Basic HTML Version
Touchline • Issue 18 • 23
ormally, when you think Brazilian sport,
you think soccer. But for the original
Brazilian sport, one wholly conceived on
the banks of the Amazon, then you need
to take a look at capoeira.
Capoeira exploded onto the global stage at the end
of the 20th century, indirectly starting the craze for
dynamic dance/fitness methodologies that have
since brought us zumba and piloxing. At Brazilian
festivals around the world, the steaming cauldrons
of black beans and the churro vans began to be
fronted by the gyrating twirling of a capoeirista. The
movements are fluid and graceful, and it did not
hurt the burgeoning popularity that the practitioners
were usually shirtless and ripped.
Today, capoeira has become a world sport, being
practised in hundreds of cities. The rise of its
popularity it due in part to the levels of fitness it
imbues along with its genuine facility for inflicting
damage to an opponent.
The sport is technically a martial art, where the body
is the primary weapon. But the movements and the
subsequent development of its cultural aspect mean
that it is easily recognised as a dance. Therefore, it is
enjoyable to play and exciting to watch.
The central movement is called the ginga, which
literally means to rock back and forth. This keeps
the capoeirista alert and active, prepared to attack
or defend. He crouches low and moves from side to
side. The defensive methodology of the sport is to
avoid blows rather than block. This dodge can then
be turned into an attack. The strikes are primarily
dealt with the legs, with wide sweeps or kneeing
typical of the sport.
While the performance aspect of capoeira is
important, it is worth remembering that this is a
martial art and bouts were initially designed to act
as self-defence. Therefore, in its purest form, the
strikers are attempting head or vital-area shots in
order to put their opponent down fast. Naturally, in
today’s form, capoeiristas pull their blows before
they can inflict damage.
The history is that capoeira is as mysterious as it is
fascinating. As with most martial arts, it started as
a defence system for oppressed people and became
an expression of cultural pride. Eventually, it took
its place as a significant cultural marker for all
Brazilians.
With the Portuguese invasion of what is now
Brazil and the inevitable decimation of the local
population, there came a massive influx of African
slaves to South America. These slaves began to
practice a nascent type of capoeira from an early
stage, but it is unclear whether the art was imported
from Africa along with the slaves or it developed
once they arrived in Brazil.
While working in horrific conditions under the
Portuguese, it offered them a source of pride and
self-defence, but it really came into its own for
escaped slaves. Given the huge size of Brazil, these
slaves often formed autonomous city-states called
Qullombos. Portuguese authorities regularly tried
to bring these rebel states back into the colony but
were pushed back. The facts are sketchy, but there
is evidence that a central part of the defence of the
Qullombos was capoeira.
With the abolition of slavery in the 1880s, former
slaves were left without jobs and homes. The new
Commonwealth of Brazil was in upheaval and
lawlessness dominated the cities. Capoeiristas were
hired as muscle by competing gangs and became
notorious for the damage they could inflict. The
martial art was banned and police were encouraged
to inflict capoeiristas with serious pain. When caught,
they were often tortured and then murdered.
The sport went underground and almost
disappeared, but in the 1920s a man from the
northern city of Salvador called Mestre Bimba
successfully reorganised the art into a sport. His
formalising of the art pulled its teeth to a certain
extent but somewhat rehabilitated it. Tourists had
for years been enjoying the aesthetic aspect of the
sport and this reorganised form became known as
Regionale Capoeira.
In the 1940s, the official ban was lifted and the older
form was allowed to be resurrected, and became
known as Angolan, a nod to its African roots.
Today, capoeira in many ways encapsulates the
Brazilian journey. Hardship and oppression have
forged an art that is exuberant yet practical.
N