i study kung fu and have an interest in the other art in question. and from the posts gone before many have some serious flaws with their thought on capoiera. the art does have hand strikes and most of them are directed towards pressure points that bring about uncontiosness. the ginga(or dance), it's rhythym can be changed and adjusted to suit the pace of the fight (so the polka thing won't work. Another inportant point of the art for is that the practioner can start one move and finish with another that's why assuming a capoierist's next move can cost you dearly. your best bet with fighting a capoierist is to fight in close and keep him having to cahange his rhythym as each rhythym has its own mind set and it's harder to do some move at faster or slower rhythyms.

and to anyone who doubts the effectiveness of capoiera just check out the history of the art where a group of slave armed with only razor wiped out an entire army equipped with guns with minimal to no loss.