Capoeira Movements

Main Capoeira Moves


In this section, you will find the main capoeira moves explained in details. For several of the capoeira moves you will find a short video for better explanation. The techniques are explained in alphabetical order but this does not mean that you have to learn them that way. In any case, if you have decided to play Capoeira, it is best to start learning Ginga and then continue with the easiest of the techniques.


Ginga

Pronounced jinga, it is the most basic movement in Capoeira. It is done by moving back and forth alternating both legs in shoulder-width describing a triangular form. The hands are moving with the body aiming to protect those parts that are opened and easy to be attacked. Check out the video to see how Ginga is done.

In Capoeira Angola, the Ginga is more individualistic. In Capoeira Regional, the Ginga is more defined and structured. Still, the player can add his own style to it. In both Capoeira styles, the Ginga is performed to transfer the body to another move – offensive or defensive.


Aú

The Capoeira Au is known as cartwheel in gymnastics and other martial arts. However, in Capoeira the Aú is performed slowly and in most cases with arms and legs bent forward to protect the player from incoming kicks and attacks. From Au, the player can also easily kick the opponent. When performing Au, it is very important for the player fighter to look at the opponent in other to be informed for any incoming attacks. To do this the player has to place his head between his hands looking straight instead of looking at the ground.


Balança

This is a combination of feint moves performed side to side (from one leg to the other) in order to deceive the opponent and make it hard for him to track the player's next move. In Balanca, the arms of the capoeirista are moving from side to side as done in Ginga while protecting the face. This move is often the leading move of many quick kicks, headbutts and hand-strikes.


Bananeira

Simply, it is a handstand position in which the hands of the capoeirista are placed in shoulder-width and the legs above his head. Like in Au, the head of the player is located between his hands looking toward the other player. This capoeira move is often used when a capoeirista needs a quick break and wants to see the opponent’s next move. It is believed that the name of bananeira comes from the banana trees in Brazil.




Macaco



In translation, Macaco means a monkey. This movement has been called like that as it is more like a monkey move than anything else. In short, it is a back flip performed low to the ground. It requires strength and flexibility but also a very good technique. It might be dangerous and for this a newbie may start practicing it with the assistance of othercapoeiristas.

To start the Macaco, place your body into a crouch position with one hand located on the floor right behind you. The other hand should be free to move up and down, as it will give your body speed and direction for the jump. Located in that position try stretch your body holding your hips up and try to reach the floor with your free hand moving it over the head. Try to do that several times and when you are ready try to lift your legs over the head as well and transfer them to the other side of the body. If you need, you may help with your free hand by placing it to the floor right after the legs come off the ground. Check out the video to see how to do the Macaco move in details.


Negativa

The Negativa is a capoeira move used to negate an incoming attack by lowering the body to the ground on the one side or the other. The body is supported by one hand while the other is protecting the face. The legs are located close to one another – the leg close to the hand on the ground is placed in extended position and the other one is tucked. The body should be bent to the legs to avoid kicks in the head. The Negativa is a very useful technique due to the fact that while protecting himself the player can hook the leg of the opponent while his other is throwing a kick or performing another movement.


Negativa Angola

The Negativa in Angola is a slightly different from the standard Negativa. Here, the capoeirista bents very low with hands located on the ground and legs free to flow around. The one hand is supporting the front chest and the other the back. The body is a bit twisted to one side so that the upper leg is stretched in front and the lower is bent benhind. To keep the balance the upper leg may touch the ground, however the ideal Negativa Angola is performed with floating legs.


Rolê

The Role (pronounced ho-le) means “a roll” in Portuguese and as Ginga and Au is often used as a basic technique for moving in the Roda. In most cases it is used in combination with other movements – Ginga, Negativa, Esquivas, etc. In Role, the body is bent forward spinning to one side while the head is placed in a position suitable to constantly watch the opponent. The Role is finished when the body makes turn in 180 degrees.


Ponte

In capoeira, the Ponte technique is widely used as a standalone but also as a transitional or defensive move. It is actually a basic back bridge (back bend) where the hands and the legs are located on the ground, the back is forming an arc and the stomach is facing upward. Experienced capoeiristas can make a Ponte from a standing position by falling backwards on your palm. A newbie, should take a close look at the Ponte explanation in the video

Capoeira music

In capoeira, music sets the rhythm, the style of play, and the energy of a game. In its most traditional setting, there are three main styles of song that weave together the structure of the capoeira angola roda. The Angola roda represents the most strict and traditional format for capoeira and is ideally suited for an introduction and discussion of the music. Though we may consider the music traditional, because it has been passed orally from one to the next until the early - mid 20th century when songs and rhythms began to be notated and recorded, there is no record of to what extent and exactly how the music has evolved over time. Capoeira's African heritage plays a heavy role in the way capoeira is perceived by its practitioners and understood at a subconscious level. It is a common feature of many African ethnic groups, for instance, as well as others throughout the world, that music is not so much a form of personal entertainment as it is a medium to bring about group cohesion and dynamic. Music in the context of capoeira is used to create a sacred space through both the physical act of forming a circle (the roda, which has a spiritual significance in itself) and an aural space that connects the world of the spirits/ancestors and the world of the living. This deeper religious significance exists more as a social memory to most capoeira groups, but is generally understood as evidenced in the use of sacred ngoma drums (the atabaques of Yoruban candomblé), the berimbau whose earlier forms were used in rituals in Africa and the diaspora in speaking with ancestors, the ever-present term axé which signifies force that gives life to man, animal, and spirit ever present in capoeira, the invocation of both African and Catholic spiritual objects and people, and certain semi-ritualized movements used in Capoeira Angola that bring "spiritual protection" up from the ground, from the instruments in the bateria, and from the sky and heavens. The instruments are:

up to 3 berimbaus
up to 2 pandeiros
1 agogô
1 reco-reco (notched wooden tube similar to a Guiro)
1 atabaque or conga

Not every roda will contain all these instruments. Mestre Bimba ,for instance, preferred only one berimbau and one pandeiro in his rodas, but there will always be at least one berimbau in any roda.

