Capoeira - Cristina Becquet

What is Capoeira?
from: http://mandingueira.com/what-is-capoeira/

The History

Capoeira, as the story goes, is a Brazilian martial art form developed by the African slaves in Brazil over 400 years ago. It combines the potency of violence and fight, the fluidity and expressiveness of dance, the soul-calling power of music, the wit and playfulness of clever games, and the showmanship of acrobatics into one beautiful art form. Although there are many opinions as to how capoeira specifically came to be, popular versions include:

it was a form of self-defense disguised as a dance to ward off landowners’ suspicions
it was a common past-time of slaves while they sold chickens in the market (the current dictionary definition of “capoeira” is chicken coop)
it descended from or was influenced by the N’golo zebra dance in Africa, a contest for young men with a dowry-waived bride as the prize

The Game

While most other martial artists “spar” or “fight”, capoeiristas (practioners of capoeira) play. This is done inside a ring of other capoeiristas, called the roda (pronounced “hoda”, with the “o” as in “hot”, not “hoe”), which means wheel in Portuguese. Players often try to trick and outwit each other, looking for ways to trip the other person up while avoiding having the same happen to them. The capoeira game is also considered a dialogue between two players, with their actions and reactions together forming anything from a pleasant conversation to a heated argument, to rounds of teasing and bantering, to a lesson being given and received.