Capoeira dance of freedom

Here's about capoeira of freedom.

THEY STOOD together in the circle, rhythmically clapping and singing, their instructor's words pelting them harder than the rain.

"You need energy, guys," Eddie Jimenez barked. "Capoeira - energy, energy. If you're not going to have the energy to sing, you're not going to have the energy to [do cartwheels] or do backflips."

Here, Jimenez is known as "Tucano," professor of Capoeira, the Brazilian exercise that combines martial arts, dance, music and acrobatics in a unique display that makes improvised fights look as choreographed as ballet.

The students will do all of it at this free class, held at noon Saturdays, through Sept. 19, in Long Island City's Socrates Sculpture Park.

And they might have to do one more thing.

"You've got to feel Capoeira," said Allan Montalvao, who's known as "Professor Abara." "Mostly, the music and the feeling of freedom Capoeira gives you."

Montalvao started the park program and has taught Capoeira for several years at Club Fitness, an Astoria gym.

The collection of 20-something and 30-something students who braved the rain on a recent Saturday said they enjoy the liberating feeling of a unique workout.

But there's something more.

"It's almost spiritual," newcomer Erin Johnson said.

Capoeira's feeling of freedom may have once taken a more literal form. The dance aspect of Capoeira, which begins with a simple ginga, or swing, movement, has been traced to African slaves' attempts to find a stealth training form to overcome their Brazilian captors. While historians debate this origin, the awarding of cords for progress - like belts in karate - honors the notion.

"We wear the cords because the slaves once were bound by them," Jimenez said. "It symbolizes freedom."

The two-hour class at Socrates Sculpture Park ends with the students forming a roda, or wheel, and preparing to show what they've learned by entering the circle. Beginners practice their dodges and circular kicks to emulate their teachers' fluid movements as Jimenez grabs the berimbau - a Brazilian instrument that looks like a bow without the arrow - and sings about his culture and Capoeira's history.

"It's very unique," Montalvao said. "It starts as a sport. Later, it becomes a philosophy of life."