Capoeira is over....for this year.

Hi Everybody!

Capoeira is over for this term.... ohhh .... but it will come back and with even more strength! Probably next year, around the 11th Jan but we'll see.

I'd like to thank everybody for bringing your good energy and sharing it. This Monday's roda was very nice. You can see the pictures in the album below. Big thanks to Carol who cooked this AMAZING feijoada. Thanks again as well for your contributions (we managed to get out of red numbers :-) )  

And last but not least,  special thanks to Paul for sharing so much with us.

Have a merry Christmas and see you next year.

Roda and Feijoada

Next week: Feijoada and Rodas!!!!!!! Come, play, watch and eat!

Christmas is cold and approaching and next week is the last week for the Capoeira Angola Cambridge Society, so let's make it special. Come to watch the Roda (skip to min 3 to see the game) and eat Feijoada even if you don't play. Invite friends along! Everybody is welcome!

Monday: Movements session (19h30-20h30) + Roda (20h30-21h) + Feijoada after the roda (very nice food very typical from Brazil). The typical is a meat and beans stew with rice but we'll do some for vegetarians as well.
Wednesday: Normal class with Roda at the end as well.

Hope to see you there!

New Material!!!!! Super music!

Ey everybody,

We've got 4 nice berimbaus and a shiny silver pandeiro. All thanks to the Darwin College Student Association which managed to find some funding for us. We've got as well a brand new ghetto blaster.

The berimbaus are a gunga, a medio, and 2 violas. The pandeiro is synthetic skin and a bit heavy but sounds very good! With all that and some other instruments we have, we can set a bateria (orchestra) and do proper music sessions!

There are as well proper drums in both training spaces: conga at Darwin and proper atabaque at the Romsey Mill Centre.

All you need is good energy! (and some lyrics learned by heart if you can ;) )

Next week

Hi all,

Next Monday (7th Dec) there is no session. We thought about going to support Paul and go to see Pressure Drop. If you fancy joining, drop an email and we'll check whether there are still some tickets available.

Next Wednesday (9th Dec), session at Romsey Mill Centre @ 18h30.

Have a nice weekend

New space to train!

Hi all, good news!!!!!

We've got 2 days of capoeira for next week!

* Mondays as usual at 19h30 (but do come at 19h if you want to learn berimbau or pandeiro properly, I will be there to give personalized attention). Session as usual with music, movements and games.
* Wednesday in the Romsey Mill centre (Check the map on the right) From 19h to 20h30. Do come at 18h30 to learn bbau or pandeiro properly.It is a great space with all instruments and atabaque included! We can play some music, movements and do a proper roda!

This is thanks to Paul, from Dance Offensive, who allows us to use this space.
By the way, he has some berimbaus to sell in case somebody is interested.

Music Session this thurday!

Hi everybody!

Nice to see you all so motivated for the music! We can meet at 12h30 at Darwin reception. We will go to my house and practice till 13h30 or so (2min walking). For more infos drop an email or phone the contact on the right panel.

Please bring your instrument if you have any (berimbau, pandeiro...) AND a sandwich if you plan to eat during this time....

I enclose some lyrics, you can listen to some of them here. Can you bring a printed copy of it?

If there are different songs you'd like to learn or focus more on a special instruments, please suggest! :-)
I have a pandeiro method book, which is quite useful... we could work towards performing some samba as well! ;-P

C u on Thursday!

Last session + next session

Hi all,

Just a quick post for the ones who were there on Monday: those were the movement we practiced:

Ginga: the main dance step of capoeira
Meia Lua: litteraly half moon: the first (and easy) front standing kick
rabo de raia: stingray tail: low spining kick with hands on the ground
esquiva: mid escape movement
negativa: literally negative; lower defense
rolé: roll
aú: the kind of cart-wheel with the legs in front of you we did at the end of the class

At the beginning we played some music.
The orchestra is called bateria and he instruments are called:
berimbau
pandeiro
agogo (2 tin cans: it is supposed to be a cowbell)
reco-reco (1 tin can: also known as güiro)
we are missing the atabaque, which is like a big drum (conga-like)

The songs we sang are:
Oi sim sim sim
São Bento me chama
and can be found here

Next week we most probably sing Boa Viagem which is as well there. So you could learn it and have a go on Monday ;)

Next week, we will introduce some new movements like
Benção (front kick which projects the opponent far away ;) )
Cabeçá (headbutt)
Tisoura (scissors) done with the legs on the floor while pushing yourself with hands.
Rasteira (sweep opponent's foot)
which still are quite basic moves
And to start developping our Mandinga, (and make it more playful for our senior players ;) ) we will work on many different variations of Rabo de Raia with Rasteira, cabeçá, tisoura,.....

Solta mandinga!!!!!!

Monday's sessions! + Music sessions?....

Hi Everybody,

We finally got allocated the slot on Mondays from 19h30 to 21h in the Common room of Darwin College... although there is no problem staying a bit longer and playing some instruments!

See you there!

BTW, we had a nice almost spontaneous music session last Sunday in the Newham seminar room and then we moved to the bar, where the rhythms caused sensation ;) There is no defined schedule for the music sessions yet. I am trying to get a fix slot on the seminar 1. I like spontaneous sessions as they tend to be more energetic, so don't hesitate to drop a mail if you feel like practicing berimbau or pandeiro. 

Capoeira Angola .... happening in Cambridge

Hi out there!

I've just arrived to London and I found that there are no Capoeira Angola groups in Cambridge... so why not just create one? ;)

Why Capoeira Angola?... Very simple, because:

• it is a slow motion martial art.
• it is a dance that allows you to express yourself.
• it is a way to communicate with others and with yourself.
• it keeps you fit and make you become aware of your body.
• you learn to move, to play music (nice weird instruments) and to sing.
• you learn about a social movement against repression.
  

and above everything because it is great fun!

The idea is to be a group of people sharing and learning some Capoeira Angola and Afro-Brazilian culture. So we will focus on having fun while finding our roots ;) Capoeira sessions will usually include movements, live music and a rodinha at the end of it.

Just bring good mood, a lot of energy and willingness to learn.
Sessions are free. Everybody is welcome to join us!
@ Darwin College - common room between 18h30-20h30, Day TBC.

For any enquiries, please use any o the following:
e: capoeiraangolacambridge@gmail.com
t: Aleix 0785 3188 564