Afro Brazilian martial art and at the same time dance. One of many cultural weapons used to break the chains of enslavement in Brazil. Music was played during capoeira sessions to teach the rythmic heart of the art and to mask its power.
In front of the enslavers it looked like playfulness, acrobatic dancing, and joking around. Eventually the enslavers realized its power and outlawed Capoeira. Death was the penalty paid if you were caught during the slavery years.
For almost 400 years Capoeira was taught and practiced in secret. Only in the 1930's did this African martial art become legal to teach and practice.
Fluid, dance-like movements done close to the ground. With shifty rythmic movements, combined with the look of playfulness or vulnerability an adversary is brought to defeat. The basic technique through which the Capoeira Angola player develops the game is the ginga, a shifty side to side movement. At the heart of the art is the music lead by the berimbau, a steel stringed bow instrument with a gourd resonator.
When Capoeira Angola is played the berimbau signals the beginning and end of each game, and governs the style and speed of the play. The berimbau is usually joined by the pandeiro (tambourine), the agogo (African Bell), and the atabaque (a conga-like drum).
See Also Breakdancing, B-Boying, New School, House, Be Bop, Locking and Popping.