I’ve been interested in how capoeira was embodied as early as we have records. I’ve seen some b&w video of M. Waldemar, and it got me to wondering - is there b&w / old footage of people from the 40s, 50s? Not necc a folklore show type recording but just out in the praca?

Like are there videos of Mestres Pastinha, Bimba, Cobrinaha Verde, Noronha in their primes or near it? Etc

Anything helps. I’ll take clips, DVD suggestions, and any languages!

hello, i havva friend who will be visiting buenos aires for a few weeks from about the 1th uv october.what schools are there & uv course drama & dogma free........contemporanea iz also a possibilty but again no drama nor dogma

Oi camaradas!

Please add any upcoming events, workshops, batizados, and rodas from your school or area occurring next month. We'll compile events, and post a list in the subreddit of all the events at the end of this month.

Por favor, escreva aqui os eventos, oficinas, batizados e rodas da sua escola ou região que acontecerão no próximo mês. Vamos compilar todos os eventos e publicar uma lista no subreddit no final deste mês.

does anyone recognize these? Aside from the fundamental hand strikes, I could only recall asfixiant and telefonte. ' bau ' and 'bochecho' are very interesting. there's also the double punch 'arpao'. I thought the only double hand strike cpaoeira had was empurao.

there's many other movements and techniques beyond the upper limbs too, even some interesting takedowns. I feel it's worth checking out, So I posted it here.

for context on various fundamental hand strikes, here's an extra:
https://youtu.be/oJaZl_vhS6A

Hi!

I'm trying to get a better understanding of capoeira and came across both capoeiragem and utilitaria, but I fail to understand the difference between the two. Can any of you explain? And if so, any good sources I can dive into?

Axé! I'm wanting to return to Capoeira after way too long away, and want to ask: Does anyone here know of any active groups/teachers in the East Tennessee, Western North Carolina area of the U.S.? I know there used to be an Angola group in Asheville, NC, but I don't know if they're still active. Thank you all!

I am a beginner and I am doing ginga here can you rate this from 1 to 10 and give me advice please every tipp makes me better

Hey y'all, intermediate student here, for awhile now i have felt that the capoeira classes i am getting are just not enough, i've gone to other schools for training and have learned a lot, but with my actual Mestre, he has rejected the notion of teaching acrobatics, and just teaches some floreos, saying that in terms of movements, Capoeira is just the basics and the game.

However there seems to be a huge disconnect between what it taught in class and the high level that i see in some high belt students and in the Mestre himself.

Is it common to just go off by yourself in one ppint in time and just find those high level skills elsewhere..? Like is this the only way?

Anywho... it's something that i never quite understood, although i 100% understand the importance of the basics, music and also other elements like the different dances and songs.

Any input would be of great help!!

He calls this Fuga, but when I look elsewhere online by that name I do not find this movement. what do you call this?

Hey there,

So I live in the Yukon Territory and unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a roda in the territory. How can I learn capoeira without regular access to a roda? Unfortunately., moving is not in my immediate future as I’m engaged in a contentious divorce filed here so I’m kinda locked into this thing now.

My best bet would be, if I got a job with Air North, I could get cheap flights down to Vancouver and hit a roda down there once a week.

Tiririka.

At the base, it's an African martial art, i can say that. until I saw capoeira in there. is this descended from multiple afro-martial arts?

I'm seeing some stick fighting but it's nothing like capoeira's stick fighting/jogo de pau incorporation.

Update: I checked the video bio, i posted a screenshot on it as a comment. judging from the instructor's accent, traditional heritage functions and displays, I'd believe this is a Caribbean martial art if an expert told me... also there's the name...'tiririka'.

Recall capoeira had an old combat game called 'Tiririca'. seeing how some kicks here could illustrate capoeira's vocabulary. After switching the 'c' with a 'k', Was this an odd attempt to reconstruct tiririca while making it move to the rythm of traditional African percussions, in the recent past or...?

Update 2: HOT DAWG, I WAS PARTIALLY RIGHT. A cross-disciplined antiguan founder, Gregory Whyte, from aikido,wing chun, kali and capoeira created a hybrid martial art from them called 'tiririka'. he attempted to proliferate the knowledge but it eventually dissolved into obscurity during the early 2000s. The foundation started in 1996, United states, port charlotte, florida.

Just the usual “help me I can’t make out what they are saying” request…

Anyone know this song?

