​Theme: Self-Control
Moves: armada/queixada (response)
​Song: (See Below)

São Bento Grande​:
São Bento Grande​, also referred to as São Bento Grande​ de Bimba is the rhythm sets regional apart from Angola. This game represents the fight of capoeira.  In this game is where you see all of the kicks and strikes that capoeira has that are seen in MMA highlight reels. It is characterized by its high velocity and explosive movements.

Another obvious difference is that São Bento Grande​ games are very short in comparison to Angola or Benguela games.  Because of the intensity of this style of play it is not possible to maintain it for an extended period of time. 

When we train São Bento Grande​ we train short explosive combinations and quick reaction time.  While we are focussing on São Bento Grande​ we will spend a lot of time cleaning up the details of our kicks to make sure we are being as efficient with our movements as possible, which in turn leads to being able to play faster. We will also spend a lot more time doing strength and cardio condition to be able to make our movements match the intensity that the rhythm is calling for. 
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​Ilha de maré is a place in Brazil.  It is a small island off of the coast of Brazil, and is part of the municipality of Salvador.  The islands economy is based on fishing, small family owned farms, and tourism.  

You hear ​Ilha de maré referenced all of the time in capoeira lyrics for several reasons.  One important reason is that it is the where one of the most influential mestres was born, Mestre Waldemar. 

Below is an excerpt from http://capoeira-connection.com/capoeira/2011/10/interview-with-mestre-waldemar/.  For more information follow the link and you can read much more about who mestre Waldemar was and why he was such an influential person in capoeira. 
 
Mestre Waldemar, who began the practice of capoeira in 1936 at 20 years old, was a student of Canário Pardo, Peripiri, Talabi, Siri-de-Mangue and Ricardo of Ilha de Maré: “I asked those men to teach me, so that I could become professional. So that I could say that I knew, and now I know. I learned capoeira,” stated the mestre. He began to teach capoeira in 1940, the year in which the demonstrations on the Estrada da Liberdade began: “Earlier, it was in open air. Later I made a shed of straw and the capoeiristas of Bahia all came there to play.”

The Batizado is an annual ceremony we have to welcome our new students officially into the group.  The term “batizado” originates in capoeira regional (the style of capoeira we play). Mestre Bimba coined the term, however, it is very different now from what the original ceremony once was.  For Mestre Bimba, it was simply the first time a new student played with a more advanced student. For us, and the majority of regional styled groups, it has become a large annual event that usually involves visiting groups and multiple mestres.  The term is the same, but the ceremony itself is completely different.
During our ceremony the “new” student plays with a graduated student, or mestre, who takes them down to the ground (carefully ;p).  This is the “baptism.” It is symbolic of the student starting from the ground up. You may not actually be taken all the way down to the ground, but rather just shown by the advanced student that they have complete control of the game...which they do no matter how sneaky you think you are being...For myself, I was not actually taken down, but rather had a kick marked on my chest.  The reason I put new in quotation marks because someone could be training for years before they actually get baptized or they may have just started. One thing to take away from our batizados is that not only is the baptism a symbol of starting from the ground up, but a way for us to show our students that they are part of our community. It is the job of the graduated student to take care of the newer student.  The graduated student may do floreios during their games with the beginner, but the real point of the baptism game is to show the new student that they are respected and will be nurtured by their peers to develop into a better capoeirista. The baptism is not there to show that one person is better than the other, it is meant to be inspirational for the beginner, and show them that is a lot to learn and they have people they can trust to help them on their way.  
The second part is called the “Troca de Cordas,” literally translated means, “changing of belts.”  We recently posted our Minnesota Capoeira Academy Cord Guidelines and Monitora Vespa wrote a really great post about what belts represent.  Please check out that blog post for more information on promotions. http://www.mncapoeira.org/blog/archives/01-2018.  
As for the ceremony itself, we are changing things up a little bit.  We want to make the ceremony our own, and not what we have always done in the past.  We want the ceremony to match up more with who we are as a group. We will talk more about this in class… suffice it to say we will be trying to make it so there is less sitting and more playing and more fun for everyone kids and adults alike!!!

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Capoeira offers so much to all of us, and means something different to us all.  A lesser important aspect of capoeira is the belt or cord level.  Capoeira is unique to many other martial arts as it is not belt driven. That is, each person's development in capoeira may look very different from the next person's, and there is not an exact set of movements or sequences that define students perfectly at each level.  Promotions occur in capoeira only once a year at most, and grow farther apart the longer a student trains in capoeira.  A student's journey in capoeira is personal and can be life long- the goal is not driven by achieving a certain belt level.  Because we know that each student sets goals for themselves, we have created a cord guideline for our group based upon three general (and broad) elements- physical movements, music, and how a student gives back to capoeira.  It is useful to see how one's training in both movements and music can progress, and how one's contributions to the development of capoeira and his/her fellow students becomes more important the higher the belt level.  Note that this guideline is for aluno students (prior and up to achieving graduado).

We have this available at the academy, but here is our working document for our guidelines and expectations.  We say "working" because it can evolve as needed.  We assume the best of everyone, and know that much of this goes without saying!  However, sometimes it can be helpful to have it written in one place to refer back to if ever needed.  We are proud of our academy and students, and these conduct rules come from what I believe we are all really doing well already, and want to keep doing!  

Theme: Safety
Moves: Au and Martelo
Songs: see below)

Sao Bento Grande- training to put on fun shows at our upcoming demonstrations

Song at 8:30

A Bananeira Caiu (repeat from August blog post!- scroll to August's post to find the lyrics and video)

* Caboclo: a person of mixed Indigenous Brazilian and European ancestry
**Popó: a nickname of a person

Theme: Gratidão / Gratitude
Moves: guarda baixa, negativa, rolê, and passagem
​Song: E capoeira (see below)

Conditioning! We will be focusing on how to make ourselves stronger, faster, and more flexible to optimize your capoeira.

We are also fortunate to train this month with Formads Colibri of Grupo Capoeira Brasil, and online with our own Mestrando Camundongo... so as the month goes on we will build our training around those classes as well.

iE capoeira e capoeira
E capoeira é capoeira

Eu me chamo capoeira
To com o berimbau na mão
se tocar cavalaria gosto de fazer canção (capoeira)

coro

Essa noite vou embora
Vou aonde a lua vai
Mais a lua vai e volta e aqui não volto mas (capoeira)

My name is capoeira
I’m with a berimbau in my hand
if cavalaria is played I like to make a song

Im going tonight
Im going to where the moon goes
But the moon comes and goes, and here i won’t return to

Theme: Determination
Groups A & B:  Ground Movement (using guarda baixa, negativa, role, passagem, etc)

Check back soon!  We will be building our training focus for the month around our class with Mestrando Camundongo on September 29th.

*A note on the word VADIAR:  This word comes up a lot in capoeira music and doesn't have a perfect English counterpart.  In capoeira it refers to the style and manner of playing and to the roda itself.  It loosely translates to fiddling around, loafing about, or wasting time.  It isn't used in a negative connotation however- it's more to say "play around" or "goof off".

**Mandinga: This word could have it's own blog post (and likely has many actually), but it refers to the deception, trickery, and magical qualities a capoeirista may have in the game.

***This is the noun form of the verb vadiar, explained above.

Theme:  Focus
Group A: armada
Group B: armada

Fundamentals