Wheres the Roda-Understanding Capoeira Culture in an American

Home , Batizado, Bira Almeida, Capoeira, Capoeira music, Eddy Gordo, Samba Esquema Novo

WHERE’S THE RODA?: UNDERSTANDING CAPOEIRA CULTURE IN AN AMERICAN CONTEXT

Ashley Humphrey

A Thesis

Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF MUSIC

December 2018

Committee:

Kara Attrep, Advisor

Megan Rancier

Ashley Humphrey

ABSTRACT

Kara Attrep, Advisor

The Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira has become an increasingly popular sport in the United States. Capoeira performances consist of a back-and-forth exchange of movements between two players in conjunction with a musical ensemble to accompany the physical display.

Since the introduction of capoeira in the United States in the 1970s, capoeira has become the focus of various social institutions. The objective of this thesis is to acknowledge and problematize the impact American culture has made on capoeira aesthetics.

The methods for this thesis included research in the fields of ethnomusicology, anthropology, post-colonial theory, and transatlantic studies. Fieldwork was conducted to acquire first hand accounts of capoeira practitioners from the Michigan Center for

Capoeira. Lastly, an analysis of the portrayal of capoeira in the media examines how capoeira is showcased to audiences in the United States.

Historical accounts, academic discourse, capoeira practitioners, and popular culture reveal how American culture has received capoeira. My research has shown that capoeira culture is represented and interpreted by various groups, such as scholars,

American capoeira academies, and the media. These different interpretations have resulted in the displacement, fragmentation, or misrepresentation of capoeira history in the context of American culture.

I conclude that dominant social structures have inherently changed how capoeira is discussed in academia, practiced in American academies, and portrayed in the media.

Dominant social structures in the United States favor product over process. For capoeira, valuing product over process means highlighting performance and devaluing various

Afro-diasporic rituals and practices.

My solution to avoid fragmentation and misinterpretation of capoeira culture is to reiterate the importance of the African diaspora to practicing capoeira students in the

United States. Acknowledging American capoeiristas as capoeira ambassadors will regulate how non-practitioners depict and discuss capoeira, which will result in a holistic representation of the sport.

To my mother, Audrey, for her unconditional love and support.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the exceptional ethnomusicology faculty at Bowling Green State

University for their expertise, knowledge, and encouragement- especially Dr. Megan

Rancier and Dr. Sidra Lawrence. A special thanks to Dr. Kara Attrep for her guidance during my time at BGSU and throughout this project. Lastly, I would like to thank my first capoeira family - Baz Michaeli and the students of The Michigan Center for

Capoeira.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

INTRODUCTION...... 5

...... CHAPTER I. LITERATURE REVIEW...... 7

Ethnomusicological Literature on Brazil and ...... Capoeira...... 7

Popular Capoeira Literature...... ;

Brazilian History and Culture...... ;

Brazilian Popular Music Studies...... <

Trans-Atlantic Studies, The African Diaspora, and Postcolonial Theory...... =

CHAPTER II. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CAPOEIRA...... 55

Brazilian Slavery- Conditions that Birthed Capoeira...... 55

Origins of Capoeira...... 56

The Suppression Period...... 5<

The Birth of The Academy- Capoeira and Brazilian Nationalism...... 65

Hearing Subaltern Voices in the Capoeira Metanarrative...... 67

CHAPTER III. AN AMERICAN ACADEMY: THE MICHIGAN CENTER FOR

CAPOEIRA...... 6<

Assuming the Role of the Researcher...... 6<

Foundations of The Michigan Center for Capoeira...... 6<

TMCC Locations and Audiences...... 6=

Baz Michaeli-Founder and Instructor...... 74

TMCC Training Sessions: Atmosphere and Practice...... 7;

The Students of TMCC...... 87

Musical Identity and TMCC: Folk Music and New Techniques...... 89

Reconciling A Shifting Folk Practice, part I...... 8:

Spirituality and Axé...... 94

Reconciling a Shifting Folk Practice, pt. II...... 97

CHAPTER IV. CAPOEIRA IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE...... 9;

Capoeira In Film: Only the Strong and Oceans Twelve...... 9;

Capoeira in the Virtual World...... :8

Capoeira in Popular Music...... :<

Capoeira in Cartoons...... ;5

CONCLUSION...... ;9

...... BIBLIOGRAPHY...... ;<

...... APPENDIX A: RESERACH REFERENCES...... <5

APPENDIX B: CAPOEIRA SURVEY...... <:

)

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Page

Figure 1: Unstrung berimbaus...... 15

Figure 2: Assembled berimbaus resting against a tree ...... 15

Figure 3: Jogar Capoeira ou Danse de la Guerre by Johann Mortiz Regundas ...... 16

Figure 4: A still photo of ginga ...... 38

Figure 5: Roda diagram from an aerial view. The stars represent members of the batería.

The small circles are the additional capoeiristas. The circles in the middle signify the

two players actively playing capoeira...... 39

Figure 6: Baz and the batería at TMCC 3rd annual batiazdo. Photo courtesy of The

Michigan Center for Capoeira ...... 40

INTRODUCTION

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that utilizes music and movement simultaneously. Capoeira players, or capoeiristas, have games together inside a roda or circle, which is the stage in which capoeira games take place. The interaction between players is comparable to the interaction of dance partners; with each person contributing their physical talent to the performance. The spectacle of capoeira has always been the most captivating to audiences, while music provided by the batería is often thought of as an accompaniment secondary to the physicality of the sport. While music and movement are at the forefront of capoeira performances, research has and continues to uncover the culmination of rituals that contribute to present day capoeira.

Many capoeira practitioners claim the Afro-Brazilian art of capoeira contains life parallels. In the roda there are physical challenges, friendships that come and go, and an unwritten rule of self-respect and respect for others. These are just a few reasons why capoeira has become an ongoing metaphor for life to those who train the martial art.

In 2008, I was first introduced to the sport of capoeira. My brother begged me to try classes at a local dance studio. I had no previous martial arts training and the last athletic activity I participated in was swimming in high school. Practicing capoeira and then researching capoeira has provided me with insight on the perception of capoeira from both an insider and outsider perspective. The idea of being an insider and an outsider in capoeira is somewhat complex. In my case, I am a researcher, a practitioner, and an African American. That leaves me on the inside in practice and some possible claims through my heritage as a member of the African diaspora. At the same time I am an outsider to capoeira because of my role as an academic and being an American. This

6 project is an attempt to reconcile what I observe as an American with how I perform and research capoeira. I think there are some aspects of capoeira within American culture that become lost in translation or glossed over entirely. At the same time, there are larger themes within the capoeira community that transcend difficult issues like race, gender, and class. Community music making, friendships, athleticism, competition, and fun are all things that are connected with capoeira in the United States as well as the global capoeira community.

I think that in the United States we gloss over the issues that make us uncomfortable. In my experience, identity politics, cultural appropriation, colonialism, and representations of capoeira are not often discussed during training sessions. This is by no means a critique of teachers who dedicate their lives to teaching capoeira; this is more of a critique of American culture and the habit of disguising the difficult issues while showcasing a fun cultural product.

The goal of this project is to reconcile the lived American experience of playing capoeira with media interpretations, and various academic fields including ethnomusicology, history, and culture studies. Understanding how each of these positions contribute to capoeira discourse will reveal how capoeira is changing in modern times.

CHAPTER I. LITERATURE REVIEW

Capoeira, as a practice, has been around for centuries according to historical accounts and documents (discussed in detail in chapter 2). In the past fifty years, the literature about capoeira available to English speaking audiences has been on the rise, due to the global movement of capoeira and its practitioners. The Afro-Brazilian intersection of dance, music, religion and sport results in differing perspectives concerning the practices of capoeira. To accurately assess the transmission of capoeira to large audiences, I looked at texts from a wide array of disciplines in an attempt to represent capoeira holistically. There are a few key texts that inspired me to investigate the diverse historical, social, and musical elements of capoeira.

