Article & Interview: Inoisell Miranda (Suado)
Photography: Amber De Vos
Location: MidCity Gym
Humanity’s fascination with combats has been present since the beginning of times. We still have the ruins of arenas warriors, gladiators and fighters left their souls in the battle to proclaim power over another around the world. It can be traced back to the ancient Olympics where one of the earliest documented systems of codified full range unarmed combat was utilized in the sport of Pankration, or even more recently the combat sport of “Vale Tudo (Everything Valid)” that had developed in Brazil from the 1920s, and which was brought to the United States by the Gracie family in 1993 with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the largest Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion company worldwide.
It is pretty interesting how Andre Gusmao became part of the Gracie family. He was called in to replace an injured fighter in an IFL (International Fight League) match and began his career fighting for Renzo Gracie’s New York Pitbulls. He has studied different kinds of martial arts including Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and Taekwondo, but it was not until his sister introduced him to Capoeira that he found his true calling. Andre was just a child when he started training, and by being bullied by older kids, who always thought he was much older because of his height, Gusmao had to defend himself. –“I always trained so hard, much bigger guys would always push me around but I would not care and kept training, I didn’t care about being beat up anymore. Until one day, when I was around 17 or 18 years old, I felt so strong that I just punched the guy in the face, I realized then I was a fighter, after that it simply became worse by the minute”. Shared with us, the now Capoeira Contra Mestre.
Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of music, acrobatics, and dance moves into one. More than a fighting style, it was created in the beginning of the 16th century as a hope of survival, a tool with which an escaped slave, completely unequipped, could survive in hostile, unknown lands. Capoeira evolved from a survival tool to a martial art focused on war back in the day. Many began to use “Capoeiristas” as bodyguards, mercenaries, and even hit men. Groups of Capoeira practitioners, known as Maltas, used to terrorize Rio de Janeiro. In little time, around 1890, Capoeira had become illegal in the whole country. Today, we show gratitude to Mestre Bimba, a fighter of all battles that founded the 1st ever Capoeira School in Salvador – Bahia in 1932. His exceptional teachings and efforts finally paid off when in 1940 Capoeira left the Brazilian penal code and definitely left illegality.
Andre Gusmao is part pioneer of the global Capoeira group Nago along side one the most accomplished Capoeiristas in the world and founder of the group, Mestre Pequines. They used to be part of the group Candieas. -“We had a very unique style about playing Capoeira, if you watched us play in the roda, you knew it was Capoeira Nago, it was very unique and everyone could tell… So inside the group we had our own style and we started doing our own thing, our own style of training”. Nago was founded in November of 2001. Andre’s story is truly impressive and inspiring, he has followed his instincts ever since he can remember, and today inside the fulfillment of his dreams, he trains and teaches people every day, with the support of his Contra Mestre brother Turracha, in his own academy, in New York City. He is the living example of all that we can do when we set our minds to it and focus.
He kindly tells us: “I don’t even know how many countries the group is in by now, it is all over, when I think of the amount of people that teach, how many students we have per teacher, its amazing. There are Colombia, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Spain, Italy, England, France, Germany to name just a few…”
INTERVIEW
Where do you think our bizarre fascination with watching battles and fights comes from?
I think its primitive instinct like sex. If you look at the animal kingdoms, animals always fight to become something like the alpha male, and all the other animals usually stand around and watch. If you think about it, naked people on the streets don’t cause such a commotion, like placing 2 people fighting, everyone comes to watch, its a primitive instinct we posses and we have not gotten over it yet.
What is the scariest injury you have ever had? How did it happen?
I cannot say it’s the scariest, but during one round in a fight, I broke my jaw, ribs and hand. I realized I was in trouble during the 1st round’s brake. It was my third fight and we all thought it was going to be an easy battle, but I sat down and realized I was destroyed. My coach, a really amazing guy said to me “now it’s when you are going to find out what you are made of, are you going to quit or get up and try again? ”. I went back for 2 more rounds and won the fight by points. It was the roughest night of my life.
Word of advice for readers wanting to practice some form of martial arts or self defense, but are stopped by fear or similar circumstances?
Researching about whom you are going to be training with should be the most important thing. There are a lot of schools out there, where guys are not ready to teach, they just open up an academy and start teaching out of the blue. You should know about the instructors, professors or teachers, where they come from, who are the teachers of the instructors, and the teachers of the teachers, go back in the school’s time and find out where they competed and what they are all about. You cannot just show up somewhere and sign up, you could be signing up your own death sentence. There is a school and a method for everyone, find the one that suits you best.
What will you say to those fighters that feel stopped or not motivated anymore?
I could say to keep trying, train harder, etc. However, it is a very personal matter. Fighting is not for everyone, sometimes is just not for you. If it is for you, then get in the ring and fight as much as you can, get to know what you want, if you really want it, then go to the gym and train your ass off, but you cannot doubt about it, if you have doubts, you probably should find something else to do.
The best thing about being a leader is?
Being admire for what you do, for who you really are. To have people follow you because of who you are at the core of your being, is an amazing feeling.
XEX Magazine and fashion editor, Capoeirista “Suado” acknowledges Andre Gusmao for his hard work, his commitment to martial arts and all of his students around the world, XEX-Ceptional job!
Note: All XEX readers get a free fitness class at www.nagoacademy.com. Email andre@nagoacademy.com to find out more and where you can train Capoeira in your city if you live outside of New York.