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Capoeira Today

"Sou disípulo que aprende, / Sou mestre que dá lição."

I am a discipline that learns, / I am a mestre that teaches.

In the 1940s, the Bahian capoeiras immigrated to Rio de Janeiro and, eventually, capoeira's art form began to spread throughout Sao Paulo and other places. By the 1970s and 1980s, capoeira was spreading farther than Brazil's borders. Although the dance became popular in Brazilian society, it began to lose its traditional values. Earlier, in Bahia, capoeira was a somewhat "anti-repressive exercise." Capoeira today has changed from the traditional ritual dance into a performance for tourist attraction. It has gone from a game and art form to a sport judged by rules and regulations.

Center: Capoeirista India; Clockwise: India teaching at her Miami academy

Previously, capoeira was learned naturally. Movements were performed in the roda, where other capoeiristas would watch to later imitate those movements. If they were lucky, they would find a mestre to teach them. Today, capoeira players are less likely to have that sort of luck. There aren't many rodas for people to learn moves from because capoeira now is mostly taught in academies with instructors teaching their own methods to students.

Various shots of a Miami academy

It was thought that the traditional capoeira dance style, Capoeira Angola, would be lost by the 1990s with the new technological advances in Brazilian society. However, 1985 on was the "revival" of the original style. Today, we can find the Regional/Senzala style, which parallels the judge and rules dance style, as well as the ritual, music, values, knowledge and philosophy of the traditional Angola style. It does help when old mestres are found to bring back the roots and values of capoeira culture.