Ethnomusicological Literature on Brazil and Capoeira

Gerard H. Béhague’s work has been a major influence in understanding Brazilian music culture in musicology and ethnomusicology. He explored many topics concerning folk music traditions as well contextualizing European influences in Latin America and

Brazil. His chapter in the Garland Encyclopedia of Latin America “Afro Brazilian

Traditions” (2000) discusses religious, sacred and secular traditions of the African diaspora. This reference book serves as an introduction to the impact of the African diaspora in Brazil. Béhague’s biography of famed Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-

Lobos (1994) discusses the life, works and influences of the composer. In Béhague’s discussion of Villa-Lobos, national identity and modernity are central issues. These same issues concerning the compositions of Villa-Lobos bear a striking resemblance to the discussion of capoeira. Additionally, Béhague’s work has contributed greatly to the

8 understanding of Latin American music culture and the diversity of cultural identities that are present. In his article “Boundaries and Borders in the Study of Music in Latin

America: A Conceptual Re-mapping” (2008), Béhague proposes looking at the complex relationships of various cultural identities represented in Brazil to better represent musical practices. In Béhague’s article, “Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and Brazilian

Ethnomusicology: A General View” (1982), he problematizes the then-current issues of scholarship and representation of the aforementioned areas. As it concerns Brazil,

Béhague suggests ways in which ethnomusicologists and researchers can enhance their research by proposing new theories as well as integrating formalized and folk traditions.

The last important work of Béhague that I would like to mention is “Regional and

National Trends in Afro-Brazilian Religious Musics: A Case of Cultural Pluralism”

(2006). This essay discusses the extent to which Catholcism and Afro-Brazilian religions like Umbanda and Candomblé intersect socially amongst practitioners and Brazilians as a whole. This essay highlights the impact of Afro-Brazilian spirituality and musical practices on the entire nation. The work of Gerard H Béhague is integral to Brazilian music studies. Béhague’s scholarship provided a new perspective in Brazilian music studies to larger audiences.

Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage In Brazil (2001) by Peter Fryer examines the connections between modern-day Brazilian musical practices by tracing musical elements back to several ethnic groups within the African diaspora. Fryer’s historical approach, coupled with an organological perspective (the classification of instruments) helps to situate how Brazilian musical practices have developed in time as a result of the displacement of Africans. Fryer’s interdisciplinary approach acknowledges

9 the important influence of the African diaspora on past and present Brazilian musical practices.

J. Lowell Lewis’ book, Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian

Capoeria (1992) is another seminal text on capoeira. Lewis categorizes rituals, musical and physical, that constitute capoeira. In addition, Lewis integrates the importance of

Afro-diasporic ideology, religion, and philosophy as it applies to capoeira game play.

In Eric Galm’s, The Berimbau: Soul of Brazilian Music (2010), the topic is the popularity and contemporary uses of the berimbau in modern Brazil. Galm analyzes the social transformation of the berimbau from solely an instrument of Afro-Brazilians to an instrument that symbolizes a national music culture. Galm’s book is important because it captures the phenomenon of the popularity of capoeira by looking at its most sonically recognizable musical symbol, the berimbau.

Music In Brazil: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (2006) by John

Murphy, is a part of the Oxford’s Global Music Series. John Murphy surveys multiple music genres within Brazil. Murphy looks at social context, historical relevance, and location as a way to understand all the musical genres of Brazil. Capoeira music is an important chapter in the book, highlighting the deep cultural roots capoeira has to the nation.

Greg Downey has been an influential anthropologist and researcher on capoeira through the scope of phenomenology. In Downey’s PhD dissertation entitled,

Incorporating Capoeira: Phenomenology of A Movement Discipline (1998) Downey discusses the physical experiences and emotional responses that are engaged when practicing a sport that encompasses musical and physical elements simultaneously.

Downey documents capoeira events like the batizado (a graduation ceremony) in depth while assessing the techniques of learning and performing capoeira musically and physically. This dissertation is important because it is the first academic work in English to describe in-depth the experiences of contemporary capoeira rituals.

In an essay entitled “Listening to Capoeira: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and the Materiality of Music” (2002) Downey discusses the perception of capoeira music. He begins by posing the question, “What does this music sound like?” referring to capoeira music. To address his question, Downey acknowledges the peculiar position of capoeira not being a traditional sport— without winners, losers, or points. He assesses the layers of musical complexity as well as the layers of performativity of the sport physically and how these two aspects intersect. This piece thoroughly discusses the inherent relationship between music and movement in capoeira.

Downey’s book, Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian

Art (2005) is an extensive ethnography of capoeira students and the mental and physical process of taking on such a demanding sport. Downey makes connections with playing capoeira inside the roda and the skills acquired that appear in everyday life. Issues of perception, body language, intuition, communication and their relationship to each other are at the heart of this book. Downey’s contribution to capoeira literature focuses on the contemporary experiences of being a practitioner of the sport.

Maya Talmon-Chvaicer’s book, The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of

Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance (2008) discusses social circumstances that helped capoeira evolve into its current practice. Talmon-Chvaicer thoroughly documents the suppression history of capoeira, which has been previously unavailable in English text on

; the sport. Inclusion of multiple voices and acknowledgement of the controversy between capoeira and the Brazilian empire makes this work important to contemporary capoeira research.

Popular Capoeira Literature

For many capoeira students, the most important literature is written by masters of the art. Nestor Capoeira, an accomplished mestre (master teacher), has written three books dedicated to learning, understanding and embracing capoeira. Capoeira: Roots of the Dance-Fight-Game (2001), The Little Book of Capoeira (2003) and A Street-Smart

Song: Capoeira Philosophy and Inner Life (2006) discuss capoeira history, capoeira gameplay, and philosophy of capoeira respectively. This trilogy and Nestor Capoeira’s contribution have greatly impacted the knowledge of capoeira practitioners in North

America. In addition to Nestor Capoeira, Bira Almeida, better know to capoeiristas as

Mestre Acordeon, is one of the first contributors to American capoeira literature. His book entitled Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form (1986) discusses his philosophy, understanding, and views within capoeira. Almeida provided one of the first English texts to American capoeira practitioners and as a result he is one of the most influential

American instructors.1

Brazilian History and Culture

In my efforts to understand how capoeira functions musically and socially in the

United States, I had to understand the social and political situation of Afro-Brazilians in

5 Joshua M Rosenthal. “Capoeira and Globalization," in Imagining Globalization: Language, Identities, and Boundaries, ed. Ho Hon Leung, Matthew Hendley, Robert Compton, and Brian Haley (New York: MacMillan, 2009), 146-163.

Brazil. Understanding the circumstances that led to the development of capoeira is important to understanding the transnational explosion of the ‘dance-fight-game’.2

Brazil: Five Centuries of Change (1999) by Thomas Skidmore is a review of

Brazilian history from its beginning as a Portuguese colony to contemporary issues in the twentieth century. Other texts helped me understand Brazilian culture outside of my own perspective, such as Lívia Neves de H. Barbosa’s essay, “The Brazilian Jeitinho: An

Exercise in National Identity”(1992). This essay, a portion of Barbosa’s book on the same topic, addresses reoccurring themes like national pride and positive social exchanges that transcend race, gender, and social status which are important customs to

Brazilian national identity. A collection of essays entitled The Brazilian Puzzle (1995) ed. by David J. Hess and Robert A DaMatta, provided me with a survey of issues relevant to

Brazil. Some topics include Brazilian Popular Music, Pan-Latin American Identities,

Religion, and Politics. These diverse topics allowed me to better contextualize the nation of Brazil.

Brazilian Popular Music Studies

Another facet of this project involved examining other Brazilian music genres as they have developed alongside capoeira. Situating capoeira among other Brazilian music practices provides a better understanding of how capoeira music functions presently in comparison to the growth and development of other Brazilian music genres. Darieín J.

Davis’s book White Face, Black Mask: Africaneity and the Early Social History of

Popular Music in Brazil (2009) discusses the struggle of Afro-Brazilian popular

2 A reference to Nestor Capoeira’s book, Capoeira: Roots of the Dance-Fight-Game.

= musicians to overcome racial and social obstacles, while acknowledging their vast contributions to Brazilian popular music.

Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization (2001), edited by Christopher Dunn and Charles A Peronne, documents the different Brazilian genres that have permeated the global soundscape. The genres discussed are Heavy Metal, Reggae, Tropicália, and Funk by contributing authors Idelber Avelar, Osmundo de Araújo Pinho, Christopher Dunn, and Livio Sansone, respectively. Each essay in the collection maintains the theme of expressing Brazilian identity through music on a national and international level.

Expressing identity through music is an important aspect of Brazilian national culture that is present in capoeira as well.

Trans-Atlantic Studies, The African Diaspora, and Postcolonial Theory

Literature on the African diaspora plays a large role in this research. The transmission of cultures is central to understanding capoeira in the Americas. In Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World (2008) by

T. J. Desch Obi, Obi discusses movement traditions that came to the Americas with

African slaves to the new world. Obi’s work is important because it establishes the significance of physical rituals and traditions across the Atlantic through the slave trade in addition to musical and religious traditions.

The bulk of my project will be assessing the shifting perception of capoeira in the

United States through post-colonial theory. Paul Gilroy’s work The Black Atlantic:

Modernity and Double Consciousness (1993) discusses the physical and metaphorical transmission of culture in the African diaspora and how this transmission permeates

54 much of the culture in the Western world. Gilroy’s text takes a philosophical approach to the importance of the shared culture, experiences, and influence of the African diaspora.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s piece “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988), coupled with Linda Alcoff’s “The Problem of Speaking for Others” (1991) provided me with a useful framework for the discussion of the reception of capoeira over time by practitioners and outside audiences. Spivak’s position is that underrepresented groups do not posses the authority to speak for themselves because of the lack of access to power.

Alcoff expands on this position by suggesting a dialogue with subaltern groups to represent missing voices. Post-colonial theory, subaltern studies, and issues of representation within the African diaspora are intertwined in the receptions of current capoeira practices, specifically in the Western world. Using these theoretical frameworks has greatly enriched my understanding of race, ethnicity, nationalism, and culture as they apply to the Afro-Brazilian art of capoeira. Much of my thesis is concerned with current practices, transmission of capoeira knowledge, and how capoeira ideology is shifting as nations other than Brazil represent the sport.

CHAPTER II. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CAPOEIRA

Capoeira practitioners and scholars break up the history of capoeira into three segments known as the origins, suppression, and academy periods. This section of my thesis is designed to understand historical events that led to the modernized and global practice of capoeira. This historical overview of capoeira will help contextualize the circumstances that brought capoeira to the rest of the world. Global changes, social climate, nationalism, and time all play a role in the realization of capoeira as a national

Brazilian treasure. Time and circumstance are two large themes that I will revisit in the historical discussion of capoeira.

1 Brazilian Slavery- Conditions that Birthed Capoeira

Brazil, the largest country in South America, is home to the largest population of the African diaspora, with at least 3.65 million slaves shipped to the shore.2 The initial goal of the Portuguese empire was to maintain a trading post in Brazil. The Trans

Atlantic Slave trade allowed Portuguese colonizers to cultivate goods, like coffee, cheaply by transporting vast numbers of Africans from the west coast of Africa to the coast of Brazil. Because of the intense labor and harsh conditions, slaves died in higher rates in Brazil than in the US. This also accounts for more immigration of slaves. These are just a few ways in which Brazilian slavery differed from American slavery. From the

Portuguese crown’s initial contact in the 16th century to the mid 18th century, Brazil

1 The following information was gathered from the following sources: Peter Fryer, Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2000) and Thomas Skidmore, Brazil: Five Centuries of Change, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 17-20. 2 Thomas Skidmore. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change, 17-20.

56 provided the global market with large quantities of coffee and sugar. To keep up with the demands of the market, slaves were constantly shipped to Brazil. Other circumstances and structures of Brazilian slavery, like the journey over the Atlantic and intensive labor, were similar to slavery of Africans in other colonized regions. Generally slaves with shared language were split up, slaves were prohibited from learning to read or write, and all behavior not in accordance with colonizers and slave owners was punishable. Slavery was a system maintained by violence, money, and politics.

3 Origins of Capoeira

The word capoeira is derived from native Brazilian Indian languages of Tupi or

Guarani. Variations of the word ‘capoeira’ refer to clearings in the grass or brush or plantations- all of which are relevant to slave life in the 17th century. According to

Waldor Rego, the word itself makes its first appearance in 1712 in the Vocabulário

Portuguêsa e Latino and later in 1813 in the Dicionário da Lingua Portuguesa.4 The etymology of capoeira suggests the appearances of the word are primarily associated with

Brazil and the Portuguese language. The discussion of capoeira origins is significant because it highlights the oldest and most contested debate amongst scholars and practitioners: is capoeira Brazilian or African? Although most identify the display of movement and music with Brazil, the people who cultivated the art were specifically of 3 The information in this section was gathered from the following sources: Nestor Capoeira, Capoeira: Roots of the Dance, Fight, Game (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2001).; TJ Desch Obi, Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2008).; Peter Fryer. Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press 2000).; and Maya Talmon- Chvaicer., The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance (Austin, TX: University of Austin Press, 2008). 4 Nestor Capoeira. Capoeira: Roots of the Dance, Fight, Game, 109.

African descent. What is understood is that both African traditions and the Brazilian empire had a part in the creation of capoeira.

Trans-Atlantic studies as well as post-colonial theorists use historical documents, cultural products like religion, and tangible items like instruments and artifacts to piece together clues and provide narratives to those who were initially voiceless during the involuntary movement of slaves from the 15th through the late 19th century. These fields help us to understand the effects of the slave trade in our modern world. In Fighting for

Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World (2008), T.J.

Desch Obi discusses some of the movement disciplines indigenous to the African continent that have been spread throughout the world by various ethnic groups within the

African diaspora. The discourse of the origins of capoeira is indicative itself of a need for

Africanists and Brazilianists to claim capoeira, an art form that has captivated the world.

Obi also discusses the process of transformation that many African martial art forms underwent during their introduction to the Americas:

The African martial arts are not as regimented as the Japanese styles, but the same principle holds true. Martial arts styles can be “invented,” transformed and take new directions. More often, however, individual practitioners will stress particular aspects of the style and develop their own variations on techniques, but without jeopardizing the fundamental paradigms of the tradition. 5

From the perspective of capoeira scholars, this is exactly what is happening today.

The global practice and appeal of capoeira is the result of modified West African movement practices that have been restructured to fit the needs of ethnically and culturally fragmented enslaved populations and then later reformatted to fit the artistic

5 TJ Desch Obi, Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2008), 7.

58 and expressive nature of Afro-Brazilians in the late nineteenth into the twentieth century.

These transitory periods of capoeira will be discussed later in this chapter.

From a musicological perspective, Peter Fryer’s Rhythms of Resistance: African

Musical Heritage in Brazil documents the varying musical traditions that converged to create a diverse Brazilian musical culture. This book uses organology, the study and classification of musical instruments, as strong evidence for places of origin and ethnic groups that contributed to the polyrhythm of capoeira culture. The instrument at the center of capoeira and arguably a national symbol for Brazil is the berimbau. The berimbau marks the beginning of capoeira game play, and is played by the most senior member of the roda or gathering. This instrument is classified as an idiophone according to the Hornbostel-Sachs classification scheme.6 A self-resonating body characterizes an idiophone, or the body of the instrument is the main producer of sound, as opposed to air, strings, or a membrane. The body of the instrument for the berimbau is considered to be the wire, arched stick, and gourd. When the string is struck, the sound of the wire is then amplified through the gourd resonator. The berimbau is played by placing the little finger

(of the non dominant hand) under the string that holds the gourd to the arched bow of the berimbau. The thumb and index finger press the dobrão (literally doubloon but can mean a coin or rock) against the wire string to change pitches. The dominant hand holds the baqueta (stick) to strike the wire string rhythmically. The middle and ring finger of the dominant hand secure the caxixi (shaker) into place, to add to the sound’s texture. The

6Margret Kartomi, “The Classification of Musical Instruments: Changing Trends in Research from the Later Nineteenth Century, with Special Reference to the 1990s,” Ethnomusicology 45, no. 2 (2001): 284.

