·Right·Eye·of·Varanus·

Totally random, multi language playlist I made. All sort of generes, from the obscure to the utterly commercial. 

tijolinho:

Eventually, you have to stop playing nice in the roda. My game, as well as the games of others who have been training with me, has gotten more aggressive.

When. I began training 2 years ago I only knew of the peaceful and fancy trick filled side of Capoeira. Then as time passed I began to see…

Yeah, aggressiveness in the roda can be a big problem. It discourages a lot, but may also inspire. It’s very subjective! I guess it depends on the type of person who perceives the roda and the familiarity they have with capoeira or other martial arts - even street fighting - before taking classes. What may seem full of energy and fun to one may look like aggressive to another; what may seem joyful and elegant to some may appear dull and boring to others.

An unavoidable fact: the more familiar you become with the moves, the less you have to strain to voluntarily will your body to do them. As we learn to read automatically our companion’s movements, and start to actually develop the conversational aspect of the jogo we lean less and less on sequences or choreographed routines and drills… This means that we now rely more on instinct, on a trained reflex rather than on having to tap our memory and focus to keep balance and constant movement. When this happens, it is noticeable how much better the roda begins to flow. This is when capoeira becomes truly a conversation…

Yet it is -or should be- IMHO the responsibility of a good teacher and of the higher cordas to provide enough information to the white newbies or shy ones… sharing the fact that while in capoeira there are no real “rules” other than tradition, when buying on a roda with a higher corda they (the advanced ones) will usually (or should, since they don’t really have to- more on this later) switch their violent jogo to a more playful one… but that no matter if it is jogo de benguela or a speedy regional, new students can’t afford to be absent-minded and they have to always play smart, and defensively… because despite what we have been taught all our life, being new to something should not a valid excuse to lower our guard and then expect things to be easy. This particular mindset creates complacent, easily scared and mediocre humans.

The nucleus of the capoeirista’s mental state should reside on the free will to assume risks. Taking a risk is the mark and privilege of a free spirit and celebrating the fact that we are free to decide our course of action and chose freely by our own alone to take a risk is one of the main objectives of capoeira philosophy.

A great deal of this consists of developing scenarios and reaching a balance between risk and reward on the virtue of each jogador’s free will. It’s about ranking what’s more important: fully connect an attack (which in various other martial arts would be considered the objective -or worse- the prize) and carry on responsibly accepting all the implications of the result, them being positive or negative… or choosing to stop at the right time and demonstrate technical superiority without the need to knock out and leave the opponent out of action.

This varies from one individual to another, and there will be some groups who teach to clap and cheer for the capoeirista with the most malicia instead of the one with a more civil and chivalrous code of conduct.

This is why I think the game in the roda, no matter how aggressive it may look is not a measure of courage or aggressiveness per se as much as it is of intellect; it requires to evaluate a situation from all angles, to calculate different results basing them on our individual interpretations of past experiences, current events and reasonable future expectations… and put them on perspective of what’s relevant at the moment.

Capoeira -and particularly the capoeira roda - is truly the one place where I have found the effectiveness of martial aspects and the subtle artistic hues of tradition blend and not clash. Yes, there is a line, but it’s subtle and blurred, respectful but not ridiculously strict and reverential.

Bottom line is, I agree. Eventually we all stop playing nice. It’s a consequence to experience, and looking out for our newbies is not a chore, it’s a pleasure ;)

bullfighting will be banned on Mexico City

chrishanel:

UPDATE 2: The app has been unpublished from the Android store.

UPDATE: Word has spread like crazy on this post, and I want to thank everyone for getting the word out. I’ve seen multiple authors on the list posting or tweeting that they’ve been notified. HOWEVER: The call for this post was to…