• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Slaves in Africa and Brazil invented Capoeira as a way of hiding martial arts from slave owners in the form of dance.

It has since evolved into an art form that utilizes flexibility, strength and rhythm, in addition to its cultural expression and exercise.

And above all else, “Capoeira is hard to read about.

“You’d have to see it in person to get what the art is really about,” third-year international economics student Jack Chung said.

That’s why students in Professor Jonathon Grasse’s Ethnomusicology 10C class didn’t read about Capoeira during Tuesday morning’s lecture on Brazil. Instead, they got a firsthand glimpse.

Students from the ethnomusicology class, students in the Capoeira recreational program at UCLA, members of UCLA Club Capoeira Brazil and members of Grupo Capoeira Brasil performed for the class in front of the Schoenberg Music Building.

Grasse sponsors the campus Capoeira group, and wanted to integrate the performance with the Brazilian component of his World Music and Theory class.

“It is the perfect combination of music, movement, spirit and involvement,” Grasse said. He also admitted to “doing a little Capoeira in my younger days.”

To start the demonstration, the students formed a circle called a “roda.” The students clapped and sang while participants took turns performing in pairs in the center of the group. The group soon attracted a crowd with its enthusiasm.

Chung, who co-founded UCLA Club Capoeira Brazil, handed out fliers and encouraged students to learn more about Capoeira.

“We try to give more participation than the recreational class. We give a friendly beat to people who want to learn more,” he said.

Second-year chemical engineering student Erica Mackey is a student in the recreational class on campus, a student at the Benção Brasil Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and a member of UCLA Club Capoeira Brazil.

“We are privileged to be associated with Capoeira Brasil and it is an honor to train under Axé,” Mackey said.

Axé currently instructs the UCLA recreational Capoeira class.

“Sometimes Capoeira gets battered by a lot of people,” Axé said. “Anyone interested can stop by the (John Wooden) Center. We will open our hearts up and our school up to you.”

The performance ended with one-on-one instructions for each student by a member of Grupo Capoeira Brasil. It was the first time the group has performed for any of Grasse’s classes and according to him it “certainly isn’t the last.”