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What do you have to do to learn Capoeira? Carrie, from the lifebyte house in Liverpool,
came down to London to take the Capoeira initiation challenge. |
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| On a cold night, the Brixton Rock dance studio witnessed Carrie O'Brien's Capoeira debut. 'I'm a bit nervous,' Carrie confessed before starting. 'I've been doing Irish dancing for years, but from what I've seen on the telly and what Ed's [the instructor] doing over there, there don't seem to be any similarities.'
She's not wrong. Any thoughts of Michael Flatley are quickly
banished when Ed starts the class with some of the basic
chants used in Capoeira to bring the group together and get people to
appreciate the collaborative nature of the sport.
The chants are accompanied by instruments
that have their own Capoeira names, some familiar, some not so familiar to the
European eye. It certainly gets Carrie's attention, as she attempts chant recital
whilst clapping in time and she becomes further involved as Ed gets her banging
on the Pandeiro (tambourine).
The physical side begins with a series of exercises that re-acquaint you with
muscles
that you'd forgotten you had. After a series of leaps, squat thrusts (sort of),
star jumps and other taxing routines, Carrie is feeling the pace and becomes slightly
scared at the prospect of trying out of the kicks
and moves that are now being executed in front of her.
'After the exercises my legs were really tired and it was a struggle to get to grips with the basic Ginga. But once I remembered the sequence of the steps, it was easier to start trying to do the kicks.'
What we all want to know is whether it's any good. Will Carrie be doing it again? 'I don't know of any classes in Liverpool. If there are I'd definitely go because I'd like to get good at this, although I think that it would take a while to get as good as Ed.'
So lifebyte positively endorses Capoeira as a superb martial art and urges the lot of you to start chanting, dancing and playing South America's finest sport.
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