Stacey Sheldon (Professora) and Bethney Guss (Pippi). Photos by Jerri-Jo Idarius

Musicians Bethany, Contramaestre Amunka & Stacey

The capoeira game (jojo de capoeira) takes place in a circular area called a roda pronounced “ho-da.” An ensemble of singers and musicians at the head of the circle inspires the players. The primary instrument is the berimbau—a one-stringed musical bow with a hollowed out gourd (cabaca) attached. This produces resonating tones when the bowstring is struck with a thin flexible stick. Other instruments—a small rattle (caxixi), a notched gourd that is played by scraping it with a thin stick ganza, a double-headed bell that is played with a stick or thin metal rod (agogo), a hand drum (atabaque) and tambourines (pandeiro) — accompany the singing, and the ritual begins.

Two players enter the circle and squat at the foot of the berimbau. As the players begin to interact in the circle, those around them sing, clap and play music. Capoeira becomes an improvisational conversation in which the players maneuver one another into vulnerable positions. Generally, strikes are implied and there is no contact. Only the hands, head and feet are allowed to touch the floor as the players do spontaneous cartwheels, handstands, spinning kicks and acrobatics. The free improvisation of capoeira balances fluid and graceful dance-like moves with speed and cunning. The absence of hand techniques is said to be based on an ancient kongo tradition.

Aisha: Every second I am in the capoeira class, I am conscious that I am a woman. This is primarily because capoeira was developed by men and therefore for men’s bodies. For women physically that makes it difficult and more challenging. The other day I was talking to a guy from Brazil and I asked him, “How is capoeira different in the United States?” He said that in Brazil it is acceptable for women to do dancing or music, but capoeira is a man’s sport, and the few women who participate are the “crazy girls,” the ones who don’t care what people think of them. Here in the United States, more women are doing this and are encouraged by their teachers. The primary problem women have is the physical demand on their bodies. Many women have the advantage of being naturally graceful, flexible and fluid. Back flexibility is especially helpful in capoeira, and as a generalization, I would say that men have to work harder on that. For women, the primary thing we work on is strength, especially in the upper body.
Capoeira encompasses many energies. If you had this interview with a man it would be completely different—perhaps more about fighting. Women have a natural tendency to embrace the dance side, the gymnastics and the fluidity. Girls do a lot of back bends, and guys normally jump onto their hands from a mile away and do back flips. Capoeira can be used any way you want to use it. I came straight out of a ballet class, and I was not about to turn into a warrior all of a sudden.

Beth: A few years ago, in 1994, I saw my ex-boyfriend doing tae kuon do and thought it looked cool; but when I tried it, I found it wasn’t for me. Aisha was doing capoeira and told me it was more like dance. I had taken ballet when I was little, and thought I would check it out. It was so beautiful. My sister and I began that class. Besides Aisha, we were the only women there at that time.

THE GAME

Stacey: For me the objective of Capoeira is to go into the roda, the game, and to become part of the creative process. Sound and vibration are part of that. The music and the call and response chant that accompany the games are relatively trance inducing. The repetitive pulse to the music makes me lose my sense of individuality. I join this collective sound, and then I am thrown into a game where I am interacting with another body—with another energy. Our movements aren’t choreographed. They are completely spontaneous. The patterns we create with our bodies and the movements we go through are fluid, and so familiar to me that I lose myself into a process of creativity that I don’t personally control. If I listen to the music and feel the energy of the other person, then my body knows how to respond. In that moment, I feel a buzz and a rush. I am tumbling, and the world is going upside-down and all around and I am laughing, but I am also fighting. I have gotten to an out-of-body state with this, but my teacher, Amunka at times calls me back. My guess is that he does this because I am still a beginner and I could get hurt.

Aisha: There are several types of capoeira games. Fighting games are close, with no fancy moves and more straightforward kicks. Other games involve flips, and even spinning on the head and hands. This type of game shows common influences between break-dancing and capoeira. The Angola style games are closer to the ground and require three parts of the body to touch the ground at all times—such as the head and two hands, or two feet and a hand.

