Capoeira is an Afro-Brasilian art melting fighting, acrobatics, singing, instruments, and cunning. It is often known simply as o jogo, "the game". Two capoeiristas play within the roda, a circle of people who clap and sing traditional songs to provide energy to those who play. The music of the berimbau leads the other instruments, the roda, and the players, setting the tone of the game and even the way it is played; the language of the music and the movements of the players can really be learned only by experience with other Capoeiras.
Capoeira has a rich five-hundred year history, beginning with the African slaves brought to Brasil by the Portuguese. After hundreds of years, upon the end of slavery in Brasil, Capoeira was taken up by the malandro: The street-smart ruffian and con man. In fear, the art was made illegal; it was not until the legendary Mestre Bimba opened his school that Capoeira became public and tolerated, and finally incorporated by Brasil as an element of national pride. In response to the success of Bimba's school of what he called Capoeira Regional, Mestre Pastinha and others tried to recover the older ways and traditions that they feared were being lost, calling their own vision Capoeira Angola.
Many schools of many unique styles have flourished, floundered, merged, and survived and influenced each other. Mestre Camisa founded ABADÁ-Capoeira in 1988 and it has grown to be the world's largest Capoeira organization, with representation in sixteen countries. ABADÁ-Capoeira is an acronym for Associação Brasileira de Apoio e Desenvolvimento da Arte-Capoeira, and "abada" is also the word in Portuguese for the pants we wear while playing Capoeira. Freddy Correo, now Instrutor Furacão, brought ABADÁ to New York City, and in 2004, Pezinho, a student of Furacão and a student of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, created the Capoeira club at RPI. Furacão and others from AC-NYC often make the three hour drive to come up and train with us and we are gifted with many skilled and high-energy Capoeiras both here and in our parent organization in New York City.
Axe!