What is Capoeira:
Capoeira was created nearly 500 years ago in Brazil by enslaved African peoples (many from the African nation Angola). Taken from their homes against their will and kept in slavery, they started inventing fighting techniques for self-defense, incorporating ideas they carried from their homelands fused to new innovations.
To disguise their fight training from their captors, the founders of Capoeira used their traditional music, singing and dancing to disguise the martial art as a folk dance. Thus, Capoeira continued its development and soon became not only for self-defense but for rebellion against slavery, which resulted in many free communities of Black folks in Brazil called Quilombos. To maintain freedom, Capoeira was taught to resist the Brazilian Government’s attempts to re-enslave Afro-Brazilian peoples.
Over time, and after slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888, Capoeira was criminalized by the Brazilian Government and had to continue being disguised as folk music and dance. During this “second phase” of Capoeira, a lot of police brutality was used to suppress Capoeira. Finally, in 1932 and taking full effect in 1936, Capoeira was legalized as a legitimate martial art to be practiced in Brazil, this is the modern phase of Capoeira which leads us to today.
I (Mr. G) have been practicing Capoeira since 2012 and martial arts, in general since 1991. I hope to teach you about Capoeira in a martial arts club, if you choose it as a block 4 class. We can learn songs in Portuguese, play instruments, learn about the famous heroes of Capoeira, and learn the acrobatics, as well as offensive and defensive movements of Capoeira.
What is Mr. G showing:
1. A video demonstration of three movements woven together into a sequence: meia-lua de compasso, chapéu-de-couro, and macaco. These are movements that may look impressive, but can be learned with dedication and hard work. I can teach you these movements if you join my martial arts block 4 class.
2. A song about an Afro-Brazilian folk hero and player of Capoeira named Manoel Henrique Pereira (his Capoeira name was Besouro Preto or Black Beetle) who was born in the city of Santo Amaro in the Brazilian state of Bahia in 1895, and died in 1924 from “a puncture wound”.
Click here to learn more about Mr. Pereira’s life.
Click here to see the lyrics (in Portuguese and English) to a Capoeira song that we sing about him.
Click here to see a YouTube video with lyrics on the screen to the song.
