Capoeira
Bienvenido loyal reader! Please join Bruce and Mary as they stumble into the martial arts world down in Merida. As usual for those of you email subscribers, like Jaromey, 
who prefer to view these posts from the blog-site, please click here.
We had just bused back from Gran Plaza, an ultra modern shopping mall on the north end of Merida, which has everything, well everything except what I was looking for, but that’s another story, and we had just gotten off the bus on Calle 62 and 47 to walk home when we saw some activity accompanied by chanting/singing/percussion in Parque Santa Ana. We crossed the street and got up close and personal and this is what we saw.
Of course with my martial arts background (Shotokan) I was really intrigued by this style. I had no awareness whatsoever of this martial art, so I did a little research and found that it originated with African slaves in Brazil. Of course the landowners had no interest in their slaves becoming lethal, so they banned all martial arts which caused the early practitioners of Capoeira to disguise their craft as dance. For those of you who wonder about the origin of this martial art’s name, please go here. And for you local readers who are interested in our Merida Capoeira club, please go here.
Thanks for visiting gentle reader. As you all know Bruce and Mary love commentary so please feel free. Hasta proximo Domingo!
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December 11, 2011
· 
Bruce · 
11 Comments
Posted in: Life in Merida
11 Responses
Interesting. I’ve seen the Capoiera exhibitions before, but didn’t know that the reason for its dance component was to disguise it from the slave owners. Nice tidbit. Thanks!
Hola Debi,
Glad you enjoyed the post, thanks for reading!
Cheers!
Nice! A few nights ago I was passing by La Ermita and saw a few people practicing capoeira there as well.
Yes, I find that they are pretty active. It is a cool style of martial arts. If I was a little mas joven, I would take it up.
Cheers!
I wish I was in shape to practice that!. By the way Gran Plaza is modern but you want to visit Altabrisa mall for really modern and clean, albeit expensive.
Yes, JC, you and me both!
We have been to Altabrisa and it is very nice.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers!
Wow. That was really something. Bet it was cool to see in person. Some of the moves looked similar to break dancing.
I thought the same thing, Barb, that it looked a lot like break dancing. It Was fun to see live and everyone was so friendly, more than happy to spread the news of their art.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers!
Not a 100% sure, but I believe there’s a regular Capoiera group performing on Sundays, just north of Canton Palace, during BiciRuta.
Forgot to add that if the Sunday group is in fact doing Capoiera, they’re not near as lively as the ones you spotted!
Hola Susan,
That probably is the local club. My feedback tells me that they are pretty active with demos. We saw them on a Saturday night, that might have livened them up.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers!
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