I had another minor breakthrough with capoeira recently. Nothing to do with technique, however. Last Wednesday evening I finally plucked up the courage to go and practise in public -- I ran to and a couple of time around the park near the old asylum, and then found an empty corner, cued up the appropriate soundtrack on my MP3 player and did about 10 minutes of capoeira practice. Nothing too fancy, as it was too warm and humid to expend much energy.

No one batted an eyelid. My audience was three cats, and the other people in the park just jogged or walked on by. I mentioned this the next evening to a friend of mine who is also a capoeirista, though as an angoleiro he doesn't train with our class. He'd had a similar experience, and said "in fact, after a while you kind of get annoyed that people aren't stopping and staring".