59 berimbau is held against the torso, or chest. The player alternates muted and unmuted sounds by placing gourd nearer to or further from their body.

Figure 1: Unstrung berimbaus. Pictured are the vergas (long arched sticks), arame (wire) cabaças (hollowed gourds), baquetas (sticks that create sound when struck against the arame) caxixis (rattles) and dobrãos or moedas (stones that stop the string to create the three fundamental pitches)

Figure 2: Assembled berimbaus resting against a tree

Similar to the movements of capoeira, the berimbau itself has many predecessors from the central and southern regions of Africa. The chitende, from Mozambique is just one example of a gourd resonator instrument. Like the berimbau, the chitende is played by stopping the string, which alters the pitch in rhythmic variation, stretched between a single piece of arched wood7 The chitende and other berimbau protoypes are significant to the discussion of capoeira because these instruments reveal how various places, cultures, and ritual contribute to modern capoeira.

Fryer sheds light not only on instrumental genealogy but also on historical encounters of Western explorers with capoeira games:

This early stage in the development of capoeira was illustrated by the German artist Johann Moritz Regundas (1802-1858) during his first visit to Brazil in 1821- 1825. He titled the picture ‘Jogar Capoeira ou danse de la guerre’8. This picture of a ‘war dance’ shows two young men who at first glance seem to be squaring up to each other, while a musician sits astride a cylindrical drum whose skin he beats with his hands. On closer inspection however the protagonists are also clearly dancing, as are two of the spectators, one of whom is also clapping the rhythm. This ambiguity is at the very heart of capoeira. 9

Figure 3: Jogar Capoeira ou Danse de la Guerre by Johann Mortiz Regundas

7 Peter Fryer, Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil, 32. 8 Translation: “Play Capoeria or Dance of War” 9 Peter Fryer. Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil, 27.

This depiction by Regundas is seen in almost every capoeira book published for

English speaking audiences. This image is just as much a symbol of capoeira in the West as the berimbau itself. Regundas’ sketch shows what was forming as capoeira but the picture also alludes to other underlying social issues. The most pressing issue is the attitude of Europeans towards black practices inherent in the portrait. It was common for owners to allow slaves to participate in rituals to pacify their workforce. Reguandas’ picture, along with other documented encounters with capoeira players and musicians, highlights the social separation and ostracizing of black traditions in Brazil.10 The othering of capoeira created even more social tensions between the white and mixed

Brazilian populations. Gawking at rituals of slaves is one way European and white

Brazilians could situate their social practices as better than the social practices of slaves.

Regundas’ picture also captures the need for the displaced populations of African descendants to reclaim and reform musical traditions, while rejecting practices forced upon them, like religious worship (although syncretic practices developed). Autonomous behavior coupled with capoeira— an efficient method of fighting without weapons— led to the outlaw of capoeira practices in attempts to restore dominance amongst the upper white classes.

10 Maya Talmon-Chvaicer, The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance (Austin, TX: University of Austin Press, 2008).

11 The Suppression Period

The suppression of capoeira practices was a result of tumultuous times in the

Brazilian empire starting in the 1820s and continuing on into the twentieth century.

Liberation from the Portuguese empire (1823), the cessation of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade 12(1850) and illegal trafficking that resulted, the Paraguayan War (1864-1879), the abolition of slavery (1888) and new immigrant populations towards the end of the century all played a role in reinventing Brazilian national identity. Capoeira practices shifted through these social, political, and economic unrests as well.

From the 17th through the 19th centuries, capoeira made a shift from being an exclusively slave or black practice to being an underground sport practiced by people of mixed race as well.13 Initially slave owners permitted capoeira on Sundays and festive days to keep slaves content while looking down upon the misunderstood rituals. By the beginning of the nineteenth century men were cited and arrested for practicing capoeira and causing public disturbances. Authorities perceived capoeira as an underground practice by social miscreants, runaway slaves, freed Blacks and some with mixed racial heritage. Gatherings now were highly monitored. Groups of capoeiristas in Rio de Janeiro were fighting rival capoeira groups as well as the police. At this point, capoeira was

11 The information in this section was culled from the following sources: Maya Talmon-Chvaicer, The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance (Austin, TX: University of Austin Press, 2008).; TJ Desch Obi, Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2008), 152-217.; and Thomas Skidmore, Brazil: Five Centuries of Change (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). 12 Maya Talmon-Chvaicer. The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance (Austin, TX: University of Austin Press, 2008), 51. 13 T.J Desch Obi. Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Arts in the Atlantic World, 152-217.

5= combative and had begun to stray from the original goals of community, musical and spiritual expression, and cultural retention. Capoeira was becoming embedded in the underthrows of Brazilian culture.

There was a strong movement towards outlawing capoeira by the 1830s through the 1840s, per request of police officials because capoeira was considered to be causing unrest. Additionally, the players were mostly black men thus leading the authorities to discriminate against slave practitioners of the art form. Capoeira had taken on a dual identity (of slave rituals and criminal behavior) that became hard for authorities to differentiate between. Although still practiced in the quilombos (runaway slave colonies) and senzalas (slave quarters), freed people of color were practicing and fighting capoeira with malice. Not only were Afro-Brazilians and some mixed Brazilians practicing capoeira but populations from Africa arriving as slaves were practicing capoeira. Scholar

Maya Talmon-Chvacier notes that around the 1830s, there was a new generation of capoeira players in Rio de Janeiro, a generation who did not identify with their African ancestry, but with their friends in various capoeira circles. Obvious tensions between black and white Brazilians arose when middle and upper class white Brazilians started secretly practicing capoeira in attempts to rise through the ranks of Brazilian society by becoming an asset to politicians for their capoeira skills.14

With disturbances becoming more frequent authorities found it beneficial to enlist social outcasts in the Paraguayan War to fight with Brazil’s allies— Uruguay and

Argentina. The Paraguayan War was fought over control of the Rio de Plata region, which borders both Uruguay and Paraguay. Control of this regional waterway was one of

14 Maya Talmon-Chvacier. The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance, 69-110.

64 the goals of war.15 This affected the production of goods, because the workforce had been greatly depleted. Slaves enlisted to fight in exchange for freedom, while criminals and prisoners with capoeira offenses on their records were forced to serve the country.16 Most of the enlisted were of African decent.

After the Paraguayan War there was a revelation among the Brazilian elite classes that their government structure was flawed. The government freed slaves in exchange for service in the war, but many unexpectedly returned from war, upsetting the elite white society Brazilians had envisioned. Other issues like the Brazilian Army’s conduct during war, and tensions between the liberal government and conservative senate resulted in a split to form a new Republican party.17 After the war, there was reform and an attempt to model Brazilian society after Europe. 18

Capoeira was officially outlawed in 1890, right after the abolition of slavery in

1888 and the fall of the Brazilian monarchy in 1889. Political and social unrest exploded at the end of the century, resulting in the restructuring of Brazilian national identity, inherently reformulating the identity of capoeira practitioners for the next century. This vision included asserting Brazil’s political and economic power on the world’s stage while modeling the society after Europe.

The suppression period of capoeira is the most interesting to analyze. Many scholars focus on cultural property and product, but in the suppression period we find the co-opting of capoeira for the benefit of the state. In the hazy beginnings of capoeira, the

15 Miguel Angel Centeno, Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-State in Latin America (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1957), 55. 16 Maya Talmon-Chvacier, The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance, 69-110. 17 Thomas Skidmore. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change. 18 Ibid., 61-63.

65 practice was a gesture to reconnect with or recreate ethnic roots for slaves and to pacify slaves for slaveholders. In the suppression period the power and autonomy that slaves and people of color supposedly reclaimed was appropriated for fighting on behalf of the

Brazilian government in the Paraguayan War. The government did not exclusively appropriate capoeira but capoeira became mixed with war and politics. This government connection with capoeira highlights further injustices of the black populations of Brazil.19

The Birth of The Academy- Capoeira and Brazilian Nationalism20

After the political and social shifts of the suppression period occurred in Brazil, capoeira culture was accessible to many. While there were many people learning and playing capoeira, another important change set the tone for the reception of capoeira to the nation and that was the academy system.