The berimbaus preside over the roda, and specifically the gunga, the lowest sounding of the three berimbaus. The roda begins and ends at the discretion of the gunga, who may determine who plays next, can stop games, set the tempo of the music, and calm the combatants if they get too rough.

History of Capoeira

"Capoeira or the Dance of War" drawn by Johann Moritz Rugendas (1793—1838)

Capoeira Angola is the traditional style of Bahian Capoeira. It is usually, although not always, characterized by playful, ritualized games, which combine elements of dancing, combat, and music, while stressing interaction between the two players and the musicians and observers

History

Capoeira has its roots in Central and West African cultures that were brought to Brazil through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. There are diverse theories about the origins of the art form. One of the most popular was introduced by Álbano Neves e Sousa in 1965. This theory was subsequently adopted and developed by Luís da Câmara Cascudo in his book Folclore do Brasil in 1967.

The theory concerns a practice known as "N'golo," or the Dance of the Zebras. The movements of N'golo mimicked the movements of fighting zebras. The N'golo dance was practiced by young warriors competing for the hand of a young woman of marriagable age in a puberty rite known as efundula. The specific group cited by Neves e Sousa was the Mucupe (sometimes spelled Mucope)in Southern Angola. Whoever had a more impressive performance won the bride and was excused from having to pay a dowry.

The 'N'golo theory maintains that in the port of Benguela, and also once in Brasil, the dance developed into a foot-fighting style that was used by both bandits and slaves for defence and attack. The N'golo and its 'cognates' are argued to have been been used by Africans and Afro-Brazilians to maintain themselves spiritually and physically under the harsh circumstances of slavery and plantation life. It developed mainly in three places: Recife, Rio de Janeiro, and the state of Bahia. While in the first two places, Capoeira was said to be violent, and had no music, in Bahia it became more of a ritualized game, with a strong musical element. It should be noted that much of what is known of Rio de Janeiro capoeira in the 1900s and earlier derives only from police reports, which naturally included no information about whether capoeira in Rio was done to music or not. Various police orders were given to search capoeiristas carrying instruments, usually 'marimbas', however.

The Bahian style of the late 19th and early 20th century became what is today referred to as Capoeira Angola. This term was originally coined by Mestre Pastinha in an attempt to differentiate it from Capoeira Regional, which was created by Mestre Bimba in the 1930's. Mestre Pastinha was the founding Mestre of Brazil's first officially recognized capoeira Angola academy, the 'Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola', which was originated in 1941 and gained government recognition in 1952.

Since the 1960s the N'golo theory has become popular amongst practitioners of capoeira Angola, although it is not accepted by all scholars of the art form. Considerable academic discussion of the N'golo has occurred. Some books which relate specifically to the origins of capoeira Angola and discuss the N'golo theory are: Nestor Capoeira's: 'Capoeira Roots of the Fight-Dance-Game', Waldeloir Rego's excellent: 'Capoeira Angola Ensaio Socio-Etnografico' (in Portuguese), Gerard Taylor's in depth study of Capoeira's African antecedents: 'Capoeira The Jogo de Angola from Luanda to Cyberspace Volume One', J. Lowell Lewis's 'Ring of Liberation', Matthias Röhrig Assunção's 'Capoeira The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art' and an interesting essay by, T.J Desch Obi in 'Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora' edited by Linda M. Heywood.

While many practitioners in Bahia used their knowledge of capoeira to fight, the elements of Capoeira Angola can be practiced without solely relying on the martial elements.

Since the rise of Capoeira Regional as practiced by the group Senzala in Rio de Janeiro (the name came from Mestre Bimba's school which originally taught what was called the "luta regional baiana" or the "Regional Fight of the state of Bahia"), the popularity of Capoeira Angola declined in the face of the flashier and far more overtly martial style. Apparently very little thought was given to the roots of capoeira by the Grupo Senzala, who's style of Capoeira 'Regional' became popular in Rio de janeiro and Southern Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s. It was assumed by many, including masters of the Angola style, that 'Angola' was seeing a slow slide toward becoming a historical footnote.

By the end of the 1970's however, many players of Capoeira Regional began to seek out the older Angola masters in order to connect with and understand the roots of the game. Capoeira Angola thus experienced a resurgence that involved a re-assessment of the traditional form of Capoeira. This may also have been due to the fact that Capoeira began to be played outside of Brazil, where a greater number of capoeiristas became interested in Capoeira Angola (the bias of most Brazilians against elements of their country's culture that come from Africa, especially those things that have a relationship to African traditions, could partly explain why outsiders could have more interest than Brazilian practitioners in the traditional form of the art).

It is worth noting that many feel that Capoeira Angola itself has changed from what it used to be 100 years ago. It is much more organized, and the style of play, though it is distinct from Capoeira Regional, has become very technical in some places. This is a natural outcome of having capoeira academies (in Portuguese, the word "academy" means the same as "gym" in English - a place of exercise), and classes for Capoeira Angola, where training goes on.