Capoeira Art Martial & Dance Tour

Capoeira Art Martial & Dance. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that incorporates dance, acrobatics, rhythm and music. Two opponents face each other and then do a serious of complex, quick manoeuvres which are based on attacking and defensive moves. The opponents are constantly moving, making the practitioner a moving target and also helping the person feint and attack better. You can also do a rolls and acrobatics so that it is very hard for your opponent to pin you down.
Demonstrations start when everyone forms a circle around the two opponents, playing instruments and singing the traditional songs while there are a lot of clapping as well. The traditional instrument is called berimbau. In the traditional form of Capoeira, the moves tended to be more like fighting. There are a lot of strategic moves and unpredictability in the movements. The newer tradition of Capoeira emphasises acrobatics and grace.
Capoeira has its roots in the African slaves brought to Brasil by the Portuguese. The Portuguese established massive sugarcane plantations in Brasil with cheap labor supplied by African slaves. The slaves were treated brutally and lived in inhumane conditions. The slaves practiced capoeira as a way to keep themselves agile and develop their fighting techniques. If they were spotted by their masters, the slaves would merely pretend to be dancing. People think capoeira was started in the 16th century. For the slaves, capoeira was a form of cultural identity when everything else had been stripped from them.

Capoeira 2 Many slaves were also able to escape using their capoeira skills and set up their own communities hidden away from the Portuguese. One such community numbered about 10,000 escaped slaves. With the end of slavery in Brasil in 1888, people who had capoeira skills started using them for criminal enterprises. Basically, the slaves were freed, but had no jobs or skills. No one wanted to hire them because they were deemed lazy. The freed slaves resorted to crime to make ends meet or as mercenaries practiced in the skill of capoeira.
In 1890, people who were caught practicing capoeira were jailed if they were lucky. If they were unlucky, they were put to death or had their achilles tendon severed.
Capoeira wasn’t decriminalised until 1940 when the Brasilian authorities were finally convinced capoeira had cultural merit. Today, Brasil is proud of its capoeira tradition and has exported its practice worldwide. Capoeira has even received a special status as a UNESCO protected heritage.
Visitors can watch an amazing special exhibition of Capoeira in São Paulo in a dance school so that you can truthfully see what this martial art, dance, music or culture expression means.