The institutionalization, or the regimented martial art system, of capoeira is attributed to Manuel dos Reis Machados, commonly known as Mestre Bimba (1889-

1982).21 Mestre Bimba is arguably the most important historical figure in capoeira in

Brazil and globally for the Capoeira Regional style. Although capoeira had been widely practiced for over a century, Bimba opened the first school dedicated to harnessing and cultivating what was previously considered a deviant practice. Previous capoeira

19 T.J Desch Obi, Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Arts in the Atlantic World, 152-217. 20 The information in this section was compiled from the following sources: Maya Talmon-Chvaicer, The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance (Austin, TX: University of Austin Press, 2008)., 69-110.; J. Lowell Lewis, Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian Capoeira (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992).; and Matthias Röhrig Assunção, Capoeira: The History of An Afro-Brazilian Martial Art (New York: Routledge, 2005). 21 Eric Galm, Berimbau: Soul of Brazilian Music (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2010), 24-25.

66 practices were in the Angola style, named for the Central African nation from which many Afro-Brazilian descendants came. Mestre Pastinha is thought to be the father of this style of capoeira, characterized superficially by slow, closer-to-the-ground, expressive, and dance-like games. Some argue the difference between the two types of capoeira directly reflect origins. Capoeira Angola is thought to be closer to the “original” capoeira, played by slaves and freed blacks in the eighteenth century. Objectives in

Capoeira Angola are linked more closely to individual expression, spirituality, music, and ritual. The name of the genre reflects its connection to African identity in capoeira.

Scholars such as TJ Desch Obi, Eric Galm, and J Lowell Lewis attribute the

Regional style of capoeira to Bimba’s reincorporation of a Bantu (central African ethnic group) style of fighting called Batuque. Batuque became a general term to the Portuguese in Angola to represent any foreign (African) dance form. This term then migrated to

Brazil to represent black dance and movements showcased at gatherings.22 Bimba’s father was a practitioner of Batuque and it is thought this is where Bimba’s influence came from. The act of utilizing previously established movements from Africa could be interpreted as an act of reclamation of heritage, whether the systematic inclusion of

Batuque was an intentional act by Bimba is another topic for discussion. The inclusion of

Batuque signifies the connection that capoeira will forever have with the African continent’s movement styles. Mestre Bimba felt that in order for capoeira to be accepted by the larger community, by elite and upper class Brazilians, then the sport needed to be legitimized. In addition to utilizing the Bantu fighting style of Batuque, J. Lowell Lewis notes that Bimba also incorporated influences from Asian martial arts such as Judo and Ju

22 Matthias Röhrig Assunção, Capoeira: The History of An Afro-Brazilian Martial Art (New York: Routledge, 2005), 32-69.

Jitsu.23 Bimba’s influences from Asian martial arts are reflected more in the hierarchical structure of institutionalized capoeira rather than the physical style of “sparring”. The incorporation of the hierarchical structure from Asian martial arts allowed for different ways of measuring progress and this larger system of progress helped Capoeira Regional appear more organized and less like capoeira in the streets.

The new Regional capoeira established values by setting rules and goals, and creating accessibility to larger audiences. This reform in capoeira allowed for a positive portrayal of the sport, not just the physical displays of strength that were being demonstrated in the streets. With rules, a place to train, and new stylistic features, the cordão (belt) system was introduced for the purpose of ranking the progress of students.

The organization of the capoeira academy was pivotal in undoing the negative and mostly racial stigmas associated with capoeira. As Lewis suggests, “He [Bimba] was concerned with creating a respectable image for his sport capoeira, to counteract the old malandro

(scoundrel) stereotype…”24

Hearing Subaltern Voices in the Capoeira Metanarrative

Throughout the history of capoeira in Brazil there is the trend of claiming capoeira by the hegemonic Portuguese turned Brazilian Empire. The internal dialogue of capoeira makes a historical case for the subaltern group of displaced Africans and their descendants trying to establish and claim their cultural heritage while being denied the power to create and share their history, either passed down or reconstructed through the art of capoeira. In Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, she 23 J. Lowell Lewis, Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian Capoeira (Chicago: University of Chicago Press ,1992), 60-62. 24 Ibid., 60.

68 suggests that marginalized, or subaltern, groups lack the power to construct their own narratives, culture, and lives outside of the opinions of the powerful.25 In short, the subaltern cannot speak because their means of communication are made inaccessible by those in power. Speaking for the subaltern leaves the marginalized group silent and unable to represent themselves, their problems, and their values. For capoeira, this means that slaves and, later, Afro-Brazilians never had the authority to situate capoeira as a valuable cultural product that matured in Brazil. Capoeira was always gazed upon and judged by outsiders making claims to its value, (or lack thereof) and as a result, the subaltern did not have the tools to communicate its importance or value. T.J. Desch Obi explains:

While the art’s use among maroons and batuques may have taken place on the outskirts of Rio or deep in the interior, these closed societies appear to have been exclusively urban phenomena. The colony’s authorities were highly preoccupied with trying to exterminate these groups that stood in defiance of the slave system from at least the second half of the eighteenth century, when existent documents first allowed a view of the art.26

Attempts to control the practice of capoeira, while co-opting capoeira by the state, is the greatest example of masking and reassigning the value of capoeira, thus keeping the subaltern from defining capoeira practices on their terms. It is important to reiterate that openly practicing capoeira in the late eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries was a punishable offense and was looked down upon. Today, many people despite their nationality, race, ethnicity, or class, practice capoeira. This diversity is a testament to the tremendous efforts of Afro-Brazilian practitioners to maintain their cultural heritage.

25 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (Macmillan Education: Basingstoke, 1988), 217-313. 26 T.J Desch Obi. Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Arts in the Atlantic World, 156.

Within the context of subaltern studies, one can wonder, to what extent do Afro-

Brazilians currently represent values in capoeira globally? Does the globalization of capoeira result in the loss of power to those who identify as Afro-Brazilian and play the sport? Does this mean there is a re-silencing of the voices that gave us capoeira? Does this devalue the commitment of other skilled practitioners who do not situate capoeira in a historical and colonialist context?

Although, I am unsure these questions can be definitively answered, it is apparent that capoeira has moved far beyond what was imagined at the beginning of the Academy period. I will explore these questions throughout the rest of this thesis.

The fragmented historical view that we have of capoeira is a result of the power and access denied to the enslaved and the Afro-Brazilians. Even through the restructuring of Brazil throughout the nineteenth century and the founding of the capoeira academy, issues of power and access resurfaced. Only when Mestre Bimba made capoeira open to the middle and upper classes and made capoeira more objective, was the game considered to be acceptable and positively acknowledged by the Brazilian elite. The act of appealing to the cultural elite could be viewed as either an attempt to whiten capoeira or an attempt to empower past, present, and future generations of Afro-Brazilians and capoeiristas. I believe it is more productive to believe the latter because opening capoeira up to other people allows the narrative to continue.

In Linda Alcoff’’s essay “The Problem of Speaking for Others” (1992), Alcoff elaborates on Spivak’s ideas about the subaltern. Alcoff suggests that there are power structures that allow for access. Language, education, gender, money, race, ethnicity, etc. are all aspects of culture that put people in a position of power or keep them from power.

Alcoff provides a solution for the silent subaltern, which is to create a dialogue. Speaking with the subaltern group is the solution that insures accurate representation while overcoming colonialist ideals.

In the case of capoeira, Mestre Bimba is credited with starting this dialogue.

Seeing the way capoeira was viewed in society as undesirable, he discovered a way to appeal to audiences who would, through their position of power, re-contextualize capoeira as a valuable cultural product in Brazil. J. Lowell Lewis notes, “Perhaps the most significant thing about Bimba’s academy was his special interest in attracting students form the middle and upper socioeconomic sectors of Bahian society”. 27

In 1972, Brazil officially declared capoeira a national sport. At this point, capoeira had already begun the journey around the globe and to North America through capoeristas such as João Velon, Bira Almeida, Marcelo Pereira, Ricardo Suassuna,

Nestor Capoeira, and many other pioneers. Considering the humble beginnings of capoeira, birthed out of hardships and one the largest tragedies in human history, a global sport was born and continues to positively influence people from various walks of life.

