Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art which combines fighting, acrobatics, dance and music. Created during the 16th Century, time of Portuguese colonial period. African slaves developed this martial art camouflaged as a dance with the hopes of rebelling against their captors. Development mainly in the states of Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Over the years Capoeira has progressed from a forbidden and marginalized art form to an accepted and revered part of Brazilian culture practiced by all classes, genders and races of people.
Participants form a roda (circle) and take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring in pairs in the centre of the circle. The game is marked by fluid acrobatic play, feints, subterfuge, and extensive use of groundwork, as well as sweeps, kicks, and headbutts. Technique and strategy are the key elements to playing a good game. Capoeira has two main styles, known as "Regional" and "Angola."
From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Portugal shipped slaves into South America from western Africa. Brazil was the most common destination for African captives with 42% of all enslaved peoples shipped across the Atlantic. The main Portugal colonies were Angola and Mozambique. These Africans brought their cultural traditions and religions with them to the New World. The homogenization of the African people under the oppression of slavery was the catalyst for Capoeira was developed as a way to resist oppression, secretly practice art, transmit culture, and lift spirits. Some historians believe that the indigenous peoples of Brazil also played an important role in the development of Capoeira.
After slavery was abolished in 1888, the freed people moved to the cities of Brazil and with no employment to be found, many joined or formed criminal gangs. They continued to practice Capoeira, and it became associated with anti-government or criminal activities. As a result, Capoeira was outlawed in Brazil in 1890. The punishment for practicing it was extreme (practitioners would have the tendons on the backs of their feet cut), and the police were vicious in their attempt to stamp out the art. Capoeira continued to be practiced, but it moved further underground. Rodas were often held in areas with plenty of escape routes, and a special rhythm called cavalaria was added to the music to warn players that the police were coming. Capoeira practitioners (capoeiristas) also adopted apelidos or nicknames to make it more difficult for police to discover their true identities. To this day, when a person is baptized into capoeira at the batizado ceremony, they may be given an apelido.
Persecution of the art faded eventually, and was entirely gone by 1918.
MESTRE BIMBA
Mestre Bimba made a major contribution to the preservation of the art by opening the first academy for instruction in Capoeira. This was a significant development because it eventually led to the legalization of the art in Brazil, and allowed Capoeira to gain popularity at a time when the art could possibly have died out. A notable example of the influence of Meste Bimba's system of formal instruction took place in 1937, when he was invited to perform with his students at an event at which Getulio Vargas, the president of Brazil at that time, was present. Vargas was so impressed with the discipline and devotion of Mestre Bimba's students he declared Capoeira the national sport of Brazil. Mestre Bimba also had a major impact on the practice and method of instruction of the art, and introduced changes that effect the practice of the art to this day. Because of these changes Mestre Bimba remains a controversial figure.
Prior to the legalization of the art, the public associated the art of Capoeira with the poor underclass, criminal activity, and negative stereotypical elements of the afro-brazilian population. In order to alter the image of the art in the eye of the public, Mestre Bimba removed many of the rituals and traditions of the art of capoeira for practice in his academy. Mestre Bimba's capoeira is now called Capoeira Regional, or simply Regional. Mestre Bimba's capoeira continued to gain popularity, but eventually an effort was made to prevent the art from losing its traditions and rituals.
MESTRE PASTINHA
In 1942, Mestre Pastinha opened the first formal academy for instruction in the traditional form of the art, known as Capoeira Angola. Mestre Pastinha's efforts prevented Capoeira Angola from being lost as newer, modernized forms of the art gained popularity.
This era was a milestone of a dramatic change in the mode of instruction of the art of Capoeira. Previously, Capoeira was passed on in secret, usually from a relative such as one's father or uncle, or in a small group setting where several young people in a particular community would receive guidance from elder practitioners from that community. During this era, the academy system became the predominant form of participation in the art. Presently, there are capoeira academies on almost every continent of the world.
Another significant change that occurred due to the proliferation of capoeira 'schools' is the participation of middle and upper class members of the population. Presently, some Mestres participate in seminars where they discuss the need to make the art available to poor blacks who can not afford the cost of training in an academy. This is an issue of concern to practitioners who recognize the importance of making the art available to people who come from the culture that invented the art in the first place.
CAPOEIRA ANGOLA
Angola is considered to be the mother form of capoeira and is often characterized by deeply held traditions, slower, sneakier movements played closer to the ground and with the players playing their games in closer proximity to each other than in regional or contemporanea.
The father of modern capoeira Angola is considered to be Mestre Pastinha who lived in Salvador, Bahia. Today, most of the capoeira Angola media that is accessible in the United States comes from mestres in Pastinha's lineage. This isn't to say that he was the only one or that he was the originator. Many others helped in the preservation and propagation of capoeira Angola.
The Angola style, while emphasizing the traditions and history of capoeira remains a contemporaneous art in the vibrant street scene of Salvador, Bahia. There is a diversity of styles and players, all of the traditional form, playing or performing in a great range of speeds and testing each other in various academies and in the street.
CAPOEIRA REGIONAL
Regional is a newer and more martially-oriented game. Regional was developed by Mestre Bimba to make capoeira more mainstream and accessible to the public, and less associated with the criminal elements of Brazil. While capoeiristas can sometimes play Angola-like, slow games, the regional style is most often composed of fast and athletic play.
Later, so called modern regional came to be (see the next section about capoeira Contemporânea). Developed by other people from Bimba's regional, this type of game is characterized by high jumps, acrobatics, and spinning kicks. This regional should not be confused with the original style created by Mestre Bimba.
Regional ranks capoeiristas (capoeira players) by ability, denoting different skill with the use of a corda (colored rope, also known as cordel or cordão) worn as a belt. Angola does not use such a formal system of ranking, relying instead upon the discretion of a student's mestre. In both forms, though, recognition of advanced skill comes only after many years of constant practice.
