How to Ginga in Brazilian Capoeira Martial Arts

Series Summary

Capoeira is generally accepted as a Brazilian martial art, developed sometime during the colonial period, though it is believed to have roots in both African and Brazilian fighting techniques. In capoeira, a large group of sparring partners or competitors form a circle and take turns playing music, singing and testing their moves, or their mettle, in one-on-one combat. And the capoeira music is a unique, but integral, part of the martial art, as it creates a cultural framework in which to perform. Songs can tell of historic events, lend inspiration, or just lighten the mood. Their tempos vary from slow to fast, just as capoeira moves can be long and elegant or fast and fierce. But the fighting styles of capoeira do not focus on hurting opponents, but rather expressing well-executed techniques. In competition, capoeira fighters begin attacks, but do not complete them, displaying their skills without injuring.

In this free martial arts training course on video, learn how to do basic capoeira moves. Our expert practitioner will walk you through many beginner forms and capoeira techniques, discussing the purpose and intent of the movement and displaying how it is executed.

Spend some time practicing and perfecting these capoeira moves. If they keep your interest, you should consider finding a capoeira school or instructor who can train you in intermediate and advanced fighting techniques.

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Ajugadu. On behalf of Expert Village.com we're going to talk about the ginga in capoeira a little bit today. The ginga is your basic movement. All of your kicks, dodges, acrobatic movements, everything comes in and out of the ginga. It's one of those things that if you train capoeira regularly, you understand that there's no amount of training that's too much on the ginga. You can train it and train it, adjust it and adjust it and it's just something you train from the day you start until the day you don't train capoeira anymore. Generally what you want to do with the ginga is you want to make sure the leg that's in the back is the same as the arm that's up. That's your weak side in capoeira and as such you want to make sure that the arm is up to protect your face. Okay, a couple of other pointers. The foot that's in the back, you always want to have the heel up off the floor. You want to think of it like you were wedging yourself into the floor. So you're going to push down with the ball of your back foot, heel is up, and your front foot is going to stay flat on the floor. Okay, so you start in this position. Left leg back, heel off the floor. Right foot flat on the floor, left arm up parallel to the floor at about collarbone level to protect your face. From here we're going to step our left leg up into the base, what we call the "basi", some groups also call it "cadera" which means chair. Think of it like you're sitting down in a chair with your legs out. And then from here, you want to stay nice, low and protected in the base. Then you switch, your right foot goes back, heel up, left foot stays flat on the floor, right arm switches to come up and protect your face. That's a basic half switch in a ginga. Now ginga just goes back and forth. Most capoeira classes you'll start with this and you'll train with this for five to ten minutes just moving in the ginga, maybe throwing in a few dodges. Because you really do have to change the ginga, it is like I said the base of capoeira and the basics all come in and out of that."