Capoeira Mandinga Shanghai

More photos here.

Capoeira exhibition for the opening of Greenlife NPO’s new office

On the 18th of March 2010, after years of managing their activities from their home, the non-profit-organisation for environmental protection Greenlife NPO celebrated the opening ceremony of their new office in Luwan District, Shanghai. Capoeira Mandinga Shanghai took part in the set of performances to entertain the guests, which included Chinese traditional dancing, contemporary dancing, a comedian show, and a couple of music performances.

Over ten capoeristas displayed their kicking, singing and percussion abilities for a crowd of more than 250 people. Most of the audience −mainly Chinese and Japanese− wasn’t familiar with the art, but after a couple of minutes of uncertainty on their faces, they soon grasped the fun of the game and the rhythm of the music, then the clapping and cheering spread in the hall. The climax of the show came when Guerreiro went upside down in a solid bananera, that provoked a wave of excited gasping. The acrobatic position and his upper body −lush with masculinity and suddenly unveiled by the fall of his T-shirt− were equally compelling. Sushi delighted us with a flash come back from Japan appearing just before the show to treat us with his neat technique. The audience didn’t notice, but Pombinha could not overlook his change in shape since he left the group.

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Our camara Maxim Han has translated a part of the wikipedia’s article “List of capoeira techniques” into Chinese. This part contains Chinese explanation of basic movements such as ginga, aú, balança, cadeira, bananeira, macaco, negativa, rolê, etc.

This is the first translation in Chinese. Hope it will be useful for all capoeiristas all across China.

Ginga 劲戈

Ginga

Ginga 劲戈 (发音：jin ga。字面意思：前后移动；回转).劲戈是卡波耶拉的基础动作。该动作在安哥拉(Angola)卡波耶拉和瑞吉欧内(Regional)卡波耶拉中的形式有所不同。在安哥拉系统中，劲戈是非常自由和个性化的，但在瑞吉欧内系统里，则是比较固定的形式但仍允许个人风格的发挥。在两个体系中的动作内容都是：两脚大约与肩同宽分前后站立，类似于中国武术动作中的“弓步”，但后腿不应绷紧以保持弹力，两脚以一定节奏不断交替变换位置，从垂直地面的方向看，形成了三角步的步法。

在劲戈中可准备其他动作：躲藏，闪避，佯攻和进攻。它可使卡波耶拉武者保持不间断的运动，使他们成为令人头痛的对手。

身体的其余部分也会牵涉入劲戈：手臂:协调动作(以保护身体不被攻击)，躯干:(许多核心肌群会参与，不过取决于个人的风格)，身体的倾斜（与脚一起前后移动；身体向后可以避开攻击，向前则可以创造攻击机会）。整个的动作节奏应跟随鼓点（bateria，巴特落）。劲戈也被认为是卡波耶拉的招牌动作，很少有武术像卡波耶拉那样通过劲戈进行固定的节奏运动。一个例外可能是朝鲜半岛独有的武术“跆跟”。

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Oi Camaras!

Here the new songs we have been singing recently.

• La na Bahia, corre água sem chover
• A Navalha
• Besouro Mangangá
• Cordao De Ouro é Besouro Manganga

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Camaras!

Next Saturday 20th of March there will be a Brazilian Carnival Party at Latina in Xujiahui, with live music, samba, caipirinha. They have asked us to do a capoeira presentation there! So EVERYONE is invited to come to give energy and to play capoeira.

The party starts at 22:00 (Free entrance).

We can go there earlier for dinner (they can give us a discount on the buffet).

Please let me know if you can come for dinner, or just for the show. I need to inform the organizer.
It’s going to be massive!

Axé!

Dear Capoeristas,

We are trying to get together a possible Capoeira performance next week, on Thursday the 18th. The whole event will run between 17:00 and 20:00 but we would perform after 7, probably around 19:15 (flexible time). We would like to know who could make it. Please answer as soon as you can if you can make it and at what time, so I can give a definite proposal to the organiser.

The show would be within an event organised by Greenlife NPO – an ecologist NGO (www.npo-greenlife.org) to celebrate the opening of their new office and to put some art donations for sale.

The task of Greenlife NPO is fighting desertification and its consequences in China. During the last 6 years they have already planted more than half a million trees in the Hure banner, in Tongliao Prefecture in Inner Mongolia. This year they expect to raise the number up to more than one million trees and complete the project. After that, they will move to other areas suffering severe desertification in Sichuan and Yunnan. The personal story of the founder of the NPO is quite exceptional, I recommend you to check out the web page and find out.

Address

上海市户湾区局门路436号7101-A. (436, Jumen Road. Luwan District. )
Metro line 9 (Madang Rd. Station)
Metro line 8 (Xizang Nan Rd. Station)
Metro line 4 (Luban Rd St or Xizang Nan Rd. Station)

Expect around 20 min. walk from the metro stations.

Entering the compound from Luwan Road on your right there is the office, and the following building is a big hall they will use for that event.

Map

See you soon!

Hello camaras,

Holidays schedule:
From Saturday 13th to Thursday 18th of February: Gym closed
Saturday 20th of February: Class will be from 4:00pm to 6:00pm
From Monday 22nd of February back to the normal schedule

Hello camaras,

Due to the Chinese New Year, the gym will be closed from Saturday 13th until Friday 19th of February. Last class before the CNY will be on Thursday 11th and first class after the holidays will be on Saturday 20th.

Check out our promotional video and pictures:

http://capoeirashanghai.com/video/CMS09_Capoeira_promo.m4v

Contact Diego: capoeirashanghai@yahoo.com

Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art form that mixes music, dance and gymnastics with its fighting components. Its beauty, fluidity and explosive gravity-defying movements have taken the world by storm. Capoeiristas can be found in movies, television ads, music concerts (Cantonese pop star Denise Ho hired Axe Capoeira’s Professor Berimbau to choreograph a Hong Kong show), and video games (Capoeira Mandinga’s founder, Mestre Marcelo, was the model for Tekken’s Eddie Gordo – one of the greatest video game characters of all time).

Hello camaras,

Just to remind you that today, 24th of Dec. there will be capoeira class (xiexie Ma xiansheng).
Saturday 26th there will also be our usual roda, after class we can go together somewhere for dinner.
Monday 28th and Tuesday29th regular classes.
Wednesday 30th massive end of the year roda.

No class on Thursday 31st.

Saturday 2nd of January first roda of the year 5:00-6:30.

Starting from the 4th of January we will follow our regular schedule.

Considerations:

2009 has been another good year for our group. A lot of people have left Shanghai but a lot of new students have started training.We also lost our gym but found a new one, warmer and cleaner.

We had two great workshops with CM Espeto, two great months with Istrutora Bolacha and Biscoito, and a massive Batizado with Mestre Marcelo, Mestre Cabello, CM Jô and CM Carcará.

Start thinking about your goals for next batizado (Sept.2010).

Axé!