What is Capoeira?
Capoeira is an art form developed by African slaves in Brazil during the colonial era.
It is a culmination of a fight, a game, and a martial art disguised as a dance and used as a means for liberating the body, mind, and soul.
Capoeira has spread globally as a cultural activity fulfilling the indispensable human desire for freedom of expression and self-determination.
Who can play?
Capoeira is not only a martial art form but rather a way of life as well as a new approach to life. Capoeira has substantially spread during the last two decades and is now being played in over 150 countries – including a recent arrival in Lebanon.
Capoeira can be played by anybody, men, women & children, from every background and all ages. It is also an activity that is currently being taught to the physically disabled.
Presently, Capoeira is a means of helping poor, disadvantaged youth from retaining to drugs and violence. Capoeira is also a means of developing self-expression and self-determination, something we all believe is important to our existence.
How is it played?
Picture a number of capoeiristas (Capoeira player/student) standing in a roda (circle) playing live music, singing in Portuguese while two people inside the circle mix dancing and fighting to the rhythm of instruments from Brazil. They sway back and forth (a movement called the Ginga) moving from side to side to the beat while those forming the roda surrounding them clap and sing. The players’ kicks miss each other by inches; they feign evading each other’s kicks with flowing motions. It is not a game of contact, but more a game of trickery.
There are a variety of Capoeira styles or games that are played, all according to a particular rhythm played on the most important symbolic instrument – the berimbau.
Maculelê: what is it and how is it played?
Maculelê is an Afro Brazilian dance where a number of people gather in a circle and brandish a pair of long sticks (traditionally made from biriba wood from Brazil) and rhythmically striking the sticks together. With the Maculelê rhythm playing on the Atabaque (drums) and the people in the circle singing the chorus of the songs, two people enter the circle and begin striking their own and each other's sticks together, making expressive and athletic dance movements.
Samba
Samba is a lively, rhythmical dance of Brazilian origin.
The Samba music rhythm has been danced in Brazil since the late 19th century. There is actually a set of dances, rather than a single dance, that define the Samba dancing scene in Brazil; thus, no one dance can be claimed with certainty as the "original" Samba style.
Amongst the different variants, Samba de Roda is a ritual dance preserved in some Bahian towns. It usually refers to Samba being performed in a capoeira roda.
