not
wish, do not have any fantasies, ideals, imagination or creativity; a
tool against a civilisation that increasingly says one simply has to
work and then go home and sit in front of a TV with a can of beer in
hand, like a pig being fattened for the slaughterhouse.
Nestor Capoeira
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A good capoeirista of course likes everything of capoeira: the beats,
the berimbau, the game; everything else is secondary. Today a lot of
capoeiristas are very arrogant, vain and these are negative aspects.
A good capoeirista is humble, polite and he knows that all the other
capoeiristas are brothers and human beings.
Mestre Suassuna
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Bater papo com otario e jogar conversa fora
[Chatting with a fool is a waste of words]
Old capoeira saying
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