Rochester Insider Article

We had a great time having the Insider (local paper) come to the academy and write the following article about us. I would like to thank Jinelle and Amy for participating. Enjoy the article ~Carcará

Kicking and steaming

Writer works up a heavy sweat during her first capoeira class

Jinelle Shengulette

Special to Metromix
June 22, 2011

I found myself lying on the floor of the Academia com Expressão for a capoeira class, holding my partner’s ankles while rapidly and repeatedly lifting both of my legs straight into the air. I thought, ‘This could be it. This could be the end of me.’

Beet-red and dripping sweat, I had to cheat a little. By lift number 20 — OK, 10 — my legs would no longer function, so I bent them instead of keeping them straight and not quite perpendicular to the floor.

Earlier, when I walked into the academy on a balmy 80-degree night with my fearless friend Amy Dasaro, I had no idea what to expect. I had a minimal understanding of capoeira. Developed by slaves in Brazil during the 16th century (when it was a Portuguese colony), it mixes martial arts, dancing and music and provides a great workout. But I chose not to do too much research. I wanted to dive right in and be surprised.

When we arrived, Todd “Carcará” Russell — the academy’s owner and a capoeira teacher who’s on the verge of becoming a capoeira master — had Dasaro and I fill out waivers “in case of death,” he said with a laugh.

“Just to warn you, tomorrow you might be a little sore, but two days later is when the pain will really set in. Make it a point to stretch before and after class,” he said, adding that we should eat protein and carbs afterward to rebuild muscle tissue and replenish the body’s glucose supply.

Seven other students welcomed us warmly, and class kicked off with joint-mobility work and some stretching.

After warming up and trying to do push-ups on our fists and fingertips, we learned our first basic capoeira movement, the ginga, which involves bending forward at the waist, stepping rhythmically from side to side and, at the same time, swinging the arms up in front of the face to protect it.

Next, facing a partner, we worked our way from one side of the room to the other, first practicing ginga, then doing an armada (a kick over our partner’s head), while our partner did a cocorinha (a squat escape) or an esciva lateral (an escape by leaning to the side). Sadly, I had to physically lift my leg with my hands to get it over my partner’s head by the last couple kicks.

As the room grew hotter (there was no AC), we began our role, putting our hands on the ground and pivoting our hips and legs from one side of the body to the other, while looking between our legs at our opponents. (It’s kind of like doing a cartwheel, only your feet never leave the ground.)

Halfway down the room, I was having a hard time keeping my balance when I heard Russell say, “Many students have experienced a bit of vertigo with this move.”

After our partner and core-strengthening work (in which I laid on the ground and held on for dear life to Dasaro’s ankles while lifting my legs furiously), the class concluded with a roda, the most intriguing and terrifying part of the night. The students formed a circle, and some pulled out capoeira instruments, including a berimbau, which looked like a fishing pole; an atabaque, or tall drum; and a pandeiro, or tambourine. While the class started singing in Portuguese and clapping, two students entered the circle for a freestyle capoeira moment.

I was slightly terrified to enter the circle and put what I had learned to the test in front of the other students, but there was really no other choice. I procrastinated by offering up Dasaro to show her skills first, and she looked like a natural. Great.

Thankfully, when it was my turn to enter the circle, my partner took things slowly. I just mimicked what he did and blocked any kicks to the head. (I also almost knocked out a couple of the other students with a couple of my moves.)

The roda signified the end of class, but Russell was right — Dasaro and I were still feeling the effects of our capoeira session two days later.

I wasn’t in too much pain, thanks to a fairly active lifestyle, but capoeira definitely pushed me to my physical limits.

Capoeira
Where: Academia com Expressão, 46 Sager St.

Cost: $10 per class; $15 for three classes for new students.

Contact: 319-6521.

Sands of Time

So many people have come in and out of the academy doors throughout the years. Some training for just the fun of it, while others with much more in mind. All and all there are always those select few that either come in 5-15 minutes late or run out 5-15 minutes early. While at times this may be inevitable, life does have a way of getting us sometimes, I'd like to show a quick peak at what happens for those select few that can not help but come in a bit late each time just because.

Let's take a student that trains three times a week for the course of a year and say each class is an hour and a half in length. The numbers would show these outcomes:

If the student was late an average of 5 minutes per class for the year, they would miss almost 9 classes (780 minutes or 13 hours) throughout the year...pretty much taking just under a month off.

If the student was late an average of 10 minutes per class for the year, they would miss just over 17 classes (1560 minutes or 26 hours)...that's nearly a month and a half off.

Now, what about that 15 minutes. It seems like such a small amount of time. It's not much, right? They would miss 26 classes (2340 minutes or 39 hours) ...just over 2 months of training, gone!

These small amounts of time can quickly add up and before you know it you've lost so much of your valuable time. Now, what happens if you were to do the reverse. Show up 15 minutes early and get moving or stretch a bit, even while talking with your fellow students. We've noticed a little bit of time can add up, so what about a little bit of movement, right? Taking the same numbers, not only did you receive all the classes you paid for, you trained an extra month, month and a half or even two months of class time!

It's your time, so have fun with it!

~ Carcará