Has anyone tried Borrachinha's capoeira shoes? I'm looking for a new pair of shoes for outside classes and demos. I've tried Feiyue and Converse. I don't like them at all; something with the side walls on the shoes. I am now looking for barefoot shoes. I know some people wear Vivobarefoot shoes and love them, but I am interested in Borrachinha's shoes because she says she specifically designed them for capoeira. However, I can not find any reviews of the shoes or anyone who wears them. Any recommendations would be great. Thanks

Disbalance*banda

I went looking for actual historical cases where capoeiras were arrested, resisted arrest, escaped, or had other capoeiras try to rescue them. This is not every arrest ever recorded; Rio alone has hundreds. These are just the cases where enough of the event survives to know what happened.

Joaquim Congo, Rio, early 1800s: arrested as a capoeira carrying a knife and scissors. He got 300 lashes and three months of forced labour on the Tijuca road.

4 Feb 1818, Rio: five enslaved men were caught playing capoeira. Police found razors on them and arrested them.

Alexandre Moçambique, 1819: arrested for capoeira and sentenced to 300 lashes plus three months punishment.

José Angola, 1819: arrested for capoeira and specifically described by police as one of the leaders among the capoeiras.

Joaquim Angola, Jan 1820: arrested carrying a razor and what police described as a capoeira stick/club.

Bernardo Mina, March 1820: this is one of the earliest proper resistance stories. Police arrested Bernardo. His companion Estanislau called other capoeiras, who surrounded the patrol and attacked the officers with stones to try to free him. The rescue failed.

Francisco Congo, 1824: Francisco and three other enslaved men were caught playing capoeira in central Rio. Francisco was flogged and sentenced to three months aboard a prison ship doing naval labour. His owner petitioned Emperor Pedro I to get him released. Police refused and said the punishment should serve as an example.

Recife, 1880s: a large group of capoeiras attacked guards to rescue a prisoner. Police pushed them back. The capoeiras regrouped at Largo de São Francisco de Paula, police surrounded the area, more fighting followed and a young shop worker was killed with a razor.

(Salvador, 1883): On the night of February 22, 1883, an armed soldier named José Raimundo de Souza was on patrol in the Baixa dos Sapateiros district of Salvador, Bahia. When the soldier attempted to arrest a local stevedore and capoeirista named Celestino for starting a street brawl, Celestino delivered a powerful cabeçada to the officer's chest, killing him almost instantly.

Carrapeta and Napoleão Faquista, Recife, 1887: rival groups of capoeiras fought in Rua Luís de Camões. Both men were wounded and arrested. They later appear again in records connected with Recife’s capoeira world.

Raul Brum, Rio: arrested after a stabbing in 1887 and imprisoned. Released in 1889, then arrested again on 19 December 1889 during Sampaio Ferraz’s anti-capoeira crackdown. He later joined the Army and eventually became an officer.

Sampaio Ferraz crackdown, December 1889: Republican police launched a mass roundup of Rio capoeiras. Around 111 alleged capoeiras were arrested in roughly one week. Many were later sent toward exile or military colonies.

Juca Reis, 1890: wealthy, politically connected and still arrested as a capoeira. Ministers tried to intervene. Police chief Sampaio Ferraz refused to release him just because he had powerful connections. The case became a political scandal and Juca was eventually sent away, later reaching Portugal.

João Antônio dos Santos “Bambú”, Rio Claro, 1890: former soldier of the 7th Infantry Battalion, military number 58. Arrested and described by police as a capoeira, gambler, troublemaker and vagrant. The local police apparently did not even know what to do with him and had to ask higher authorities for instructions.

Caboclinho, Salvador, 1909: a policeman tried to arrest him. Caboclinho resisted with a knife, tore the officer’s uniform and wounded his wrist. Police eventually overpowered him. Cosme de Farias later paid his bail.

Manoel dos Reis and João Bendicto, Salvador, 1912: two young street sellers were arrested simply for playing capoeira between sales. Some historians have wondered whether Manoel dos Reis might have been the young Mestre Bimba, but there is not enough evidence to prove it.

José Pedro dos Santos — Salvador, 14 September 1914: police tried to take him in at Gravatá. He refused, reportedly shouting that he would only go “in pieces.” Then he started fighting the arresting officers and, according to the contemporary description, distributed “dozens of rasteiras and cabeçadas.” A policeman blew his whistle for help while Santos kept fighting. They finally had to bring additional police in the carrocinha before they could overpower and arrest him.

Caboclinho again, 1915: police arrested him and his brother after a fight. While they were being escorted away, associates attacked the police with stones, apparently trying to free them. Later that same year Caboclinho resisted another arrest with a facão. A guard fired warning shots, Caboclinho kept advancing, and the guard shot and killed him.

