At Minnesota Capoeira Academy (the name of our brick and mortar location), we have chosen the name Capoeira Floração for our group.  Floração translates to "the period or season of flowering or blooming".  We wanted our new name to express our hopes for our students and our capoeira academy: that our new era as our own group would enable everyone to "bloom", so to speak- to become their very best, feel their very best, and have their best time doing capoeira.  It is a new time for us, and an exciting one; we can't wait to see how each of you grow, how our community and capoeira family grows, and how we grow capoeira here in Minnesota to be a life changing experience that is inclusive and accessible to all.

You may also have noticed our new logo!  
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Keeping along with our theme of growth- we centered our logo with a tree.  We chose to include the roots in our logo as well- even though we are growing and branching out, we always want to remember our roots in capoeira and where we came from.  That has given us a solid base to grow from.  The words "comunidade", "familia", and "cultura" are written along the bottom- these three things we also believe are at the foundation of what we do- they are what we value, what holds us up, and what we want to continue to grow.

Thank you Garnise (Rodrigo Lopez) for drawing and designing with Coruja and Vespa.

Theme: humility/humildade

Moves:
Group A: cocarinha, negativa, role

Group B:​ sit down in negative, role, macaco

Song: A Palma de Bimba... kids need to know the response, which is, "E um, dois tres" (it's one, two, three).  See below for more information about this song.

author: Coruja

A toque used for the not often seen 'money', game where the players try to pick up a coin purse placed in the center of the roda with their mouths.  In addition to the picking up of money people are also known to use items like caixixis.  This was also a rhythm played for people to play a game where they would place a ‘navalha’ (knife) between their toes while playing.   
This jogo (game) has a different feel than other capoeira rhythms like Benguela or Sao Bento Grande de Bimba because you are trying to win by picking something up.  This jogo has an end where Benguela and Sao Bento do not necessarily.  That being said it is important to remember when playing this game that there is more to winning than just picking up the item.  If you watch the video linked above you see that the two players are moving withTONS of expression.  When you play this game part of it is to also try and use as much expression in your movements to throw off your partner so you can sneak around them to get to the item.  You also see the two players stopping each other by blocking each other with their feet or head.  There is even one point where you see the one person use his head to hold the others head on the ground so he can’t pick up the caixixi… pretty crazy move if you ask me, but in this you can see that they are playing a very specific way.  They aren’t striking each other, like you see in Benguela or Sao Bento, but rather they are trying to utilize their kicks and movement to inspire the other player to move a certain way to create an opening for going in for the item.  This is an extremely helpful way to think about training and playing because it transfers to how you would play during Angola, Benguela, or Sao Bento in that you would be, if you want, connecting those kicks instead of just using them to inspire a reaction.  
The jogo de Santa Maria is helpful to understand and be able to play because it teaches you how to play with a goal in mind, but also teaches you how to occupy another person’s space to make them move where you want them to.  Vice versa, it also teaches you how to react appropriately when you are being challenged by someone who is trying to crowd you or make you move where they want you to go.  It teaches you to be mindful of your entire surroundings because if you get too focussed on just going after the item you wind up with a foot in your face.  In order to play a good Santa Maria game you have to be able to play with a goal, but not lose sight of the bigger picture, which is to have a coherent/connected game with your partner.
Another phrase used to describe this type of playing is “jogo de dentro” (game of inside or playing on the inside).  What this describes is how the two players never move away from each other, but are always trying to move through the other or around while staying as close as possible.  If you pay attention to the video you can see that the two players are never more than a couple inches away from each other at any given time.    

The melody imitates the corrido Santa Maria, Mãe de Deus. The corrido Apanha Laranja no Chão Tico Tico (não leva com mão, só com pé ou com bico) gives general rule for the game: use your mouth and feet, not your hands.

Song with other lyrics:
Apanha laranja no chao tico tico
Se meu amor for si embora eu nao fico
Apanha com a mao ou com pe ou com bico
translation:
grab the orange from the ground tico tico (tico is the sound of the berimbau)
if my love went away I will not stay.
Grab it with your hand or your foot or your mouth

​Below is an example of a Santa Maria game (Abada Capoeira, Mestre Camisa)