STAGES
01-stage: students don't use belts
02-stage: green belt
03-stage: intermediate belt
04-stage: green and yellow belt
05-stage: intermediate belt
06-stage: yellow belt
07-stage: intermediate belt
08-stage: yellow and blue belt
09-stage: intermediate belt
10-stage: blue belt (instructor)
11-stage: green, yellow and blue belt (professor)
12-stage: green, yellow, blue and white belt (Contra Mestre/a)
13-stage: green and white (Mestre/a first level)
14-stage: yellow and white (Mestre/a second level)
15-stage: blue and white (Mestre/a third level)
16-stage: white belt (Mestre/a absolute)
The colours of the belts are based on the colours of the
Brazilian flag but also on some of the great natural resources,
not only of Brazil but of the entire planet.
The colour green represents hope as well as the green of
the forests that are responsible for purifying our air and the
hope for a long path which we have in front of us, in a universe
which we have just began to get to know (the universe of
capoeira).
The colour yellow represents the great resources which
we have, such as gold and the sun itself. Just as these
resources are there in our nature and culture, our path within
capoeira is likewise full of understanding and wisdom. It
symbolises gold and also the sun as both of them warm and
enlighten our spirit and as well as our body. That is an
incredible richness.
The colour blue represents the blue of the sky which
reflects the immensity of the oceans, which also stands for your
future as a learner of the art of capoeira.
The colour white represents the floods for which we give
a balance and the life inside everything that exists in nature,
as it is also the case within capoeira.
When you have reached that colour you actually have to have the
same importance in the world of capoeira, it is your duty which
guarantees the balance as well as the existence of the art
itself with all its roots.
01-STAGE - Beginner. The student who
begins with capoeira doesn't use a belt. Only after he/she has
learned the basic steps of capoeira he/she will receive the
first belt within a great ceremony that is called the batizado.
02-STAGE - In that stage the student
receives the first belt. The ceremony in which the student will
receive the belt is called batizado, and from there on your
journey in the world of capoeira begins.
03-STAGE - In that stage the student
who has already received the first belt will get the
intermediate one in case he/she has not yet successfully
completed the essential training that is necessary for the green
and yellow belt.
04-STAGE - The student has already
managed to complete the part of his/her journey to receive the
green and yellow belt. In front of him/her, he/she has got a
path full of learning as well as expectations in order to
achieve the next belt.
05-STAGE - In that stage the student
also receives the intermediate belt, which is the preparation
for one of the most important belts that will follow.
06-STAGE - The student receives the
yellow belt. This stage is one of the most important stages as
here we will know whether the student is going to continue with
his/her journey with capoeira or not. This is because the yellow
belt demands a lot of training not only in the physical aspect
but also psychologically. This is because you have already been
a certain time within capoeira, and this stage is also very
complicated because it is the period of time in which your
character within capoeira will be determined. That stage demands
the capacity of control, discipline and seriousness in terms of
your behaviour, movements that you are already able to
perform with your practice of capoeira.
07-STAGE - Once more, this is a stage
in which the student gets the intermediate belt as the following
one, in that stage your apprenticeship of capoeira will be a bit
more strict.
08-STAGE - In that stage the student gets
the yellow and blue belt. As the yellow belt, that belt is one
of the belts which demands a lot of the student. With his/her
practice since the green belt the student needs to have control
over all his/her actions where the capacity of understanding
will be enhanced. It is the simplicity that makes a good
capoeirista.
09-STAGE - Once more, this is a stage
in which the student gets the intermediate belt, that
intermediate belt provides the necessary preparation for
the following belt for you. Good luck. Boa sorte.
10-STAGE - Dies ist die Phase, in der
der/die Schüler/in die blaue Kordel erhält. Mit dieser Kordel
ist er/sie bereit, die Position als Ausbilder/in zu übernehmen.
Er/sie wird mit dem Training, der Ausbildung und der mentalen
und körperlichen Entwicklung fortfahren. Ausserdem besteht die
Notwendigkeit, anderen und sich selbst hilfsbereit und nützlich
gegenüber zu stehen.
11-STAGE - That stage is strongly
anticipated of the student who started without a belt and who
has gone along the long journey of apprenticeship, also with a
lot of difficulties. He/she has passed through all the stages
and is now, with enhanced emotions, at the maximum and thus
he/she receives the so eagerly awaited green, yellow and blue
belt. That is the stage of your formation, in which you will be
apprenticed as a professor of capoeira. There you can never
forget the roots of your apprenticeship, in that level my friend
you will gain the necessity, the more so with each day, to not
only advance the balance in your game but also improve your
emotions and strengthen your ego every moment more, all of which
was formed with loads of fondness, sweat and wisdom. Moreover,
you should always seek the balance of the possible disbalance.
12-STAGE -In that stage you receive
the green, yellow, blue and white belt. With that belt, you have
the title "Contra Mestre/a". In that stage it is allowed that
you express your very own opinion clearly and that you even
debate with your Mestre/a about various topics or questions. But
you may never forget your outright respect for your Mestre/a as
it was him/her who educated and instructed you with all his/her
fondness along your way. Your Mestre/a is like your
father/mother who is always there to help and direct you towards
the good things and to correct you not only within capoeira but
also in life as such. Because after such a long time together
you are more than simply a disciple for your Mestre/a, you are a
friend, a brother/sister, a son/daughter. That is one of the
most important things which you can never forget when you talk
with your Mestre/a about an idea that is different to his/hers.
Also, now you begin your journey to be able to be a Mestre/a
yourself.
13-STAGE - That is the stage in which,
after that long way on your journey, you receive the white and
green belt, together with the title "Mestre/a" of the first
level. In that stage, your necessities and your responsibilities
as a capoeirista are enhanced and multiplied. You cannot forget
your obligation as a cultural educator, that is one of the
fundamental issues that can never be left behind. From here on,
you seek for something much greater. You always try to improve
as a person and evolve every time a bit more. Don't behave like
so many others, never create a barrier in your mind, thinking
that once you have achieved the Mestre/a title, you can use the
power that you have now for your very own advantage, and
therefore creating uncomfortable situations for persons who
admire you and believe in your work and in you as a person.
14-STAGE - In that stage you receive
the yellow and white belt, and the title of a Mestre/a of the
second level. Each time you are more and more focused on
instructing other people who are beginning in the world of
capoeira. You reasonably inform other people who already do
capoeira about that culture with its magical and admirable
aspects. Since your formation you have discovered yourself every
time a bit more as a capoeirista, whereas along your path you
have never forgotten that in the stage which you are in, there
is no space for arrogance. In all the stages that have been
mentioned so far, nothing has been said about the studies and
researches about culture, since that comes along with your
apprenticeship. After some time you feel the necessity to study
more and more about the history and the origins (of capoeira).
15-STAGE - In that stage the reception
of another belt takes place. The blue and white belt give you
the title of Mestre/a of the third level. The thoughts and
expectations are a bit more concrete, many of them become much
more precise and your responsibilities increase as well, not
only with your students but also with the balance of all the
things that make a capoeirista.
16-STAGE - This belt represents the
highest level of capoeira. On that level, you become an absolute
Mestre/a of this wonderful art which also has the goal as well
as the name of "the art of making friends". You should remember
this very well as this has been a part of your journey and your
apprenticeship since your very first day within the capoeira.
THE MESTRE/A IS THE BALANCE OF THE POSSIBLE DISBALANCE AND
CANNOT BE THE DISBALANCE OF A BALANCE THAT ALREADY EXISTS Mestre
Gil.