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Capoeira

Fight, dance and music in a circle.

An Afro-Brazilian art created by enslaved Africans in Brazil, mixing fighting, acrobatics and music. Players "play" inside a circle called the roda to the sound of the berimbau. UNESCO recognises the capoeira circle as cultural heritage.

Fact file

Country
Brazil
Type
Complete arts
Main federation
World Capoeira Federation — WCF
Sources: UNESCO — Capoeira circle · IPHAN (Brazil) · Encyclopaedia Britannica

History

Capoeira was created in Brazil by enslaved Africans and their descendants, who hid a fighting art inside music and dance. After the abolition of slavery it was banned by the 1890 Penal Code and its players were persecuted.

In the 1930s Mestre Bimba created the faster, more athletic Capoeira Regional, and his school in Salvador was officially registered in 1937. Mestre Pastinha kept the slower, traditional Capoeira Angola and opened his centre in 1941. In 2014 UNESCO listed the capoeira circle (roda) as intangible cultural heritage.