Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art with many different theories on its origins. In brief, it is a combination of music, dance and martial art. The game of capoeira, or “joga” is a game where two players trade movements and interact inside a circle of participants known as the “roda” and an orchestra of instruments dictate the pace of the game. There are many different rhythms that can determine how a game is played, whether it be aggressive, cooperative, and/or creative and so you can have any number of outcomes to a joga. With an aggressive game, the players stand more upright and make use of straight or direct strikes and take downs. During a more cooperative game, there can be more circular kicks and acrobatics or florieos (flourishes) that can result in a beautifully artistic game. You can also have anything in between since the game itself is a conversation between the players and their conversation can take many different turns along the way. The malícia or trickiness of the players means you may never know what happens next in a game.

The answer is yes. The full answer is more nuanced. Capoeira has always been a cultural art form. A way of preserving history, culture and art. What does this mean? It means that if you are strictly looking for a striking, grappling, fighting art, that is not what capoeira is. Comparing capoeira to many traditional striking arts (karate, tae kwon do, muay thai, etc) you can find similarities between the kicking and striking movements. To defend attacks, the preference is to evade or escape using agility and movement rather than direct blocks. The primary difference you will find, however, is the addition of music, dance, movement and self expression where each capoeira player has their own unique signature. This caters to a very diverse group of practitioners who are looking to do more than just learn to fight. They want to learn body awareness, mobility, agility, acrobatics, music, rhythm and general fitness. Would this mean that a capoeirista would use capoeira directly as learned in a street fight? Likely not unless you were in a capoeira street fight. Would you have the awareness to recognize the fight and react? Absolutely! This is no different than any other martial art where you eventually learn that a true fight never follows the “rules” and you have to learn to adapt for any situation.

We all have to start somewhere. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just to put your foot in the door. We will help you find your fitness/flexibility and they will build over time. As with anything in life, our fitness and capabilities go up and down whether it be as we age or as we compete with other life priorities that don’t let us workout/train like we used to or as much as we’d like to. Our job is to help guide you through learning capoeira and provide you a place to learn something new and exciting! The path to learning capoeira is a journey, not a finish line.

The “roda” or wheel is where the game of capoeira is played. Typically there will be a group of people standing in a circle and small group will be playing instruments and leading songs at the head of the circle. The capoeiristas standing around the roda that are not playing instruments will be clapping their hands to the rhythm and singing the chorus of the songs. In the middle of the roda, two capoeiristas will play the “joga” or game of capoeira.

A batizado or baptism is when capoeiristas from all throughout the capoeira community come together to celebrate a group of students receiving their first capoeira cordão. Subsequent promotions are known as a “troca de cordão” or changing of cord and can also be part of the batizado. A formatura is reserved for graduating higher level students to Formado(a) and higher. During a batizado, a student receiving their first belt plays a Professor/Contramestre/Mestre in a roda and is treated as a welcoming into the capoeira community. As students reach higher belt levels they may play with more than one individual before they receive their next cordão as a recognition of their progression.

At Maple Valley Capoeira, we follow a system of cords or “cordão”

• Calorou (No belt)
  • New Students with no previous experience that have not yet received their “Batizado”
• Verde (Green cord)
  • Beginner 6months to 1 year of experience
  • Has basic exposure to movements, terminology, exposure to music
• Verde/Amarelo (Green/Yellow cord)
  • Typically 1-2 years of experience
  • Knowledge of basic movements and music (playing instruments) with some experience in the roda
• Amarelo (Yellow cord)
  • >3 years of experience
  • Intermediate knowledge with a basic understanding of the game of capoeira. Begins to learn more advanced movements
• Azul/Verde (Blue/Green cord)
  • ~5 or more years of experience, but can vary
  • Continues to develop more intermediate/advanced capoeira knowledge
• Azul/Amarelo (Blue/Yellow cord)
  • ~7 or more years of experience, but can vary
  • Continues to develop more intermediate/advanced capoeira knowledge
  • Starts to assist in teaching classes more formally
• Azul (Blue cord)
  • This is the highest level of student cord where the student is considered to be a capable capoeirista and has had experience teaching under supervision. They have a well rounded capoeira game, song repertoire and can play all the instruments
• Azul/Verde/Amarelo (Blue/Green/Yellow)
  • Formado(a) or graduated student (Professor(a) if teaching formally)
  • Authorized to teach and have their own school under their Mestre
  • Acts as a representative of their school and the capoeira community
• Azul/Verde/Amarelo/Branco (Blue/Green/Yellow/White)
  • Contramestre(a)
  • Highest rank before Mestre (Master). Held in high esteem in the capoeira community and has dedicated many years if not multiple decades to capoeira and have a wealth of knowledge which they share to others. They are formidable capoeiristas in the roda and ambassadors of their schools and the wider capoeira community
• Branco w/ Verde or Amarelo or Azul
  • Levels of Mestre(a) (Master)
  • Dedicated their lives to capoeira and work tirelessly in spreading capoeira knowledge and art
  • Has students that have started their own capoeira groups
• Branco
  • Highest level of Mestre(a) (Master)

When working with PushPress accounts there will be a primary owner/email and sub-accounts associated with it

• Primary (Parent)
  • sub-account 1 (child #1)
  • sub-account 2 (child #2)

After creating the primary account under a single email address, sub-accounts can be added when checking out for new plans. A unique userID can be specified for the sub-account so that the user may sign into the online web portal or the mobile application. This can be useful for using the mobile app chat features or checking in/registering for events and classes.

When purchasing for a sub-account through the use of online landing pages (e.g. links from the website or from email), the primary account holder would login under their normal email and when checking out would identify the purchase as “For someone else” and then select from the sub-account list