Capoiera Essay Example For Students

Capoiera Essay Capoeira is the common name for the group of African martial arts that came out of west Africa and were modified and mixed in Brazil. These original styles included weapons, grappling and striking as well as animal forms that became incorporated into different components and sub styles of the art. In 1500s the Portuguese, led by explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral, arrived in Brazil. One of the first measures taken by the new arrivals was the conquering of the local population, the Brazilian Indians, in order to allow the Portuguese slave labor for sugarcane and cotton. The experience with the Indians was a failure. The Indians quickly died in captivity or fled to their nearby homes. The Portuguese then began to import slave labor from Africa. On the other side of the Atlantic, free men and women were captured, loaded onto slave ships and sent on nightmare voyages that would end in bondage. The Africans first arrived by the hundreds and later by the thousands approximately four million in total. Three major African groups contributed in large numbers to the slave population in Brazil, the Sudanese group, composed largely of Yoruba and Dahomean peoples, the Mohammedanized Guinea-Sudanese groups of Malesian and Hausa peoples, and the Bantu groups among them Kongos, Kimbundas, and Kasanjes from Angola, Congo and Mozambique. The Bantu groups are believed to have been the foundation for the birth of capoeira. They brought with them their culture; a culture that was not stored in books and museums but in the body, mind, heart and soul. A culture that was transmitted from father to son, throughout generations. There was candomble, a religion; the berimbau, a musical instrument; vatapa, a food; and many other things. The Dutch controlled parts of the northeast between 1624 and 1654. Slaves took steps towards reconquest of their freedom when the Dutch fought against the Portuguese colony, invading towns and plantations along the northeastern coast, concentrating on Recife and Salvador. With each Dutch invasion, the security of the plantations and towns were weakened. The slaves, taking advantage of the opportunities, fled into the forests in search of places in which to hide and survive. Many, after escaping, founded independent villages called quilombos. The quilombos were very important to evolution of capoeira. There were at least ten major quilombos with economic and commercial relationships with neighboring cities. The quilombo dos Palmraes lasted sixty-seven years in the interior of the state of Alagoas, fighting off almost all expeditions sent to extinguish it. Because of the consistency and type of threat present, capoeira developed as a fight in the quilombos. The birth of capoeira as a fighting style was created in the slaves quarters and might not have developed further if left only to that environment. Starting around 1814, capoeira and other forms of African cultural expression suffered were prohibited in some places by the slave masters and overseers. Up until that date, forms of African cultural expression were permitted and sometimes even encouraged, not only as safety against internal pressures created by slavery but also to bring out the differences between various African groups, in a spirit of divide and conquer. But with the arrival in Brazil in 1808 of the Portuguese king Dom Joao VI and his court, who were fleeing Napoleon Bonapartes invasion of Portugal, things changed. The newcomers understood the necessity of destroying a peoples culture in order to dominate them, and capoeira began to be persecuted in a process, which would end with its being outlawed in 1892. Why was capoeira suppressed? There were many motives. First of all it gave Africans a sense of nationality. It also developed self-confidence in individual capoeira practitioners. Capoeira created small, cohesive groups. It also created dangerous and agile fighters. Sometimes the slaves would injure themselves during the capoeira, which was not desirable from an economical point of view. The masters and overseers were probably not as conscious as the king and his intellectuals of his court of all of these motives, but even still, they knew something didnt seem right. There are many other theories to explain the origins of capoeira. According to one well known theory, capoeira was a fight that was disguised as a dance so that it could be practiced without knowledge of the white slave owners. This seems unlikely because when African culture began to be repressed, other forms of African dancing suffered prohibition along with capoeira, so there would be no sense in disguising capoeira as a dance. Another theory says that the Mucupes in the South of Angola had an initiation ritual efundula for when girls became woman, on which occasion the young warriors engaged in the Ngolo, or dance of the zebras, a warriors fight-dance. According to this theory, the Ngolo was capoeira itself. This theory was presented by Camara Cascudo , but one year later Waldeloir Rego warned that this strange theory should be looked upon with reserve until it was properly proven something that never happened. If the NGolo did exist, it would seem that it was one of several dances that contributed to the creation of early capoeira. Other theories mix Zumbi, the legendary leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares with the origins of capoeira, without any reliable information on it. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and Antigone by Sophocles EssayThe capoeirista must play many instruments and sing. The capoeirista may attimes be your enemy but is usually a friend. The capoeirista is a historian. Thecapoeirista is all of these. Description: Capoeira consists of a form of dance,practiced in a circle called the roda, with sound backgroundprovided by percussion instruments, like the agogo and the atabaqui. The Berimbau is a non-percussion instrument that is always used onrodas. Capoeira relies heavily on kicks and leg sweeps for attacks and dodgesfor defenses. Is not uncommon to not be taught any kind of hand strike, thougharm positioning for blocks is taught.The ginga (the footwork ofCapoeira), consists in changing the basic stance (body facing the adversary,front leg flexed with body weight over it, the other leg stretched back) fromthe right leg to the left leg again and again. Capoeira also puts a heavyemphasis on ground fighting, but not grappling and locks. Instead, it uses aground stance (from the basic stance, you just fall over your leg stretchedback, flexing it, and leaving the front leg stretched ahead), from which youmake dodges, kicks, leg sweeps, acrobatics, etc. Hand positioning is importantbut it is used only to block attacks and ensure balance, though street fightingcapoeiristas use the hands for punches. When fighting, it is rare tostop in one stance, and in this case , you just follow your opponentwith your legs, preventing him from getting close, or preparing a fast acrobaticmove to take advantage when he attacks. The rest of the time, you just keepchanging stances and do the equivalent of boxing jabs. Players enterthe game from the peda roda (foot of the circle), usually with a cartwheel(au). Once in the circle, two players interact with a series of jumps, kicks,flips, head and handstands and other ritualistic moves. Games can be friendly ordangerous. The music plays an important role in the feel of the game. The typeof game being played, whether fast or slow, friendly or tough, depends on therhythm being played and the lyrics being said. Training: After a thoroughwarm-up, standing exercises are done, with emphasis on the ginga,and on the basic kicks: bencao, a front-stomping kick, martelo,a roundhouse kick, chapa, a side-kick, meia-lua, a lowturning kick, armada, a high turning kick, queixada, anoutside-inside crescent kick. Then walking sequ ences are done, with theintroduction of somersaults, back flips and headstands, in couples andindividual. Some more technical training follows, with couples beginning basicand slow, and then the whole class forms and goes for roda game forat least 30 minutes. Capoeira conditions and develops the muscles, especiallythe abdominal muscles. Sub-Styles: Regional style is capoeira in a moreartistic, open form, giving more way to athletic prowess and training. Angolastyle is a more closed, harder style that is closest to the original Africansystems that came to Brazil. Iuna is a totally athletic and artistic form of theart, where the couple inside the roda play together, as opposed toone against the other. Arts and Painting