Do you play sports? Do you really like any sports?

[Ianfe]

To answer your question, TheGuy, Capoeira is a brazilian martial art. Very fast, very acrobatic.

I can never actually explain what Capoeira is like. So, this time I'll just refer you to the wikipedia rticle about it, it's quite thorough.

Copeira @ Wikipedia

You can also visit Capoeira.com to see pictures of it.

I reccomend you search the web for videos of it, though, so you get a real idea of what it looks like "in the flesh". There's tons and some are actually QUITE good.

The interesting thing about Capoeira is that it is mainly practiced in dance form. A Capoeira roda (which is portuguese for "wheel") is a particularly beautiful thing to watch. THere's two main styles, Regional and Angola. Angola is very slow and it's all about strategy. There's a lot of floorwork (sweeping, tripping and pinning), and I suck at it. Regional is more freestyle, and done at actual speed. It's more about reflexes and combat skills, I'm not too bad at that, although my style is very unorthodox, because I tend to use slaps and punches a little bit too much. Capoeira, you see, is all about legwork. Arms are usually used to defend yourself or to do acrobatics (cartwheels, walking on your arms, stuff like that).

... but then again, I'm very clumsy, so I work with the tools I have.

Hey, at least I have the distinction of introducing the Bo to Capoeira, me and  a friend created the style, and it's called "Palo Lungo" (Long stick)... it's such an exclusive style that it's got TWO practitioners in the whole world! W00T!

Hope that answers your question, TheGuy

EDIT: before any of you ask, I am indeed Batizado (baptised), and my Capoeira apelidos (nicknames) are "Chiva" and "Jesú". They both refer to my beard, because I was the only one with facial hair in my group. "Chiva" is a slang word for beard, and "Jesú" as you porobably guessed, is a diminutive of "Jesus"... when I had my long hair and beard (and when I was in college and therefore a LOT thinner) I used to walk to practices in my white baggy cotton pants, no shirt, barefoot and with my Palo Lungo in hand, people said I looked like a prophet or something. Cool story.

2nd EDIT. now you got me excited talking about Capoeira... this site seems to have good info and some interesting videos. Not he best you'll find out there, but good introduction Capoeira4all . IN the Movies section, look in the "Rodas" tab.

[Corsair5]

Ianfe the prophet. When that happens, we know that something is seriously wrong with this world.

[Reish Vedaur]

I have actually found pictures of people performing exactly these moves when I was doing research for my story.  Hurray for now knowing the name of the martial art that practices them

[Silverbolt]

Capoeira was always an intriguing concept.

They used a form of it in the new Prince of Persia game. Impressive stuff, though I doubt Ianfe can run on walls.  

But of course, I couldn't study it anywhere here because "The big fad" is Karate. Psh.

[Ianfe]

I could try to contact my mestre (master) and see if he knows of Capoeira in Romania. Interested?

[Silverbolt]

Not just yet. I'm too busy as it is. Maybe after college and during college when I'll be in a larger city.

[Ianfe]

'k. Let me know, friend.

[Silverbolt]

Leet. Thanks.

[The Guy]

Indeed Ianfe, that does answer my question quite thoroughly. It's good to see that you enjoy talking about your sport so enthusiasticly and that it's just not another thing to do. I seem to keep forgetting that Wikipedia holds a vast amount of knowledge, yet it's nice to know what others have learned from their own experiences.

[Ianfe]

Oh, I'm quite the talker, but only if you pick the right topics.  

[Silverbolt]

South Park, Hero 6 (if you're on the team), "Let's make fun of Silverbolt" (even if you're a complete stranger), "Guys that own swords rock" (I'm still trying to shut him up) and so on.

   

[The Guy]

"Let's make fun of Silverbolt" (even if you're a complete stranger)

hehe I take it that's referring to me. All in good fun, my friend, all in good fun. Capoeria was used in Prince of Persia? I've only seen the game played a few times, so I'm not really sure what to look for other then him running on the walls as you say. I'll assume it's in the fighting form as well. I never really thought of any martial arts as much of a sport, just something used in defending oneself if they were ever in a fight against one or more people.

[Reish Vedaur]

Some of it I guess.  The basic fighting stance the Prince gets into is perhaps something from Capoiera.  He uses some moves such as:
jump in the air with left hand on opponent's shoulder, turning in the air as you flip over him, then spin quickly around and swipe across the spine of the enemy with your scimitar
back up, jump up against a wall lightly, then push directly off the wall and ram the sword forward through an opponent
running up a wall, if you lose your momentum then flip backwards, if not then push off the wall while turning to land on/grab onto a ledge
running across a wall and hoping you don't lose footing
grab a pole, swing on/around it, then release to grab onto another
maybe even the basic sword swipes are taken from Capoiera

I dunno what all of that could be from Capoiera, but remember also that all martial arts are derivative of each other.

[Silverbolt]

Well, of course Capoeira doesn't teach you to walk on walls. But the basic fighting style of the prince is highly acrobatic, i true Capoeira style.

So...yeah.    

[Corsair5]

It sounds like Jade Empire meets Splinter Cell meets Soul Calibur. I played Prince of Persia 1 for PS2 (Not the ancient ones for the far older systems. It seemed to have a fairly simplistic fighting system. Except for the time-traveling thing.