(hands clapping to beat) - [Male] Trying to get around or (mumbles).

What is this, a wheel?

- [Daniel] Capoeira includes kicks, dodges, and movements that connect them.

The reality is, it's like kind of a mixture of everything.

It's--it's gymnastics, there's music involved, there is kicking--it's a martial art, but it's a little bit more ritualized and fluid than your maybe more traditional Asian martial arts.

(hands clapping to beat) Capoeira had its origins in slavery.

It's evolved a lot since then, but the--the basic idea is that the--the slogan, or the way of summarizing it, is that Capoeira is a struggle for freedom disguised as a dance.

When they escaped Colonial control, they had these movement practices, these rituals, these songs that sort of formed the backbone for what would later become Capoeira.

And then it got mainstream acceptance in the late 20th century.

So in the 1970s, 1980s in Rio, you had folks who worked really hard to mainstream it.

And so now, actually, you have Capoeira all over the world, not only in the Midwest, on the coast, but in Europe, and Asia, and kind of everywhere.

We're moving in the direction of having competitions on an international level with people from Brazil and all over the world.

Awesome work.

Stretch it out.

Get comfortable.

All it takes to get good at this is just consistency, time, dedication, I'd say, you know, practicing at least two times a week.

The point of Capoeira is that it's fun, it's enjoyable.

I think in its modern incarnation, there's not a point beyond the practice.

The point is the practice itself.

Pushing this way with my toes, pushing out.

One of the things that makes Capoeira very unique, is it's got some very strange, unique, fascinating, beautiful movement patterns.

I don't know--I think some kids, who maybe take gymnastics and do a cartwheel like every day, but how many--how many adults do you know who can do a cartwheel... ...Can do a Cartwheel, maybe on one side, and then also, on the other side, using the other hand, can do a handstand-- - -can hold a handstand, can do a bridge and hold it?

The adults that I've taught, that I have seen who have stuck with it for a few months and then even beyond, are just fascinated by how good it feels to be in their body.

I think our modern culture encourages a lot of sitting, and a lot of lying down, and not a lot of active movements.

And so for me, the big draw for Capoeira, and what I've seen in my students, is rediscovering their bodies and being kind of more grounded in that movement practice.

(wind blows and vehicle revs engine)