Carioca LightLegs evasions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XobHmV02Jwc

Capoeira Carioca had four powerful core evasions (evasive maneuvers).

All four are designed to use LightLegs (unlike the esquivas of modern capoeira); so they are very fast and dynamic. You cannot do them properly without LightLegs, so do not even try.

But they are also much more than evasions; as you will see, they can be used to counterattack; to launch very fast attacks using hands; and finally, to train LightLegs elastic power.


Voadora

Equip LightLegs; from the left rear position of the Peneiracao, jump forward with your right foot from your left foot, along opponent's side, turning a bit leftward towards him; landing first on your right, then on your left toes.

To counterattack at the same time as you evade, launch an External slap with your left hand, hitting opponent's right ear.

Done properly from the evade, this will be done with Seduction1 mechanics, making it very fast.


Arqueada

Equip LightLegs; from the right rear position of the Peneiracao, step to the left with your left foot; then arch your body (hence, Arqueada), put your left hand on the ground(fingers only, not the palm) and kneel on your right knee; your right forearm in front of your face.

To get up, simply spring up on both feet directly from Arqueada. Done properly, this is very fast

To counterattack, execute just a partial Arqueada (without dropping to the ground) to evade; and at the same time, execute an Elbow jab with your right elbow-tip into opponent's eye.

Done properly from the evade, this will be done with Seduction1 mechanics, making it very fast.

 

On Calixto's caricature, the left capoeira does an Arqueada (powering a razor attack); while the one on the right evades with a Voadora and counters with an External slap.


Resistencia

Equip LightLegs; from right rear position of the Peneiracao, step forth with your left leg; then step your right foot towards it, putting both feet together, up on your toes and squatting down, supporting yourself with your right hand behind you(fingers only, not the palm!). You left arm protects your face.

To get up, you can use role; or bend your left arm around your neck to spring up on both feet. This is also very fast.

To counterattack, execute just a partial Resistencia (without dropping to the ground) to evade; at the same time, execute an Internal slap with your right hand into opponent's mouth or right eye.

You can also execute a Low rasteira with your right leg from Resistencia if you are quick enough.

 

Queda de tres

Equip LightLegs; from right rear position of Peneiracao, step forth with your left leg; then sweep your right leg forward (more or less straight), left foot getting up on your toes and squatting down, supporting yourself  first with your right, then with your left hand behind you(fingers only, not the palms!).

To get up, you can use role; or kick up with your front leg to lift you up on both feet.

This maneuver puts a tremendous pressure on the standing leg; so it can be used to crush opponent's groin after you take him down.

You can also execute Cabecada solta directly from it; in Azevedo's O Cortico, the following combination is described:

The attacker swings with a punch; capoeira drops down into Queda de tres and kicks opponent's groin with his front leg.

Then he stands up and as the opponent tries to reattack, cabecada shots him in the soil.

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To counterattack, execute just a partial Queda de tres (without dropping to the ground) to evade; at the same time, execute an Internal slap with your right hand into opponent's mouth or right eye.

On a historic caricature, the capoeira in the middle does a partial Queda de tres to evade a razor slash and counters with an internal slap.

 

General notes

All four evasions should be of course done from Peneiracao; in a relatively straightforward manner. Just step forward with your rear leg to keep LightLegs on and drop down.

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As you see, each evasion can be done partially; and this allows you to launch a counterattack with your hand at the same time as you evade. The counterattack will be very fast, because the evasions themselves (done using LightLegs) allow you to execute the hand techniques with Seduction1 modificator, giving them a Quickstart.

If you try this out properly, you will notice that these combinations of evasions and hand jabs are so quick they can be used even as attacks; like whole-body jabs.

This is also why the evasions power the weapon techniques of Carioca too; as you will see in the section on weapons. So if you want to master Carioca weapons, master its evasions first!

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Carioca evasions as a training method

Because Carioca evasions are powered by LightLegs, they can also be used to train the elastic power of the tendons, ligaments and joints in the legs.

This makes them the best training exercise for your joints. However, you must train them slowly and gradually!

Do the training only twice weekly! Tendons and ligaments take longer to recover than muscles.
Start with a few (3-5) repetitions of the Arqueada; increasing when you are comfortable.

When you can do 10 comfortably; switch into Resistencia (one rep); then again, when you can do 10 reps of Resistencia, switch into Queda de tres (one rep).
Finally, when you can do 10 reps of Queda de tres comfortably, start with one rep of Queda de tres get up. Increase gradually to ten get ups.

To repeat: Do this training slowly and gradually; no more than twice weekly and no more than 10 reps Only increase reps when you are comfortable. If you go too fast, you will hurt your joints.

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Doing this exercise will give you strong joints in your legs, and will make your LightLegs maneuvers very fast.

I believe it can even repair damaged joints (including cartilage); because joints are designed for dynamic loading and LightLegs are the most dynamic activity the body can do.

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To sum it up, LightLegs evasions are the core maneuvers of Carioca; master them well.

 

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Bonus: Pulo do gato

There was an additional evade used in Carioca, especially from the arched positions which were results of Negacas applied by the opponent.

It looks similar to the common backhandspring(Snake); however, it uses a different archetype - Snake+LightLegs. This makes it go slightly sideways; making it a lot faster and you are able to do it from 'impossible' positions.

The jump is almost the same as in Calcanheira, but without the initial step-in and the final kick.

Note that you cannot use normal backhandspring in capoeiragem, as it is too slow and also cannot be done from various arched positions.

(Compare it with Pulo mortal and Mortal frente of old Bahian capoeira).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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