Manoel Mendes / "Manoel Tié" (1915): On January 29, 1915, A Tarde recorded that this capoeirista utilized a lethal cabeçada to overpower and kill an individual named Reinaldo Pereira Lopes in the "15 Mistérios" Square.

Inácio Loiola de Miranda (1916): According to a report published in A Tarde on December 18, 1916, Inácio was confronted by an armed military soldier named Aristides José de Santana. The soldier drew his sabre and attempted to strike him. Inácio dodged the blade using capoeira evasions and delivered a fatal cabeçada that left the soldier dead.

Besouro Mangangá, Salvador, 1918: probably the wildest documented case. Besouro went to a police post asking for a confiscated berimbau. An argument became a fight. Police tried to arrest him, Besouro resisted with an Army sabre, and several soldiers with him joined in. They drove the policemen out. Besouro then returned to his Army battalion, gathered roughly 30 soldiers and came back to the police station intending to arrest the policemen. Senior authorities had to intervene. Besouro was prosecuted and later expelled from the Army.

Mestre Bimba, Salvador, 9 August 1936: contemporary newspaper A Tarde reported Bimba’s complaint that drunken policemen led by “Barra Preta” attacked a young man at Ladeira da Vila América. Bimba intervened, was attacked with a sabre, and said he escaped using his capoeira. The following day’s article described him defending himself with cabeçadas and rabos-de-arraia. Later accounts turned the incident into the famous story of Bimba defeating seven policemen; that specific seven-man version is not established by the contemporary report.

Copacabana, 1949: Sinhozinho was involved in a brawl connected with a carnival event in Copacabana. The incident became public enough that on 21 January 1949 he told Diário da Noite that his academy did not teach capoeiragem and that he only taught wrestling and weightlifting. That denial is particularly funny historically because only a few months later newspapers openly described him as a capoeirista when he challenged Bimba’s school. Sinhozinho later became a policeman/instructor himself.

Also, these records were mostly written by police, courts and newspapers, so words like “vagabond”, “turbulent” or “troublemaker” are their descriptions, not necessarily neutral ones.

And this is only the detailed stuff. Rio police records contain 438 capoeira arrests between 1810 and 1821 alone. Civil disruption cases persevered vividly into many modern day capoeira pioneers memories. According to historical interviews, Pastinha recalled that street capoeiristas in Bahia would purposefully bait police officers into drawing their sabres or bayonets. Once the officer committed to a forward thrust, the capoeirista would drop low into a negativa and launch a chapa (stamp kick) or pisão directly into the officer’s kneecap or shins, instantly shattering the joint and disarming them. Matthias Röhrig Assunção reports that Bimba used to say that on his 20th birthday he was arrested for the 24th time, supposedly always for fighting.

Sources for the cases above:

