What started as a Portuguese slave dance has gained momentum as a popular pastime among University students.
The Student Recreational Center offers a class in Capoeira, an athletic art form that began in 16th century Brazil.
Introduced in fall 2006 by the UREC as a specialty class, Capoeira is in the final stages of becoming an official University student organization. About 25 to 30 people take the class with membership growing, said Autumn Crossett, disaster science management senior and group leader.
While more common elsewhere, dedicated University students meet twice a week with intermediate instructors to train for games.
Slaves training to fight for their freedom masked this secretly performed art from their owners by participating in dance and music.
Today, University students are expressing enthusiasm for Capoeira, a phenomenon increasing in worldwide popularity in recent years.
A martial art form disguised as a Brazilian fight-dance, Capoeira, features sinuous acrobatic play, sweeps, dodges, jumps and kicks. Other characteristic moves include body throws, punches, slaps and elbow-strikes.
Participants form a “roda” or circle around two players who use strategy and technique to put on a good game. Participants in the circle create their own music with singing and percussion instruments setting the pace.
Sydnee Ramsey, biology freshman and Capoeira group member, said the art form is not common in the Baton Rouge community. She said going to the speciality classes helps her get the “real experience.”
“You use your whole body,” she said. “There is constant movement, and you have to be able to flow. Reading your partner is important because different moves are parried.”
Russell Fielding, geography doctorate student, has taught the class for two semesters as an intermediate instructor. He described Capoeira as a cardiovascular workout that loosens up muscles like any other form of dance. He said it provides students with an artistic and athletic outlet filled with fun, beauty and exercise.
“I think of it as a performance art,” he said. “Two people are playing at once, but the whole group is watching and participating.”
Performers practice two main styles of Capoeira – regional and angola.
“Angola is slower and controlled,” she said. “There is more groundwork. Players have enough control to come within two feet of the other player’s face without actually kicking them. Regional is faster, more modern and involves more flips. There is also more contact.”
Lee Guilbeau, University alumnus and intermediate class instructor, attended Batizado in New Orleans this past weekend. Batizado means “baptism” in Portuguese and functions as the graduation phase for students.
The national convention had representatives from all over the country and included workshops and training from different instructors. Guilbeau said this is the first time Baton Rouge has seen Capoeira practiced by a dedicated group of performers.
“Capoeira is like a complete cultural experience,” he said. “It offers more than just physical aspects. You have a cultural aspect with language, music and tradition that goes along with it. Most people who try it enjoy it and are interested in some aspect if not the acrobatics.”
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]