Understanding capoeira through the framework of post-colonial theory helps to categorize the transitions of the sport. Currently we are still in the academy period of capoeira, with schools all over the globe. A question for the future generations of practitioners is, what are some other practices that have crossed boundaries in addition to the physicality of capoeira?

The next chapter explores these questions by focusing on the fieldwork I conducted on American Capoeira. Mestre Bimba’s efforts along with others have insured

27 J Lowell Lewis, Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian, 60.

6; the longevity of capoeira in a post-colonial, multi-cultural world. The following chapter is devoted to the interpretation of capoeira culture and practices by those who are removed historically and nationally from the events that led to the modern-day sport.

CHAPTER III. AN AMERICAN ACADEMY: THE MICHIGAN CENTER FOR CAPOEIRA

Assuming the Role of the Researcher

For one week, May 14-21, 2012, I spent time at home in Michigan for my fieldwork at the Michigan Center for Capoeira. During this week I conducted research by attending class meetings, capoeira training sessions, as well as informal hangout sessions with the founder of The Michigan Center for Capoeria, Baz and his students. These events are a part of my typical routine when I return home to southeast Michigan, but for this trip my perspective had changed. Instead of training in classes, playing in the batería, and planning trips to other capoeira events, I was researching. Instead of warming up, I was recording every move. Instead of playing a friendly game in the roda, I was taking notes. My years of training capoeira, especially since starting my degree in ethnomusicology, have served as a basis for my participant observation. In addition to observing classes, participating as a performer and researcher and surveying 20 students,

I also conducted an interview with the instructor and founder of the Michigan Center for

Capoeira, Baz Michaeli.

Foundations of The Michigan Center for Capoeira

Baz Michaeli founded The Michigan Center for Capoeira in 2007, shortly after moving from Israel. The Michigan Center for Capoeira, or TMCC, is affiliated with a larger school in the global capoeira community. Cordão de Ouro (Golden Cord) is one of four original capoeira schools that began after the suppression period of capoeira during the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries. The capoeira group, Cordão de Ouro

(commonly referred to as CDO) was founded in the 1960s by Mestre Ricardo Suassuna 1

Stylistically, CDO capoeira is associated with capoeira regional, which was implemented by Mestre Bimba.

In 2008, I began training with the Michigan Center for Capoeira under Baz’s instruction. At the time, I had not considered the global impact of capoeira while I was exclusively a student. Upon reflection, I realized TMCC is one of many examples of cross-cultural influences in the capoeira community. Observing this group aided my assessment of capoeira, American, and Israeli values toward the art form through the instructor Baz Michaeli.

In this chapter I will discuss the history of TMCC, compare and contrast student and teacher experiences playing capoeira, discuss national identity and cultural differences, and situate my findings into the larger culture of capoeira in the United

States.

TMCC Locations and Audiences

Three years after starting TMCC, Baz provides capoeira instruction at two locations in suburbs of Detroit: Southfield and Troy. Southfield classes are held at the

Franklin Athletic Club. This health club provides its clientele with many luxuries.

Available services include swim lessons, tennis lessons, personal training sessions, group classes, a preschool academy, yoga, pilates, summer camps, and the list goes on. 2 The tag line on the club’s website is “More fit. More refined.” The impression given by the website is that Franklin meets the highest standard for fitness facilities and the facility

1 http://www.grupocordaodeouro.com.br/menu1%20o%20grupo.html 2 http://www.franklinclub.com

74 matches the website’s advertising. It is clear that Franklin is designed to provide a healthy lifestyle for metro Detroit’s elite.

The second location for the Michigan Center for Capoeira is at Troy Dance

Studio. TDS specializes in salsa ballroom dancing. The owner, Elaine Marrero is a well- known dancer in the metro Detroit area and has many awards. Baz and Elaine met during a salsa festival in 2010. TMCC was invited to perform at this event and received positive reviews from the organizers and spectators.

In addition to having classes in two Detroit suburbs, TMCC holds demonstrations year round. The demonstrations range from presentations at elementary schools to fundraisers and street fairs. From 2008 to the present, TMCC has given over 50 performances.3

Baz Michaeli-Founder and Instructor

Baz Michaeli is a certified personal trainer as well as a capoeira instructor.

Interviewing Baz provided insight into his complex identity as an Israeli capoeira instructor in the United States representing an art form from Brazil. We spoke for a few hours on a Tuesday afternoon about how he came to find his calling in capoeira. Baz began training capoeira nearly twelve years ago in 2000. By 2006 Baz had moved to

Michigan to pursue teaching capoeira. Shortly after moving, Baz opened up The

Michigan Center for Capoeira, in 2007. The original location was in Farmington, MI.

Only after two years in the United States, Baz started hosting capoeira batizado4 and

3 http://www.themichigancenterforcapoeira.com/About.html 4 Translation: Baptism. A batizado is a ceremony in which capoeiristas earn a higher cordão or belt.

75 inviting guests capoeira instructors to hold classes and graduate his first class of students.

This year, 2012, The Michigan Center for Capoeira celebrates their 5th annual batizado.

A significant story for all who play capoeira is their “coming into capoeira” story.

Today capoeira can be found with a Google or Wikipedia search of martial arts, but those who are teaching today had less technological introductions to capoeira. Stories of how people came to capoeira, as a result, are in many cases sentimental.

As Baz prepared lunch for himself, chopping during most of the conversation, we talked about how life was for him as a child in Israel. He recalled when he first saw capoeira in person:

I first learned about capoeira when I saw it at my junior high school. There was a capoeira performance there. A group came and did a crazy performance and I was fascinated by it. I was like, I wanna do that. They [performers] were flipping in the air and doing all this crazy acrobatic stuff and you know, take downs and I was just like [recalling in awe….] I’ve never seen anybody flip in front of me on the floor like that, only in the movies. Oh my god I’ve gotta do that.5

Clearly, he was captivated by the sheer spectacle of capoeira. Even thinking back to his first encounters with capoeira reproduced a fondness and this was apparent through his expression. The time he spent as a young teenager training capoeira proved to be what he needed through difficult times in his young life. A restructured family unit, difficulties with peers, and other issues that plague many of us growing up proved challenging, but capoeira helped Baz with these transitions. Baz continued, “From my first class I just loved it. It was hard for me, it wasn’t easy. It was really hard, but I just enjoyed it. Not only the movements [but] I also enjoyed the fact that nobody was judging me. That’s what I needed at that point in my life.”6

5 Baz Michaeli, interview with the author, West Bloomfield Twp, MI, May 15,2012. 6 Ibid.

An equally important portion of the discussion of capoeira transmission with

TMCC is Baz’s nationality. I asked him about some of the major differences between playing capoeira in the United States and Israel. In addition to his nationality and profession contributing to his capoeira identity, his navigation of the student/teacher dichotomy also plays into the transmission of capoeira knowledge. Baz has never been a capoeira student in the United States, but has been a student and a teacher of capoeira in

Israel. This means the expectations Baz has of his students lay completely outside of any

American interpretation of the student/teacher relationship in capoeira. Recalling his training, Baz said:

The mentality of the people in Israel is different. They don’t mess around with BS. They’ll come to class and be more enthusiastic; they’ll be more willing to try. They’re coming with a lot of energy. When I trained, the classes were intense and very hardcore. My teacher used to cover everything. Compared to what I teach here, it’s similar. Someone in Israel will train 5 years and train 5 years consistently. Here [in the United States] you’ll have someone train 5 years; a year on, a month on, a year off.7

It is clear that Baz is fond of the work ethic and values he grew up with and is quick to point out differences between what he experienced in Israel and what he has encountered in the United States. He also acknowledged cultural differences that contributed to the dedication gap between Israeli and American capoeiristas. Baz acknowledged in the

United States there are other sports that take precedent to capoeira. This prioritization is due in large part to capoeira’s recent introduction to Americans in the late 1970s.

