Capoeira (cop-way-ah, cap-o-way-yah, cap-uh-way-ah, etc.) is a Brazilian martial art/dance that is very complicated to define because it means different things to different people. Some people may focus on the dance aspect, missing the martial arts. Others may focus mostly on the martial arts, totally ignoring the dance. In having perfect balance between focus on martial art and dance, one can find the peak beauty in themselves and in others.
History of Capoeira stems from slaves in Brazil, to put it in a nutshell which may be wrong to do as I am reading and revising this. There are numerous stories and legends on the hows and whys of the origin of Capoeira. I recommend strongly that you head over to Amazon.com and pick up a couple books on it, particularly The Little Capoeira Book by Nestor Capoeira and Ring of Liberation by John Lowell Lewis and Robert Farris Thompson. It's a great start for someone who's interested in learning about Capoeira and almost serves as mandatory reading.
That thing that looks like a fishing pole is called a berimbau (bear-imb-ow). There are three kinds that typically vary in pitch, viola (smallest), medio (middle), and gunga (lowest). Someone told me to think of them like three guitars, the Viola being the lead guitar, Medio being the guitar that keeps the melody and Gunga being a bass guitar. Without the berimbau all you are doing is moving around in space. It's what makes Capoeira complete (at least to me). As for the other instruments, pandeiro (tamborine), atabaque (large drum) those make up the modern Capoeira "orchestras" so to speak. Of course for traditional rodas (pron. ho-dahs, the circles in which you play capoeira, which is made up of other capoeristas singing, clapping, and creating the energy (axé, pron. ah-shay) to play) you need your agogo (two bells you hit with a stick) and reco reco (pron. heck-oo heck-oo, a hollow cylindrical wooden instrument with a ridged outside that you scrape with another stick. You could've played with one of these in kindergarten and not known it just as I did back in '86. )Why we had a couple of those in kindergarten I don't know. Maybe the teacher didn't get around to training us?
I myself train with Capoeira Mandinga Detroit with instructor Trovoada. We meet at the YWCA in Redford, MI on Mondays and Fridays, 6pm-9pm. It's $5 per class but if you want to watch just to get a feel for it, it's absolutely free. For more contact him at (248) 395-2207 or go to the website www.oocities.org/capoeiramandinga
There are many schools all over the world where one can train Capoeira. A specific answer would be difficult to insert here. My question is how do you want to train? What style (Angola, Regional, Contemporana, etc?) and how much do you want to spend on classes and such (since this often a question for broke college students). Your best bet in my opinion is to go to Google, type in Capoeira and the city you live in and go from there. There are also links I have provided on my links page and that may be an easier start for you.
At first I used to be empathetic to this question but now I laugh at it. The mind is a very powerful thing as many may know from experience. Take the old but true miracle story. Some one, for example, may have been in a car crash and was told they were paralyzed from the neck down, never to really move again. Two options can come from this; either wholeheartedly believe in this as your fate while or believe your fate is to over come it. Those that commit to engaging in change receive the most beneficial outcome. So my answer in a roundabout way is yes, you can train Capoeira. I've known people who've had bad hips, knees, wrists, arthritis, asthma (though I'm not sure if I've met someone with all of them at once). I've known persons who were pushing 60 years old and above who play with the grace and fluidity of a child. I even know some who are not the typical standard of athletic build, myself included. When I started playing Capoeira, I was almost 185lbs. Now I'm still slimming down as an after effect from training. Not to say you have to slim down or you will become young again, if you really want to you will find a way to play. You do not have to do all of the moves but with your equipment, you can cater it to your personality, your liking.
This is a question that I still ask myself in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. With everything, it takes practice for it to come. It's practicing musical instruments, moves that your body may not be accustomed to due to everyday lifestyles and postures (ex. sitting at a computer or desk for 8 hours a day) , and a foreign language all at once (if this all is so not familiar to you) so yes, it's gonna be hard as hell to absorb because you're learning a whole new way of life. Nothing will magically fall into your lap. There are some things that may come easy to you and some things you wish you had a genie for but for everything practice makes it come to you.
I included this in my FAQ's because we are in the middle of building our membership here in Detroit. For us to have the perks of any other organization we of course need funds. Most of these funds are for bringing guest Mestres for workshops and Batizados (which are events where a student is inducted into the group or goes for advancement upward in the group). With this we also need funds for rental of space and so on and so forth. Therefore, funding and sponsoring arrangements can be made by contacting our instructor. If you would like to donate funds or services (ex. donating ice and bottled water for our workshops or giving discount airfare or hotel stays for our guest hosts) by all means, contact him at the number above! We'd look forward to working with you.