NARPs: Tackling Brazilian Martial Arts

To be very straightforward, we decided to do capoeira this week because we wanted to learn how to beat people up. As trendy girls living in a downtown world, it seemed like a necessary life skill ­­­— or at least Maddie’s worrisome mom made it seem that way. **insert sweet, southern, high-pitched voice** “You two darlin’s need to learn to defend yourselves!”

In order to set the scene for our capoeira outing, it is important to provide background on the 24 hours leading up to practice. Although Izzy fasted all week in calculation for approximately 57 servings of chili at Chili Fest, she had not planned for the surprise appearance of a hot dog stand. Along with the obvious pit-stops at Otter Creek Bakery and Sama’s on the way back to campus, let’s just say she felt sick Sunday morning. She now understands why athletes monitor their food and drink intake leading up to an important game. It must be hard to be you guys.

When Izzy went to meet Maddie at ADK before capoeira practice, Maddie was no where to be found. After a few minutes, Maddie pulled up in an RV. Maddie’s long lost friend from Nebraska had come to visit, and they drove around drinking Kool-aid. Nothing says a Midwestern reunion like a house on wheels and powdered soft drinks. In other words, driving sideways on a bouncing couch made Maddie dizzy even before the impending cartwheel drills.

As soon as we walked into the studio, we realized that this was not a typical kickboxing class. If we had managed to do our research, we would have known capoeira is a Brazilian martial arts game that incorporates dance, acrobatics, music, and singing. More specifically, four skills neither of us possess. Even more specifically, four skills no one in the world possesses together other than MAYBE Oprah. Maddie refused to let this news shake her. She stood up a little straighter and told Izzy, “Shawn Johnson is an Olympic gymnast from the state next to mine, I’m pretty sure I can do this.” Yeah.

The class included one thing that we actively avoid when choosing our NARP activity: conditioning. Two minutes into the class, Izzy whispered “I should’ve worn a sports bra!” Three minutes into the class, we were asking for the nearest water fountain. Four minutes into the class, we were standing by the propped door trying to eliminate our sweat stains. Five minutes into class, the warm-up was over.

It is very difficult for us to even begin to describe what capoeira is. In terms of its relationship to martial arts we came up with a questionably accurate SAT-style analogy — capoeira is to martial arts as tantric sex is to regular sex. Our instructor, Brennan Delattre ’16 practiced traditional capoeira when she studied abroad in Brazil. She described capoeira as a physical conversation between bodies. It is not about hurting one another (sorry Mom!), instead it is acting and reacting to your partner’s movements.  After various kicking, ducking, crawling, pivoting, and squatting combinations, we were asked if we knew how to cartwheel. Apparently, living in a state next to Shawn Johnson does NOT mean acrobatic skills will rub off on you.

Halfway through the class, we stopped learning new moves, and Brennan taught all of us Brazilian songs that are sung during traditional capoeira sessions. In addition to the singing, our classmates played several Brazilian instruments in order to keep the rhythm alive. We formed a circle and two people would “play” with each other and have a conversation using the moves we had just learned. At one point, we both got into the circle with a more experienced player, and although it was far from graceful, it was incredibly therapeutic. Discovering the limits of our bodies with the meditative music completely surrounding us was honestly one of the coolest things either of us have ever done.

Although we wrote this column from our respective beds due to muscle soreness, we urge all of you to try out capoeira. If you are curious to see what experienced capoeira players can do, they will have a performance that is open to the Middlebury community on April 19th!