Capoeira Round Off - Au Agulha

This video shows how to do an Au Agulha (lit: Needle Wheel), which is basically a capoeira round-off. A round-off is like a cartwheel where you close your legs in the middle and bounce off the balls of your feet in order to do a high back flip or a back handspring. Learn the normal Au (capoeira cartwheel) before you try the Au Agulha. For more capoeira videos, click here. Also don't forget to check out the animated capoeira section.

Execution

Start from the ginga and step to the left like if you were going to do a normal au.
Plant your left hand on the floor and swing your right leg up. In gymnastics you would reach forward at least one body length. In capoeira you should not move away from your opponent too much.
Then plant your right hand so that your fingers point to the direction where you came from.
Swing up your other leg and go through a handstand position with your legs closed.
From there you whip your legs down and push with your hands.
Land on both feet at the same time.
From here you can do a back flip, a back handspring, go back to your ginga or surprise your opponent with a straight attack.

Advice

Your opponent would expect a flip after your au agulha.
Keep in mind that in capoeira, the round-off (au agulha) is a short/fast movement, while the gymnastic round-off is a wide movement.
Learn the normal au (cartwheel) before you try the au agulha.
Try to look at your opponent while doing an au agulha. (kinda difficult at the beginning)
Warm up and stretch your legs before you try any capoeira jumps.

Performance

In this Video: Capoeira Team - Cordao de Ouro from Bolivia
Club: Capoeira Bolivia - Cordao de Ouro
Location: La Paz - Bolivia
Taped by: Mavi

Suggestions

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