#capoeira today: Second time subbing this week. Surprisingly large class! Like 11 people or so, buffered by two people from another group dropping in. Mainly au variations, giro de mao, and au sem mao. Ended with a rousing roda.

I was happy to be able to get and keep the energy up. I said at the end of class that when I can hear the chorus echoing off the walls of the studio then I feel like we've got the right amount of energy, enough to fill up the space.

A small irony: when I lead the #capoeira conditioning class I model it off of the HIIT class I take, with 1-minute stations and rotations and such. This week my HIIT instructor is out of town and he asked me to sub in for his class today as well. Came full circle with copying his class and then ending up leading his class.

#capoeira tonight: Conditioning class had so many queda de rins. Many variations! My arms were noodles after them! So then we did handstand drills! Ow my arms!

Main capoeira class was vingativas, including some fun variations and timings to catch people unaware. Also we went over our songs again and I didn't stumble over the lyrics this time. Win!

#capoeira tonight: Didn't focus on any particular technique, instead did a conditioning class style rotation through stations: 2x playing music, 4 different kick conditioning stations, 2x playing a game with another person, and queda de rins. 2 minutes per station. As it turns out the playing of the game was nearly last for me so I was moving very slowly by the time I got there.

#capoeira tonight: Martelo! Martelo! Queixada! Queixada! Counterattacking with chapa de frente! Ending practice roda was just kicking and countering martelo, which makes everyone just a bit more aggressive.

#capoeira tonight: New curriculum unit about counterattacks. This ought to be fun.

#capoeira tonight: Last day of the maculele "unit" where we did a whole little choreographed series with formations and such. And then various vingativa practice, with partners. Mine needs a lot of work. Coming from wing chun I feel like I should be connecting and uprooting more but I don't get to practice in that position enough to get it.

#capoeira today: first half maculele, 2nd half sequences and roda. I bought a pandeiro! Going to use it to practice more singing between lessons.

#capoeira last night: 30 minutes of maculele, followed by a very technical sequence involving some sort of reverse role maneuvering. Once I got it, it made sense, but the journey to get there was challenging.

Professora hasn't directly mentioned it yet but there's 5 months left in the year so if we're going to do a winter performance it's time to start planning it.

#capoeira today: Attendance affected by Seafair, as my son was the only kid in kids class. We coached him through martelo rodado and macaco and some bridges. Adults class was maculele for warmup, and then more passage sequences. I feel like I'm finally getting that move and not looking clumsy when I do it.

Brand new student in class, who is a circus arts instructor.

#capoeira today: Midsummer means the kids class was very lightly attended. One kid in the 5-7 year old class, four kids in the 8-11 year old class. Grownups class was pretty regular though. Worked on rasteiras, linking them with moves before and after.

Forgot to post about #capoeira on Tuesday: Professora is back from travel! I don't have to run the class! Sequences and target practice with chapeu de couro. That kick is the one demonstrated in this terribly dramatized clip from National Geographic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqzW17E0jFk

#capoeira today: Last day of me teaching this month. Partner passage drills, applying passage in the roda, sprinkling some ground kicks in. Fun fact, passage was the first move my current instructor tried to teach me, over 5 years ago, and I totally didn't get it then. Now finally starting to get it.

#capoeira tonight: I taught tonight's class. Little kid from the barbecue place next door came by and wanted to play. I let him run around during class doing "kung fu" moves. Otherwise we did lots of ground kicks: martelo do chao, chapel do coro, etc. Not my best kicks so I didn't have really great explanations for them other than to drive from the hips.

#capoeira today: Passage, passage, passage. Had to train everyone in this move that I'm not really good at. Came to some insights about what makes it counterintuitive as an esquiva. Worked through a couple of checkpoints to make sure that it's a good move and not just spinning around on your foot.

#capoeira tonight: Back to the routine, post-event. Conditioning class was a queda de rins theme, working up to doing them as part of a little sequence. Followed by hand balancing practice. Regular Capoeira class was moves across the floor, ginga with partners, kicking target practice, roda where we focused on kicking close and esquivaing close. I was pretty worn out by the end.

#capoeira update: Class with the three mestres went well! Started off with maculele, including some circle formations we haven't done before. Then went on to some basic sequences including passages, then to a "reading the kicks" game, then to a roda. Fairly straightforward. 4 people from the main group came to train with our school.

Had to do a potentially stressful presentation at work today, but I relaxed through it and got it done. I credit having to "fight" #capoeira masters for reframing my view towards challenging situations.

#capoeira Batizado report: It went well! I played four (4) mestres in a row! Multiple people said to me afterward that it looked like the mestres went hard on me. Third guy needed multiple attempts to take me down, as I decided I would hold my structure and keep my feet on the floor. I intentionally did not ask anyone to record it, I feel like I should let this game be fleeting and in the past. I think I did a helicoptero at one point.

#capoeira Batizado Day! I'm not really stressed or fussed right now. Given that I missed last year's because COVID I'm just glad I get to go.