About Capoeira Topázio:
   The Topázio group was founded in 1987 by Raimundo dos Santos - Master Dinho. The group has been known for introducing new movements in the Capoeira fight. We refer ourselves to the union of Capoeira with diverse movements in the hand-to-hand combat. When Mestre Dinho began to train in Capoeira, he viewed other martial arts like: Taekwondo, Judo, Jiu-jitsu, Free Fight, Boxing, etc for knowledge, but always stayed faithful to Capoeira.  

 About Capoeira
    Capoeira is a 400-year-old martial art that blends music, dance, singing, and acrobatics to create a holistic approach to teaching self-defense. Originating in Africa, Capoeira was brought to Brazil by captured Africans from Angola. In this foreign land the Angolan people developed their practice into a method of defending themselves against their violent overlords. Because of their predicament, these enslaved Africans had to disguise their training as recreational song and dance. 

Capoeira or the Dance of War by Johann Moritz Rugendas, 1825

   The enslaved Africans from Angola, like enslaved Africans brought to the United States, blended their familiar call-and-response song forms with the regional dialect to create songs that glorified their homeland, deities, and future freedom. These songs were accompanied by a number of percussion instruments like the tambourine (pandeiro), bells (agogo), and, most importantly, the one-stringed instrument brought from Africa, the berimbau.

   The ginga, roughly translated as swing, was created as the basic movement of Capoeira, so that two people practicing Capoeira appeared to be dancing together rather than fighting. The ginga is set to the rhythm of the berimbau and other instruments(bateria) to enhance the notion of dance and also to teach timing, a critical element in Capoeira.

Malicia (Malice) is a concept in Capoeira that is both simple and complex.  Its Latin root mal, meaning 'bad' or 'evil' would imply a concept of evilness.  However, contextually speaking, malicia translates best as 'trickery/deceit.'  Malicia, at its heart in Capoeira, is the art of deceiving your opponent and tricking them into an uncompromising position. 

Malicia has several philisophical areas, one of which lies in the idea that the roda is a microcosm of life.  As such, malicia becomes important, as it allows a capoeirista to see into a person and understand how a person thinks and approaches life.  As malicia would allow a capoeirista to see an attack as a fake to set up a takedown, also malicia would allow the capoeirista to see a person's real motive behind a facade.
(Nestor Capoeira, Capoeira: Roots of the Dance-Fight Game)

    Axe'

Become a fan on