Higher education, access to transportation, community involvement, and having a diverse group of friends all contribute to the different types of people who play capoeira in the United States. Education, community, and social circles act as a lifeline to

7 Baz Michaeli, interview with the author, West Bloomfield Twp, MI, May 15,2012.

77 introduce capoeira to a wide array of people. People who learn about capoeira through an educationally informed manner, from a practitioner, are more likely to at least try the sport and recognize some complexities about the Afro-Brazilian art form. At the same time, education, community, and friends can be a limiting factor in who hears about capoeira in an informed manner. Not everyone attends college, lives in a middle-to upper-class community, or is connected to someone in the capoeira community. Deeply embedded in American capoeira is luxury and access. In my experience, capoeira tends to be focused in areas where people can afford education, leisure, and thus can train an exotic sport. Additionally, community involvement and having a knowledgeable capoeira instructor helps determine who will take a long-term interest in the martial art.

In Israel, everyone is required to join the army upon turning eighteen. In the

United States military service is not a requirement, therefore college is at the forefront of many young adults’ minds. Topics ranging from social expectations to national infrastructure contribute to the differences between how the two countries approach the teaching and learning of capoeira. A constant theme between American and Israeli capoeira, as discussed with Baz, is playing capoeira in the method that was taught to you.

This theme is even more than prevalent in the larger, global capoeira community. Baz teaches the capoeira he was taught in Israel and his teachers, Mestre Cueca and Mestre

Edan, teach how their teachers taught them. “Como meu mestre me ensinou”, translated as “how my master taught me” is a popular sentiment in songs and in practice within the capoeira community. TMCC is just another example of passing on knowledge provided by those who came before. Ultimately capoeira knowledge passed from teachers to students, who then become teachers, represents transmission of knowledge based upon

78 lineages. Baz is an example of how his teachers taught him. Eventually, students of

TMCC will be examples of Baz’s instruction for their students.

Witnessing Baz play (jogar) capoeira in the roda with his contemporaries shows his undeniable talent in capoeira. This talent is equally apparent when Baz plays (tocar)8 in the batería. We discussed the events that led to his affinity for capoeira music. Baz said, “I got into music because when I was in Israel the capoeira group was so developed already that you saw people do stuff and you just wanted to do it yourself and that gave me the motivation.”9 Capoeira music became important to Baz because it was important to those around him. I consider this a micro level of enculturation, an example of capoeira culture inside Israeli culture.10 In this case, capoeira culture across the globe from Brazil is compelling enough to transcend national boundaries, travelling across the globe from Brazil.

When Baz was a young teenage student in Israel, he would show up before his capoeira classes or stay afterwards to receive help from older, more experienced students.11 During my time with Baz, he told me about the events that solidified his musical interests. “I got really into music when I broke a bone in my foot… I couldn’t really walk or train for a very long time. So all I did was handstands and play instruments and music.”12 Many athletes can empathize with the setback of an injury. Fortunately, for

8 References the three elements of capoeira culture- physical play, musical play, and playing jokes and tricks in the roda, as discussed by J Lowell Lewis, Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian. 9 Baz Michaeli, interview with the author, May 15,2012. 10 Greg Downey, “Scaffolding Imitation in Capoeira: Physical Education and Enculturation in an Afro-Brazilian Art,” American Anthropologist 110, no. 2 (2008): 204- 213. 11 Baz Michaeli, interview with the author, May 15,2012. 12 Ibid.

79 those who practice capoeira, there is always another way to participate without entirely retiring from training.

This injury helped Baz make a significant connection with the musical side of capoeira on his own terms. He recalled that during the time of his injury he made himself a capoeira book of songs and music. From personal experience, when a person starts making their own journal of capoeira movements, workshops, discussions, music, etc this means they are extremely committed to the art. Baz’s musical commitment has transformed him from a music student to a music teacher. I asked him about his experiences with teaching capoeira music and he said “Teaching it [music] here [in the

United States] was very hard for me because I’m not a music teacher.” I asked him

“What were some of the challenges?” Without hesitation he quickly replied, “How to explain it in words. I learn music by hearing, hearing and a lot of repetitions. I would take a cd and sit for hours with a cd playing over and over. That’s how I learn songs, that’s how I learn music, everything.“13

He continued to describe his method of systematically teaching students to learn capoeira music.:

Previously I would sit down with students and play. ‘Ok, this is how you do 123’ [Recalling his lessons and imitating drumming motions]. [I would] just sit down and practice with them over and over and over and over. I would try incorporating songs. You remember, the first couple of years it would just be the berimbau and atabaque … until they [students] got used to clapping and singing.14

When I was actively training with Baz as my primary capoeira instructor, I remember when we worked in small groups, he would check up on us periodically while

13 Baz Michaeli, interview with the author, May 15,2012. 14 Ibid.

7: he taught beginners. When Baz would check up on the students playing instruments and we got a thumbs up, rhythmic head bobbing, a smile, or a “bonito” (beautiful), we knew we were making capoeira music. Since those days, ca. 2008-09, he has expanded his teaching techniques. He explained:

Now, I [have] found ways [to teach]. I did a music workshop here. I found ways that I [can] write notes and play with [them] like a puzzle. I would play around with timing. Teach[ing] them the order randomly, but then they actually train their ear. That way of teaching I just figured out this year, after 5 years of teaching.15

Baz devised a method of teaching music that involves notating at least two instruments of the batería at a time, starting with the berimbau and atabaque. He notates the toque (rhythm) of each instrument for students to see, using symbols for students to visually differentiate each toque. Different sections of the layered toques are grouped together for students to repeat. The musical practice is comparable to a conductor having an orchestra rehearse a particular phrase, excerpt, or portion of a phrase to be looped in practice by the entire ensemble. Instead of starting at the beginning of a phrase or toque, the group practices unconventional entrances, listening to musical relationships, and uncomfortable rhythmic anticipations. Teaching rhythms by blocking information helps students understand how each instrument of the batería work together.

The system Baz described to me, and that I witnessed when those workshops took place in early February 2012, is what ethnomusicologists refer to as Time Unit Box

System, or TUBS for short. The TUBS system was devised by James Koetting as a

15 Baz Michaeli, interview with the author, West Bloomfield Twp, MI, May 15,2012.

7; method of learning drumming rhythms by organizing subdivided beats or pulses.16 This method of transcribing, or writing music, is most useful when applied to music that is more rhythmic in nature, like capoeira.

TMCC Training Sessions: Atmosphere and Practice

During my observations, every class started with students welcoming each other.

Students would often individually warm up with stretching in the mirror or by practicing moves on their own. When Baz entered the room, it was down to business. Baz would carry a binder with business and insurance information, waivers, and payment forms.

Each student has a record of insurance information and emergency contact number and new students have to fill out this information, signed by the student or their parents if they are under 18 years old. Class officially began when students signed in to class.

The students lined up, facing the mirror to start. The most experienced students lined up in the front to act as guides for the newer students. Warm- up exercises included running, stretching, kicking, jumping, and crunches of some sort. After getting their muscles loose, everyone started with the basic capoeira movement of ginga. Ginga is a mixture of arm and leg movements and the basic step component of capoeira games. The arm positioning of ginga starts with a raised arm that is bent at the elbow (to protect the face with the forearm), with the other arm past the back of the torso in a relaxed manner.

The feet positioning of ginga starts at a relaxed stance, with feet a shoulder width apart.

One foot begins by stepping backwards (a comfortable distance, but not too small or large of a step) and staying on the ball of the foot for agility. The first foot returns to its

16 James Koetting, “Analysis and Notation of West African Drum Ensemble Music,” Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology 1 (1970): 3.

7< original position and the second foot takes a step back. When the right arm is in front protecting the face, the right foot is stepping backwards and vice versa. The arms switch with the feet as they do naturally when walking, allowing the body to balance.