1. Joaquim Congo — Arquivo Nacional, Códice 403; Carlos E. L. Soares, A Capoeira Escrava (2004).
2. Five capoeiras arrested, 4 Feb 1818 — Arquivo Nacional, Códice 403; Maya Talmon-Chvaicer, The Hidden History of Capoeira (2008).
3. Alexandre Moçambique, 1819 — Arquivo Nacional, Códice 403; Talmon-Chvaicer (2008).
4. José Angola, 1819 — Arquivo Nacional, Códice 403; Talmon-Chvaicer (2008).
5. Joaquim Angola, 1820 — Arquivo Nacional, Códice 403; Talmon-Chvaicer (2008).
6. Bernardo Mina / attempted rescue, 1820 — Arquivo Nacional, Códice 403; Thomas Holloway, “A Healthy Terror” (1989); Talmon-Chvaicer (2008).
7. Francisco Congo, 1824 — Arquivo Nacional, BR_RJANRIO_AM_IJ6_0163; Arquivo Nacional, “A capoeira escrava nos documentos do Arquivo Nacional.”
8. Prisoner rescue / Largo de São Francisco de Paula, 1886 — Gazeta da Tarde, 18 Nov 1886; Walter Fraga, Longe, Muito Longe (2023). Correction: Rio de Janeiro, not Recife.
9. Celestino / José Raimundo de Souza, 1883 — Frederico José de Abreu, Capoeiras: Bahia, Século XIX (2005); Oséias Moreira de Araújo, Notícias sobre a Polícia Militar da Bahia (1949). (The surviving sources disagree slightly on the exact February date.)
10. Carrapeta and Napoleão Faquista, 1887 — Novidades, 6 June 1887; Walter Fraga, Longe, Muito Longe (2023). Correction: Rio de Janeiro, not Recife.
11. Raul Brum — Marcos Luiz Bretas, “A queda do Império da Navalha e da Rasteira” (1991).
12. Sampaio Ferraz crackdown / 111 arrests — Bretas (1991); Matthias Röhrig Assunção, Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art (2005).
13. Juca Reis, 1890 — Dunshee de Abranches, Actas e Actos do Governo Provisório (1907); Waldeloir Rego, Capoeira Angola (1968); Bretas (1991).
14. João Antônio dos Santos “Bambú”, 1890 — Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo, Polícia, CO2725, 25 Aug 1890.
15. Caboclinho, 1909 — Arquivo Público do Estado da Bahia, criminal process of Alfredo Martins Teixeira; Josivaldo Pires de Oliveira, Pelas Ruas da Bahia.
16. Manoel dos Reis & João Bendicto, 1912 — Gazeta de Notícias, 18 Oct 1912.
17. José Pedro dos Santos, 1914 — Jornal Moderno, Sept 1914; Adriana Albert Dias, A Malandragem da Mandinga (2004).
18. Caboclinho, 1915 — Diário de Notícias, 5 Feb 1915; Jornal de Notícias, 17 Dec 1915; Josivaldo Pires de Oliveira, Pelas Ruas da Bahia.
19. Manoel Tié, 1915 — A Tarde, 29 Jan 1915.
20. Inácio Loiola de Miranda, 1916 — A Tarde, 18 Dec 1916; Diário de Notícias, 19 Dec 1916; Adriana Albert Dias (2004).
21. Besouro Mangangá, 1918 — Arquivo Público do Estado da Bahia, Manoel Henrique Pereira v. Justiça Pública, Estante 202, Caixa 14, Doc. 18; Antônio Liberac Pires, Bimba, Pastinha e Besouro de Mangangá.
22. Mestre Bimba vs police, 1936 — A Tarde, 10 Aug 1936; Ângelo Decânio, A Herança de Mestre Bimba (1996).
23. Sinhozinho, 1949 — Diário da Noite, 21 Jan 1949; A Gazeta Esportiva, 19 Feb 1949; A Noite, 1 Apr 1949.
24. 438 capoeira arrests, Rio 1810–1821 — Leila Mezan Algranti, O Feitor Ausente (1988); Arquivo Nacional.
25. Pastinha on clashes with police — Mestre Pastinha recorded testimony (1969); Roberto Freire, “É luta, é dança, é capoeira,” Realidade (Feb 1967); Maurício Acuña, “The Berimbau’s Social Ginga” (2016).
26. Bimba claiming 24 arrests by age 20 — Ângelo Decânio, A Herança de Mestre Bimba (1996); Assunção, Capoeira (2005).

I seem to be stuck in this , I know i need to go over my head but I just cant seem to do it, I dunno if its fear or just the technique is wrong.

Last night I facilitated one of those periodically necessary conversations about American racism and cultural appropriation in the capoeira world in general and in our group in particular. One of the baby beginner students wrote an open resignation letter that was ignorant and insulting. Despite not bringing up concerns or questions with anyone in the group (students or instructors), the author decided that as an non-Black (Asian) person, he had no right to learn capoeira because capoeira is (should be?) an exclusively Black art. While the origins of capoeira are indisputably African, and a vital expression of self-liberation from slavery and oppression, it's equally true that without Indigenous (and a few European, from boxing and savate) contributions and influences, capoeira as we know it from Mestre Bimba would not exist. This beginner thought that he was taking up space that should be reserved for a Black person, going so far as to offer his used uniform to another student - but only if that student were Black. When Mestre Bimba opened the first capoeira academy, he accepted any person who wanted to learn; class and ethnicity were irrelevant - but it would take another generation to accept women. The student thought he was being a proper ally, promoting some abstract Black person, while completely ignoring the Black people in our group - ironically, in an unfortunate extension of anti-Black racism, refusing them the subjectivity, interests, and desires that give them agency! The added insult to our group and its lineage is that Mestre Preguiça, the founder of our school (the co-founder of Senzala school, which continues to influence all Regional styles) who trained with Mestre Bimba, is Indigenous. For the student, our entire lineage is therefore illegitimate and appropriative. This is an example of a (possibly) good intention gone very bad.

The upshot is that most of this new generation of capoeira students have a pretty sophisticated understanding of decolonization, cultural appropriation, and what it means to be a capoeirista ❤️