Capoeira - (Contributor: Daniel C. Sobral)

Intro:
This is a very acrobatic, very energetic Brazilian martial art.

Origin: Angola and Brazil.

History:
Capoeira is the common name for the group of African martial arts that came out of west Africa and were modifed and mixed in Brazil. These orginal stlyes inculded weapons, grappling and striking as well as animal forms that became incorpated into different components and sub styles of the popular art.
In the 1500's, black slaves from Africa were used in Brazil to build the empire of the sugar cane. These slaves lacked a form of self-defense, and in a way quite parallel to Karate, they developed a martial-art with the things they had in hand, namely, sugar cane knives and 3/4 staffs. Being slaves, they had to disguise the study of the art, and that is how the dance came into it. Their hands were manacled for most of the time, so the art uses a lot of standing on the hands feet up, and some moves are directed to fighting mounted enemies.
In the early 1800's Capoeira was outlawed in Brazil, especially in its "home state" of Bahia, where gangs utilized it as their personal fighting style against police.
Capoeira was born in the "senzalas", the places where the slaves were kept, and developed in the "quilombos", the places where they used to run to when they fled from their enslavers.

Description:
Capoeira consists of a stylized dance, practiced in a circle called the "roda", with sound background provided by percussion instruments, like the "agogo", the "atabaqui", etc. The "Berimbau" is a non-percussion instrument that is always used on rodas.
Capoeira relies heavily on kicks and leg sweeps for attacks and dodges for defenses. It is not uncommon to not be taught any kind of hand strike of parry, though arm positioning for blocks is taught.
The "ginga", the footwork of Capoeira, consists in changing the basic stance (body facing the adversary, front leg flexed with body weight over it, the other leg strechted back) from the right leg to the left leg again and again.
Capoeira also puts a heavy emphasis on ground fighting, but not grappling and locks. Instead, it uses a ground stance (from the basic stance, you just fall over your leg stretched back, flexing it, and leaving the front leg stretched ahead), from which you make feints, dodges, kicks, leg sweeps, acrobatics, etc.
Hand positioning is important but it's used only to block attacks and ensure balance, though street fighting "capoeiristas" use the hands for punches.
When fighting, it is rare to stop in one stance, and in this case, you just "follow" your opponent with your legs, preventing him from getting close, or preparing a fast acrobatic move to take advantage when he attacks. The rest of the time, you just keep changing stances, feinting, and doing the equivalent of boxing "jabs".

Training:
After a through warm-up, standing exercises are done, with emphasis on the "ginga", the footwork characteristic of the art, and on the basic kicks: "bencao", a front-stomping kick, "martelo", a roundhouse kick, "chapa", a side-kick, "meia-lua", a low turning kick, "armada", a high turning kick, "queixada", an outside-inside crescent kick. Then walking sequences are done, with the introduction of sommersaults, backflips and headstands, in couples and individual. Some more technical training follows, with couples beginning a basic and slow "jogo", and then the whole class forms and goes for "roda" game for at least 30 minutes.
Capoeira conditions and develops the muscles, especially the abdominal muscles.

Sub-Styles:
Regional - Capoeira in a more artistic, open form, giving more way to athletic prowess and training.
Angola - a more closed, harder style that is closest to the original African systems that came to Brazil.
Iuna - a totally athletic and artistic form of the art, where the couple inside the "roda" play together, as opposed to one against the other.