Capoeira: Origins, Development, and Global Diffusion 3/3

The global diffusion of Capoeira, as a historical and geographical standpoint, marks the rampant intensification of the art’s recognition intertwined with its commercialisation processes. The transnational scenario of Capoeira, established next, brought an intricate institutional, cultural, and economic interplay amongst practitioners the world over.

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The birth of an interdisciplinary art-form

“… Historically speaking , however, the capoeiras in Bahia made a surprise move by working directly for the preservation and continued existance of Capoeira as a form of enjoyment, artistic practice, as leisure and entertainment (harmless fun and games) without, however, doing away with its potential as self-defence.” (Abreu; Texts from Brazil, n.14; pp. 35-42)

Only a few decades after its criminalisation, the art was being practised in Bahia largely by the poor and darker classes in secluded neighbourhoods. To counter this, and cleverly avoiding the use of the term ‘capoeira’ in his centre, Mestre Bimba¹ managed to formulate and practice an acceptable form of capoeira even before the legalisation of the practice. His teaching took place at his centre, or academia de Capoeira in the Portuguese language, which was called the Bahian² Regional Centre of Physical Culture and despite its illegality Bimba was able to spend decades (often quite overtly) promoting the practice of Capoeira. “In 1953”, during a period influenced by fascist values (the Estado Novo or The New State) “after witnessing a demonstration by Mestre Bimba’s academy, the president of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas, declared that capoeira was ‘the only truly national sport’” (Almeida; 1982: 18 as cited in Lewis; 1991: 60). A pivotal episode in its eventual legalisation of the practice.

With Mestre Bimba’s teaching there was a method for the first time and this factor also contributed in the diffusion of Capoeira to other Brazilian states. Yet, other factors also contributed significantly to such a phenomenon. In particular the migratory flux of people leaving the north-east regions of Brazil and heading south-east (chiefly to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) seeking jobs and better living standards, also came into play, as these interstate migrants brought with them their own cultural practices, including Capoeira.

Folkloric groups could then perform more overtly and many Mestres began holding regular performances in the tourist spots of Salvador and other cities within Bahia de Todos os Santos (The Bay of All Saints). These folkloric troupes would give birth to Capoeira schools and vice versa, influencing the beginnings of groups and lineages of teachers as they are known today.

Largely encompassed by the nationalist ethos of the epoch the Regional style increased rapidly in popularity. Recognition and legalisation came to Capoeira as a whole, but also at the expense of conformation to eugenicist policies (Araújo; 1997: 223-4). Resisting such imposition the majority of the practitioners and teachers from other styles started to claim authenticity over Mestre Bimba’s ‘nationalised cultural practice’. Traditionalists began underpinning their practice with an Afro-centric discourse of authenticity. Thus the evolution of the name Capoeira de Angola (Capoeira from Angola) marked the traditional style; also known as Capeira Angola. Mestre Pastinha (Vicente Ferreira Pastinha / 1889-1981), son of a Spaniard and a black Brazilian woman, recognised by his artistic and philosophical approach to the art personified this style.

This tension between Angola and Regional accompanied the expansion of Capoeira and remains until today. Moreover, the birth of Capoeira Contemporãnea (contemporary Capoeira), a ‘holistic’ approach to the art in which practitioners claimed to practice both styles, added even more heat to the discussions of authenticity. Different versions of the same cultural practice began to be understood as antagonistic. Since the division of Capoeira into two styles in the 1930s and the emergence of Capoeira Contemporãnea in the 1980s, a few groups and counterparts have always argued for Capoeira as being only one practice, encompassing different rhythms and forms of play.

Usually today, these practitioners are dismissed as illegitimate by those descending from lineages that can be traced back to the origin of today’s groups within the folkloric troupes of the past. This condemnation of hybrid approaches is even more frequent among some descendants of Mestres Bimba’s and Pastinha’s lineages; lineages more often engaged in the strongest rhetoric of authenticity.

The interplay of pedagogic, socio-demographic, and cultural factors propelled the initial expansion of Capoeira throughout Brazil. Despite having different pedagogic lines or cultural approaches, most groups would interact and eventually play together in interstate encounters, public performances, and casual manifestations. Although they had their differences, and their unique characteristics regarding their music, their movements, and techniques, the majority of them would still recognise each other as practitioners of the same art. In fact, Lewis, mentioning his field research in Bahia asserts that the two main styles would eventually merge (1992: 61-3).

The decades in which the major diffusion of Capoeira occurred within Brazil, also overlapped with its first appearances on the international scene. As the 1960s and 1970s saw a large flux of interstate migrants helping to spread Capoeira from Bahia to other Brazilian states, concomitantly, international excursions featuring the first folkloric troupes began in the late 1950s, and escalated significantly in the 1970s in numbers and range of countries visited. (Almeida, 1986; Biancardi, 2006).

It was during the 1970’s, with Professor Emilia Biancardi’s folkloric group Viva Bahia, performing in Europe, Asia, Africa and EUA that the number of ‘capoeira settlers’ increased rapidly and more of these individual capoeirasremained within the visited countries (Biancardi; 2006). By the late 1980s and early 1990s the art had definitely achieved an international status and by. Not only the art was established in different Brazilian states, as Brazilian groups had established their branches in various countries.

Suffering from the severe socio-economic situation in Brazil, these first settlers decided to stay in developed countries in search of recognition and a fair living as artists. Their success in establishing schools; thriving as artists; and recruiting a large sum of students worldwide would soon influence the practice in Brazil.

The global diffusion of Capoeira, as a historical and geographical standpoint, marks the rampant intensification of the art’s recognition intertwined with its commercialisation processes. The transnational scenario of Capoeira, established next, brought an intricate institutional, cultural, and economic interplay amongst practitioners the world over. Schools first established from folkloric groups, mainly in Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, had now evolved into global instituitions.

As a transnational culture with its historical and cultural epicentre in Brazil, Capoeira seems to still carry with it a lot of its early principles of inclusiveness and freedom, however not without also causing some divides. Its global diffusion and acceptance fostered its local recognition, but paradoxically, it also brought a diversity of takes on the art with some conflictive orientations among its practitioners.

The following chapters will investigate how Capoeira is affecting people’s lives globally. It will analyse the global and local contexts of the practice. It will also study the different orientations of practitioners as potential cause for the current divides. Moreover, it will investigate the potentialities and shortcomings of Capoeira as a social tool in regards to social inclusion and intercultural learning, and social emancipation.

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