Alex the Freelance
I have a question for AxeFalador, what was that website that you gave me that had a list of all the regestered capoeira schools? I am going to try to sign up at on of the three in Indiana in a few months hopefully, but I can't remember where they were.
That website is
Capoeirista.com! Click on "Schools", then click on your Country, then your State/Province, then your city (or a City near you), and there will be, if any, a list of Capoeira schools in that area.
Be wary, though. These are not necassarily, as you said, "registered" schools. This website is simply an open database where any Capoeira school may feel free to list their school. Just because a Capoeira school is listed there doesn't mean it's a good Capoeira school. I suggest doing some "school-shadowing". Visit the different schools in your area... Try a few classes in each of them... And which ever one seems and feels right, stick to that one.
Also, steer clear of schools that do not have qualified instructors. If the "teacher" does not have a title, and goes by name only, then he/she is probably not of teacher-level.
Some qualified level titles include (in descending order):
Grao Mestre (Grand Master)
Mestre (Master)
Mestrando (translation unknown)
Contra-Mestre (Counter-Master)
Professor (Teacher)
Estagiario (Teacher-in-Training)
Formado ("Formed" Student?)
Formando (translation unknown)
Monitor (Monitor)*
Instrutor (Instructor)*
Graduado (Graduate)
(*Sometimes these two are switched in their order).
Look around... "school-shadow"... until you've found a group that feels is right for you. Use these tips I've given you, but also trust your own judgement. If there is anything about the school that just doesn't seem right, than it probably isn't.
Yes; there've been even very large "officialized" schools that have branches the world over that have turned out to be bad schools (sorry. No names. Don't wanna get sued). And the reverse is also true: There've have been very tiny and brand new "unofficialized" schools that've turned out as some of the best schools anywhere. For example, my school started out as a very small branch of a moderately sized school that had a total of four branches (including ours) world wide. In our little brand new branch, we started out with no uniforms and no cordas. The only people in the whole branch with cordas and anything like a uniform were Contra-Mestre and his wife. Eventually, we did get t-shirts, but still no abadas (pants) or cordas. Then our little branch, as well as another branch of the same school, decided to break apart from our school of origin. We then affiliated with "Grupo de Capoeira Regional Porto da Barra" in Bahia, lead by "Mestre Cabeludo", a son of one of Mestre Bimba's students. This was the best move we ever made! We were now known as "Grupo de Capoeira Dende do Recife". Full uniforms followed, followed again by a Batizado in both our branch and our sister branch, giving a majority of our students cordas. Now, although there are only two branches of our school, our school is quickly growing in number of students. We have had more performances and demonstrations this year than last year. And recently, we have made some new additions to our list of school merchandise: Instead of just white t-shirts with the school logo, we now have a larger selection of school clothing including the logo. Tank-tops with the options of white or blue, and hooded sweatshirts with the options of white, blue or grey. Our little school has truly taken off.
Point-in-case, just because a school is large, rich and officialized doesn't always mean it's a "good school", and vice-versa, just because a school is small, lacking in funds, and "unofficialized" doesn't always mean it's necessarily a "bad school". Test the waters, and trust your judgement.
Reply
