Ka Leo O Hawaii

Mestre Kinha (above) enters the roda at the Capoeira Besouro Hawaii's 2nd Annual Batizado, where members of the Capoeira Besouro celebrated the Brazilian martial art a few weeks ago at UH. Courtesy Photo €¢ Justin Leong [Click to enlarge]

The Brazilian martial art school Capoeira Besouro held a celebratory event at the University of Hawai'i at MÄ쳌noa campus on Sunday, Oct. 8.

Capoeira at its finest

The event was called a Batizado, a kind of baptism or graduation for students studying the martial art form called capoeira. Capoeira is a combination of martial arts, gymnastics, dance and music.

This is the second year Capoeira Besouro held the Batizado, where about 80 students, both children and adults, received their ranking belts. The belts represent different levels of experience: green (the first level), yellow-green, yellow and blue-yellow. Students who have at least five years of experience in capoeira receive a blue-yellow belt and are considered instructors.

Currently, capoeira's popularity is growing in many places around the country, including Hawai'i. Capoeira Besouro, headed by Mestre (Master) Kinha and his wife, Carmen Linhares, meets in Honolulu.

Mestre Kinha is the only capoeira instructor in Hawai'i. The school is very popular because people would rather learn from a Brazilian master. He opened Capoeira Besouro in 2004.

Linhares said that capoeira is different from any other martial art.

Even the Batizado isn't like other martial art graduations.

"It's more of a celebration," she said.

The Batizado, unlike other martial art graduations, where students face each other, shows off students' skills by putting them in a game of contact with mestres and other instructors. The entertaining use of martial arts and its music makes this sport very interesting to watch, she said.

"I would say about 500 people came to watch," Linhares said. "Gym Two was loaded with people."

Capoeira, Brazilian martial art

Capoeira was created about 500 years ago by slaves in Brazil during a time when martial arts were forbidden. The slaves created capoeira as a form of self defense that didn't visually look like a martial art because of the use of dance and music.

After being outlawed during the 1800s, capoeira became legalized and reintroduced in the 1900s. Since then, it has been a favored sport in Brazil. The two fathers of modern capoeira were Mestres Bimba and Pastinha.

Mestre Bimba was the father of Capoeira Regional, which is a faster-paced form of capoeira that uses more of the tumbling and jumps of gymnastics. Mestre Pastinha was the father of Capoeira Angola, which is the slower, more traditional form of the art.

Famous mestres work their magic

Sunday's Batizado included not only students and spectators of Honolulu, but many visitors as well. Five mestres from different parts of the country helped promote the students and monitor the event.

One famous guest, Mestre Amen from Los Angeles, starred in a popular capoeira movie called "Only the Strong." Another guest mestre, Marcelo Caverinha, choreographed the capoeira moves in the popular video game "Tekken."

"We were really lucky to have all these guests," Linhares said. "This event was definitely bigger than our first one."

In addition, students from other schools around the area came to observe the event. Almost an entire school from Maui, including its two instructors, came to watch the event.

Altogether, there were about 150 students at the event. Linhares said it was probably the biggest group of capoeristas ever together in the state of Hawai'i.

Linhares hopes that the Batizado will grow even more popular next year. "It was a great event," she said. "A lot of people were watching, and we were very lucky to have such a great turnout."

Article Tools