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Antithesis Group
What is Capoeira?
If we examine the history of capoeira we see that depending on the circumstances it can be a martial art, a dance, a game or all three. We can reach the same conclusion if we observe two capoeiristas who, at one time, seem to fight while at another time they seem to play collaboratively.
Live music is an indispensable part of capoeira and an element that differentiates it from the eastern martial arts. While all the martial arts share common characteristics, the eastern martial arts are practised in a more austere setting and have a stronger focus on discipline and uniformity.
The first report about capoeira dates from 1901 and was written by an author named Milho de Morais Filho and it was part of a book on Brazilian folk art and traditions.
The main forms of capoeira are Angola and Regional:
Capoeira Angola resembles the art practiced by the African slaves in the Brazilian plantations. Even though it does not have a definite founder, the teacher best known for developing it is Mestre Pastinha. Mestre Pastinha, in 1942 opened in Salvador, the capital of Bahia, a school exclusively for Angola. In this way, he helped conserve a tradition about to disappear, as capoeira was becoming known outside a closed circle.
Capoeira Regional was created by Mestre Bimba in 1920 and is a style that has evolved from the older, traditional form of capoeira. It integrates moves from the African martial art batuque and others devised by Mestre Bimba himself. Mestre Bimba is the teacher that worked to make capoeira a widely accepted art form by opening the first capoeira academy officially approved by the state of Brazil.
He was, also, the first that introduced a system of acknowledging progress by awarding belts to the students. What is more, he created combinations of movements that the students learned and should be able to repeat, as it happens in the other martial arts.
Two younger capoeira forms, an evolution out of the basic, are Capoeira contemporanea and miudinhu.
Contemporanea, that is, contemporary is a characterization that can be assigned to capoeira styles with a strong acrobatic element.
Miudinhu was conceived by Mestre Suassuna, founder of Cordao de Ouro. He based miudinhu on capoeira Angola aiming to create a style suitable for a younger generation of capoeiristas.
