| Many of you out there may be wondering 'what | | | | mesmerised by the movements of a capoeira |
| is capoeira?' Capoeira is part dance, part martial | | | | routine - only to be struck by a surprise attack |
| art that was created by the slaves of Africa | | | | from your opponent. |
| around the 1500's and imported to Brazil (where it | | | | The main problem with it, however, is that it's |
| was taken on by the Brazilians as their own). | | | | incredibly tiring (since you're constantly moving) |
| It is usually performed to music, and usually | | | | and you need an amazing amount of stamina to |
| involves the participant swaying from one foot to | | | | be able to do it for any meaningful period of time. |
| the other whilst pivoting their arms around their | | | | The word 'capoeira' actually is a direct translation |
| body. As a martial art, capoeira is one of the | | | | of 'chicken coop' (in Portuguese) and gets its |
| most entertaining to watch since it often involves | | | | name from the so called 'chicken fights' that |
| people doing flips and all manner of gravity-defying | | | | Brazilian people used to organise. |
| feats. | | | | Fans of 'Tekken' will be somewhat more familiar |
| The strength of capoeira as a martial art comes | | | | with capoeira, since anyone who's ever played as |
| in its unpredictability. Back when it was used for | | | | the character Eddy Gordo in the Sony PlayStation |
| fighting almost no-one had ever seen anything like | | | | game series will know that his fighting style is |
| it (and many people still haven't) so you certainly | | | | based 100% around the dancing martial art, and |
| had the element of surprise on your side. In | | | | most of his moves and attacks originate from |
| addition to this, it is very easy to become | | | | the most basic of capoeira movements. |