Stacey: The ultimate goal of the capoeirista is to never have conflict. We don’t train to hit each other. If you see energy coming, you dodge it and move away. If you were to come after me, I would probably run, but if you trapped me, I could kick and hurt you. The slaves used this as a form of recreation, socialization and physical fitness.

Aisha: For me it is much harder to play with a beginner who is all over the place and has not developed the full vocabulary of movements. Capoeira is not choreographed, but there is a base movement and there are various kicks and moves to learn. At first you train not to hit each other and to be fluid in motion, but when a maestre plays with you, he may challenge you by reversing directions in order to keep you thinking at all times. The maestre also has to be careful not to hit you if you aren’t able to respond to his trickery. At times it is nice to go in and play with a person and not have any idea what level of belt they have achieved. The element of trickery in capoeira would not be so effective if you always showed your belt.

TEACHING AND BELTS

Beth: In November I attended a teacher training group in Berkeley where people came from all over the United States. There are academies in Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Willits and all over California. Although this art is still very male dominated, there are some women maestres in the United States. In a few more years I will become an official beginning teacher called a formado. However, I can now teach children as long as I work under a maestre.

Aisha: I have been doing capoeira on and off for six years. I went away to college for two years and have been inconsistent even when I have been here. Because of this I haven’t focused very much on belts. However, I have progressed through the years and am learning to speak Portuguese and to play the berimbau. I also taught capoeira classes to more than thirty students at Bennington College in Vermont. We didn’t have the standard instruments, but it is an artsy school and we were willing to be creative. People brought harmonicas, drums and all sorts of instruments and we had jam sessions. It worked pretty well, but it wasn’t traditional. Right now I am on a leave of absence from school. I may not be returning, so am trying to figure what college to go to next. I would like to improve my Spanish and Portuguese, to travel abroad and be a full time dancer. I also want to study medicine, teaching and physical therapy. Perhaps I will combine them to become a dance therapist. I have some decisions to make while I am on this leave of absence.

Stacey: I have been training an average of twice a week for four or five years. I’m not interested in the belt level, but I am a yellow belt. There are many different systems of ranking according to which academy you go to. Our academy has a green belt for beginners, a green and yellow belt, yellow belt, blue and green belt, yellow and blue belt, blue belt, and so forth. The white belt is equivalent to a tenth degree black belt in judo. Our teacher is a contramestre. The next level above that is maestre.

BODY COMMUNICATION

Stacey: A beautiful part of capoeira is the opportunity for creative collaboration. I work all day as a teacher where people are always using words as a way to share energy. What I like about capoeira is that I can go to classes and not talk much. We can have conversations through our bodies, or through a look. As a tribe, we are all throwing in different sounds or movements to create a group process that involves more than the interaction between the two people in the center of the circle. They are also responding to sounds of the musicians. I can be on the tambourine with its “chu-che-choom-poom, chu-che-choom-poom” rhythm, and I can make Beth kick right at that “poom” of the tambourine. She may not even be aware that it is my tambourine that’s giving her the direction for a sharp kick. I can be on the berimbau with its “bow-wow-wow, bow-wow-wow” sound and make her start swaying and become like a snake. People also use their voices and the clapping of their hands. With these we are all creating signals that make something happen.

Beth: The people who enter into the play come in spontaneously. The natural energy between some people makes interaction easy. I can tell in the first few seconds how to play with a person—if the energy is going to flow or if I have to play cautiously or be aggressive with them. I match their energy.

Stacey: I sometimes like to release the stress of work in little sparring games. I’m not malicious, but sometimes I may express a high-energy kick-kick-kick combat style. If I am in a mellower space, I like to bring the more acrobatic, graceful and slow moving qualities to the play.

