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As the dance progressed the moves became more elaborate, with participants mimicking an animal's kicking motion while swaying, ducking, and weaving—frightening techniques that were hidden in dance to protect its practitioners from retribution, as any display of dissent was met with punishment.
There was little time for rest and relaxation, let alone recreation. But back in their homeland, a popular way for Angolans to pass the time would have been to indulge in a dance known as the n'golo, or engolo.
In Brazil, when not cutting cane or washing diamonds, slaves began dancing the n'golo in their free time as a way of hiding from their colonial masters the fact that they were practicing and learning a martial art.
The n'golo was, and still is, performed in a circle accompanied by music and singing. N'golo, however, is also a traditional Bantu martial art.
Over nearly three centuries, an estimated four million enslaved people were shipped to Brazil.
Slaves in Brazil were put to work on sugar and tobacco plantations, and in gold mines. Toiling in often dreadful conditions with little access to food and water, many perished under the hot sun and the whip.
Prominent among the enslaved Africans who arrived in Brazil in the 1500s were those from territories of present-day Gabon, Angola, and both Congos. Brazil was a colony of the Portuguese crown, and Recife, a city on the country's northeastern coast, was the first slave port in the Americas.
The Portuguese Empire was sustained by slave labor. Other Brazilian port cities, places like Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, also became notorious for their slave markets.
None the wiser as to what exactly the n'golo entailed, slave owners watched as their property practiced a number of different kicks, dodges, and takedowns.
In n'golo, what was actually being witnessed was the forerunner to capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art and dance. In its recreational form, capoeira was a means to demonstrate the slaves' feelings and hopes. But it also symbolized attacking, at least in pretense, their owners.
Meanwhile, Brazil's towns and cities underwent rapid and unchecked urbanization. Thousands were drawn to these expanding conurbations, including waves of veterans and refugees from the Paraguayan War, which had ended in 1870. Many of these people were attracted to capoeira, which has migrated from the rainforests to the streets. As well as providing playful downtime, capoeira was regarded as a means of defense under an increasingly oppressive Portuguese regime.
As capoeira became more synonymous with crime, it was promptly banned by the authorities. Those caught practicing the art were severely punished.
Slavery in Brazil was brought to an end in 1888. Capoeira endured, however, not so much as an art form, but as a method of fighting adopted by the criminal underworld. In fact, towards the end of the 19th century capoeira was increasingly detached from its music and dancing and was essentially a criminal activity.
By the mid-1800s, the enslaved were fighting back. Many escaped the clutches of their masters and fled inland, to the sanctuary of Brazil's vast inlands. There, capoeira was practiced in remote villages known as quilombos, and developed as part of an autonomous socio-cultural system where various expressions of African heritage could be sustained.
Rio de Janeiro became a hotbed of what was known as capoeira carioca. Essentially a street fighting technique, or capoeiragem, this adapted version employed the use of various weapons, including clubs, knives, straight razors, and machetes.
But prohibiting capoeira didn't stop Rio's street gangs from producing a clutch of truly legendary capoeiragem, colorful individuals such as Manduca da Praia (pictured), the so-called "Elegant Capoeira Fighter," and Mestre Besouro Manganga, the "Invincible Capoeira Fighter."
In the 1930s, capoeira gained a new legitimacy through one particular master, or mestre, of the art: Manuel dos Reis Machado (1900–1974). Known affectionately as Mestre Bimba, Machado was the founder of the capoeira regional style—a reform of traditional capoeira. In 1932, he opened the first capoeira school called Luta Regional. By the end of the decade capoeira had received official government recognition as a Brazilian cultural product and a legitimate form of self-defense and athletics.
In the 1970s, capoeira was being appreciated across many regions of Brazil and throughout much of the world. Two men, Jelon Vieira and João Grande, were largely responsible for promoting the art. Vieira, in fact, was a pioneer in presenting capoeira to American audiences. He later founded DanceBrazil, which excels in performances of works from the Afro-Brazilian artistic movement, particularly capoeira.
By combining these two fundamentals, Brazil produced a most exquisite style of soccer and turned the sport into jogo bonito, the "beautiful game."
In the 1950s, Brazilian players developed a style of soccer known as ginga. The word ginga translates to "swing" or "sway," and the style was inspired by two forms of art: capoeira and samba. The most celebrated practitioner of ginga was Pelé.
João Grande, meanwhile, founded his own academy, the Capoeira Angola Center of Mestre João Grande, in New York City in 1990.
Instrumental to capoeira culture is music. Accompanying the acrobatic and complex maneuvers is an orchestra, which, depending on the style of capoeira being expressed, usually consists of the berimbau (pictured), pandeiro (frame drum), atabaque (hand drum), and the agogô (bell).
Participants form a roda ("circle") and take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring in pairs. Capoeira is inclusive—the art has gained many highly skilled female practitioners, though in its early years capoeira was an exclusively male domain.
As the instruments are played, the group handclaps in time and sings call-and-response songs in Portuguese. Capoeira's lyrics speak eloquently of the country's history of slavery and liberation, racial conflict and cultural integration, economic hardship, and spiritual wealth.
The berimbau is the lead instrument; it determines the tempo and style of the music and game played. It's a traditional Angolan musical bow played with a stick to create different tones and rhythms.
Today, people all over the world practice capoeira, not only in parks, on beaches, and in studios, but also in universities and professional institutions.
Capoeira still functions as an expression of mutual respect among communities, groups, and individuals, played out as an acrobatic dance.
And while it's been described as probably the most flamboyant martial art in the history of fighting, capoeira fundamentally remains symbolic of more than three hundred years of slavery in Brazil.
Sources: (Capoeira History) (Smithsonian Magazine) (The History of Fighting) (Samba Soccer Schools) (Afro-Brazilian Capoeira Association)
See also: Defining moments in black history
Capoeira is a dance-like martial art with its roots in 16th-century Brazil. Devised in secret by African slaves as a fighting technique but disguised as a performing art, capoeira came to symbolize the struggle of enslaved people in the Americas during one of the darkest chapters in world history: the transatlantic slave trade. Characterized by a series of complex and acrobatic maneuvers, capoeira has been described as the most flamboyant martial art in the history of fighting. But it's also highly symbolic of racial conflict, cultural integration, economic hardship, and spiritual wealth.
How, exactly, did capoeira evolve, and why is it such an important component in Brazilian heritage? Click through and lean more about this unique dance and means of self-defense.
The transatlantic slave trade thrived from the mid-16th century until the 1860s. It was part of the global slave trade that took up to 12 million enslaved Africans to the Americas.
What is the Afro-Brazilian martial art known as capoeira?
How did an African dance become a means of self-defense?
LIFESTYLE Culture
Capoeira is a dance-like martial art with its roots in 16th-century Brazil. Devised in secret by African slaves as a fighting technique but disguised as a performing art, capoeira came to symbolize the struggle of enslaved people in the Americas during one of the darkest chapters in world history: the transatlantic slave trade. Characterized by a series of complex and acrobatic maneuvers, capoeira has been described as the most flamboyant martial art in the history of fighting. But it's also highly symbolic of racial conflict, cultural integration, economic hardship, and spiritual wealth.
How, exactly, did capoeira evolve, and why is it such an important component in Brazilian heritage? Click through and lean more about this unique dance and means of self-defense.