Capoeira: The silent language of gestures!

My son (16)  has been practising capoeira for almost one year and he loves it!

My son has a great capoeira's mestre called Fassasi. They have a roda every Sunday from 8:30 to 11:30.

The MESTRE or teacher called Fassasi opened a school of capoiera in Cotonou, Rep of Benin. 

Capoeira is an acrobatic, danced game done to distinctive vocal and instrumental music. Derive from African challenge dances and shaped by slavery in Brazil, Capoeira has become today a form of physical education and martial art around the world.

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines dance movements, acrobatics, fighting, music, history, and philosophy. After the abolition of slavery, Capoeira continues to develop as an instrument of resistance and freedom, serving as a political weapon against repression and a tool to retain African traditions and philosophies.

In a Capoeira JOGO, two players strive to outmaneuver, trip, or knock each other to the ground using a wide array of kicks, head butts, leg sweeps, and evasive maneuvers. 

My son has learned to balance aggression with a need to demonstrate dexterity, creativity, and artistic flair in response to changes in music provided by a small orchestra. 

My teenager has learned to play the berimbau. Since he knew how to play the guitar, it was not difficult for him to master the berimbau. The berimbau has an unusual timbre produced by striking a rod and a ring or coin on a metal string attached to a bow with a resonating dried gourd.

To learn capoeira, my son watched carefully experienced players, trying to copy techniques, rehearsing movements over and over again until he became very good at capoeira, and in turn, he is becoming a model for other novices. 

He tends to learn the art's movements and musical techniques by seeing and doing them rather than by talking about them. He learned through one-on-one instruction, observation, and self-guided practice with his Mestre Fassasi.

Imitative learning in capoeira is facilitated by what educational theorist Lev Vygotsky called "more capable peers." The more knowledgeable other serves as both model and instructor."

Through the art of capoeira, my son is able to see life's injustices and at the same time he can offer a strategy with which to confront them. 

Capoeira is a celebration of life in bodies that suffer from oppression, an expression of freedom which allows the poor to feel rich and the weak, strong! 

In Brazil, African slaves practiced the martial art in a clandestine fashion, as a form of cultural celebration and self-defense on plantations. 

Today, capoeira is open to people of all ages, genders, nationalities and ethnicities.