SOCIETAL PROGRAMMING

Aisha: Doing capoeira, I have always been well supported as a woman; but I saw one woman get beat up on the streets of the city. She is really good, and a guy from Brazil who considered himself one of the best started ego-tripping on that and felt he needed to prove himself. He was horrible to her, and grabbed her in places he shouldn’t have, pushing her, kicking her really hard. He was out of control and really brutal.
If I tried to be a real fighter I might also run into situations where guys would be too violent with me. Luckily I am pretty mellow and am not trying to get people riled up to fight with me, but I have to be careful. However, I have to say that some women who have tried to equal themselves to men in strength have done very well. I know of one woman in New York who is very tough. I would like to challenge myself and gain that type of strength sometime in my life.

Stacey: The play of capoeira breaks down all cultural barriers, age barriers, language barriers and gender barriers. We have had students from Vietnam, Mexico, and other countries, and even when we don’t speak the same language, we can have a good time together. We have students from age nine to their fifties. You don’t have to be strong to be a capoeirista. You can create your own style.

Beth: Our society has programmed teenagers to be so self-conscious that it is hard for them to break out of gender stereotypes. They don’t want to be kicking or flying through the air or looking a little crazy. Normally it is best to start training kids before puberty—when they aren’t scared of their bodies or of what others might think. Then it is easier for them to keep going through their teen years.

Stacey: When I first started playing capoeira I tried to target the young women. I am aware of their sensitivity to the standards and ideals that society sets for them, and their tendency to lose their individuality by trying to program themselves into a cookie-cutter ideal. I teach eleventh and twelfth grade British and American literature classes at the high school, and see women in my classes who don’t have a strong sense of their physical power or intellectual prowess. They often try to make themselves invisible. I say, “Hey, come and play capoeira!” The training is beneficial in a lot of arenas in life. However, none of the young women I have talked with have been interested.
I have also tried to get friends, both male and female, to come and join. But I realize that if it is not in a person’s soul to learn this—if they don’t love and desire it on their own—then it won’t happen.
For me that love was immediate. It was similar to the first time I ever smelled sage. I was about twenty years old and was on a college campus. When I smelled the sage, I started crying because there was something so familiar about it to me. I had that same feeling and started crying when I first saw capoeira. It was like something I had been missing that I suddenly rediscovered.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Beth: I feel like I am in a family, a tribe. The energy I receive from everyone in capoeira creates a constant hum that I feel and love. If I could be at class every day I would—just to get back to that feeling. I live for that. I haven’t been able to find this experience anywhere else. In ballet and modern dance, I went through the motions of dance, but I didn’t get that feeling of connection. The energy hum is always just right there, and creates an intensity and desire to play that gets my heart racing.

Stacey: Capoeira has much to offer anyone who is willing to play—and particularly women. Women in this culture aren’t encouraged to be physically assertive. Capoeira helps us get into our bodies and to take up more space than we are usually allowed. At the high school, I look at how the men and women in my classes are in their bodies. The guys sit at their desks relaxed, with their legs apart. The women make their bodies as small as possible. Their shoulders come down to hide their chest, and they keep their legs closed like good girls. As women, we tend to hold ourselves in tiny little balls.

Capoeira reminds me to take up some space and even a little more—to be physically assertive. It also encourages me to take risks. Since playing capoeira, I am much more willing to do that and if I mess up, it’s no big deal. Girls are always saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” or “Am I getting this right?” Guys don’t care if they screw up. They just try again. With capoeira, if you have a bad game, you go back in and play again. If you mess up, it’s okay. You get another chance. For me, this translates to other areas in my life as well.

This art form also lends itself to spiritual reflection. When I play with another person, I become a mirror to them, and they become a mirror for me. I see myself more clearly because I see what kind of energy I am putting out and who I am when I play. I wouldn’t see that being just by myself.

For more information about capoeira classes and events in Ukiah, call Amunka at (707) 462-1342. A comprehensive website has been established by his teacher Bira Almeda (aka Acordeon) at website: www.capoeiraarts.com