Been There Done That

Beginners' Capoeira

by Amanda McKenna

Every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 6-7:30 p.m., $12-$15, The American Society of Capoeira and Arts From Brazil, 756 S. 11th St., second floor, 267-278-0587, www.ascabcapoeira.org

The American Society of Capoeira requires its practitioners wear pants in class. This was a problem for me. I'd seen capoeira before—the high-energy Brazilian martial art combines the grace of dance with the stunt-heavy athleticism of gymnastics. My pants? Definitely not fit for such activity.

When instructor Mestre Doutor walks into class, he grins at my outfit. He's been teaching troupes of capoeiristas since 1997. He thinks I look ridiculous, and loans me a pair of pants. They're thin and white. I'm wearing striped underwear. Perfect.

Doutor starts us out easy, with jogging and backpedaling drills. Then he demonstrates some sort of donkey kick/cartwheel/double axle move and tells us to follow his lead. Left over right, spin, squat—what? I start to wonder if I'm in the right class. This can't be for beginners.

A capoeira fight is accompanied by clapping, call-and-response songs, bells, drums, tambourines and a berimbau. Doutor gives us a few lyrics to repeat, but of course they're in Portuguese. Everyone seems to know the words. I mutter some incomprehensible baby talk and hope no one hears me.

After class, I learn that the rest of the group has been doing capoeira for months, and I'm the only first-timer. This makes me feel a little better, but as I waddle down the stairs to go home, my entire body aches.