Figure 4: A still photo of ginga

Other movements in the repertoire of capoeira are practiced, in partners and in sequences with the goal of accuracy and consistency in mind. Baz would build on a sequence of movements that began as a basic capoeira step. Building sequences is common among capoeira teachers. A sequence is a fixed set of movements that is shared between two players, like a choreographed dance. This is the capoeira equivalent of scaffolding or building up a students skill so that the student can perform the task confidently and consistently in the proper context. Although the game of capoeira itself is based on improvisational back and forth between two bodies, the capoeira sequence has been a staple in the transmission of capoeira techniques since Mestre Bimba in the early twentieth century17. Capoeira sequences allow for easier understanding of fluidity

17 Greg Downey, “Scaffolding Imitation in Capoeira: Physical Education and Enculturation in an Afro-Brazilian Art,” American Anthropologist 110, no. 2 (2008): 204- 213.

7= between movements, eventually letting students express themselves and evade their opponents in the roda.

Figure 5: Roda diagram from an aerial view. The stars represent members of the batería. The small circles are the additional capoeiristas. The circles in the middle signify the two players actively playing capoeira.

Individual training and growth is present during classes as well. Just as much time is spent on personal physical development as on actual capoeira movements. As with any other physical activity, everyone has a different starting place. Exercises are designed to push the limits of all participants. Baz has workouts designed to work on balance, flexibility, and strength for all muscle groups. Many of Baz’s capoeira classes are a reflection of his career as a personal trainer in addition to a certified capoeira instructor.

When basic movements were being practiced, there were usually modifications or increasing levels of difficulty that can be applied to more advanced students. There was never an easy class for anyone. I think the challenge of classes is an aspect that keeps students united and constantly encouraging each other.

Music in the Academy

The traditional musical ensemble for capoeira is a batería. This ensemble consists of one to three berimbaus, an atabaque (conga-like drum), a pandeiro (Brazilian tambourine),

84 reco-reco (a notched scrapper), and agogô (a double bell). A full batería is typical during a large ceremony like a batizado or a community performance.

Figure 6: Baz and the batería at TMCC 3rd annual batiazdo. Photo courtesy of The Michigan Center for Capoeira. Pictured in this batería are 3 berimbaus, two pandeiros, and an atabaque.

When a student graduates to the next cordão in a batizado ceremony, a certain level of competence is required evaluated at the discretion of the instructor. Physical skill is important in addition to the ability to play instruments and simultaneously sing. In addition to these skills participants must also have historical knowledge of the sport. The criterion for advancing to the next level varies by teacher and the degree of difficulty becomes greater with each cordão earned.

During my TMCC observations, I noticed that the full batería ensemble was not present as the main musical accompaniment for regular classes. For typical classes, the sound system is connected to an iPod or iPad, which is set to play capoeira music. The most notable of artists on the playlist is Mestre Acordeon. The Brazilian native currently teaches in the California Bay Area. Acordeon is one of the oldest living students of the

85 most well known capoeirista, Mestre Bimba.18 Many students and teachers look up to

Mestre Acordeon. The use of Mestre Acordeon’s music in training sessions is an indication of the importance of maintaining community and establishing cultural norms, despite location.

The use of recorded music over a live ensemble has advantages. A repetitive and consistent music source is a way for students to internalize toques, the Portuguese lyrics, and melodies by hearing the texts over and over. Although listening to tracks repeatedly while engaging in a physical activity may be a passive introduction to music, a recorded sound source eliminates the need for musicians and allows everyone to participate physically. The setback to recorded music is that the students may wait to engage in making music because it is regularly provided for them.

Lorraine, a capoeirista of 18 months, when asked about her favorite component of capoeira said “Music; it moves me”19. Another student, Olya who is originally from

Moldova and has been training for over two and half years, said this when asked the same question: “My favorite part is music. Music helps you to feel capoeira, feel the culture.

Besides, there is no capoeira without music. It would have been just a usual fight, no different than the other martial arts.”20

Anthropologist Greg Downey comments on the connection between berimbau music and learning capoeira in an article entitled “Listening to Capoeira:

Phenomenology, Embodiment, and the Materiality of Music.” According to Downey,

18 Bira Almeida, commonly known as Mestre Acordeon is one of the earliest contributors of capoeira music and knowledge to the West, with the release of his world music album Music of Capoeira under Smithsonian Folkways in 1985. 19 Student Capoeira Survey, Lorraine, Distributed May 15, 2012. 20 Student Capoeira Survey, Olya. Distributed May 15, 2012.

“Music occurs in proximity to bodily movement, and patterns of action for a foundation for a pre-abstract sensual experience. In the case of capoeira, put quite simply, the distinctive sound texture of the berimbau is seldom heard outside of training of play.

Practitioners’ lived bodies, fashioned by patterns of acting in relation to the music, respond almost involuntarily to the sonic texture.”21

Both students, Lorraine and Olya confirm Downey’s assessment of capoeira music as an integral part of the physical game through associations with the sound and experience of capoeira music.

The opportunity for students to play instruments is available when instruction ends and everyone participates in the roda.22. Occasionally, if a student is ill or injured, they will attend classes only to play the berimbau while the others learn physical capoeira techniques. As mentioned previously, practicing music more intensely during an injury serves as a way to maintain or build on any capoeira skill, despite a temporary setback.

From my observations, I noticed that the importance of physical instruction surpassed the musical instruction in daily practices. Students interested in learning toques and instrument techniques are free to stay after class and ask, but over an hour of physical training cannot compare to twenty minutes of music. It appeared as though students have to make a personal commitment to music in and outside of classes. Physical instruction was available at great length, while music instruction came second. There could be a number of reasons why music is secondary to movement in class settings. Students who are not musicians could feel uncomfortable or hesitant to take on learning another genre

21 Greg, Downey, “Listening to Capoeira: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and the Materiality of Music,” Ethnomusicology 46, no. 3 (2002): 500. 22 Fieldwork Observations. Franklin Athletic Club, Southfield, MI. May 14, 2012.

87 in front of others. In reviewing student survey responses, it became clear that physical execution, performance in the roda, and friendships are important and perhaps outweigh that of musical performance practice.

The Students of TMCC

In discussions with Baz and students at TMCC, I have found that the community element of capoeira is one of the most alluring aspects of the sport. Students ranged in age from 18 to 40 and experience levels varied from a few months to over 5 years of training with Baz. I surveyed more than twenty students who spoke about how interacting with other people is one of the most important or rewarding aspects of capoeira. The survey questions were designed to determine community involvement as well as personal values in capoeira. I asked questions like, “How long have you been playing capoeira?

What is your favorite part of capoeira? What comes to mind when you think about capoeira?”23 and so on. Most students talked about the ability to connect with people or being able to do something “unique” or participate in a “cultural” practice, but the responses do not get specific. When asked “What comes to mind when you think about capoeira?” Laura responded, “Community. Capoeira is for everyone.”24 To the same question Rita responded “The community.”25 Another student, Sam, responded to this question in a similar way stating, “To have fun.”26 Many of the responses to these questions, and to the survey in general, continue this way. Having friends and learning new skills, mostly athletic, appear to be the focus of students at TMCC.

23 The student survey is located in the appendix. 24 Student Capoeira Survey- Laura. Distributed May 15, 2012. 25 Student Capoeira Survey- Rita. Distributed May 15, 2012. 26 Student Capoeira Survey- Sam “Girafa” Distributed May 15, 2012.

One student, Edgar, had dramatically different responses. When asked, “What comes to mind when you think about capoeira?” Edgar responded,

The history. We have the luck to not be slaves, and yet sing songs of captivity of longing and rejoicing, of hope. To a certain extent the history makes capoeira real…I believe capoeira connects us, by ritual, to the past, and we relive in the roda those same struggles or victories. Without this, capoeira would be empty.27

Edgar’s response reveals that making a connection to capoeira history is important to him. There seems to be a level of awareness that is not expressed in other student responses.

Information about the history of capoeira, provided by the school’s website, coupled with the number of years of training, indicates that learning about capoeira history is available to students of TMCC but is not at the forefront of their capoeira experiences. The TMCC website provides many resources for students, including history, song lyrics, performances, and a calendar of events.28 Considering the fact that much of capoeira history is available to students with a click of a mouse, it was surprising that few students expressed this knowledge when given the opportunity.

In capoeira classes at TMCC, it is a judgment free zone. Students feel free to be who they are and enjoy being around people who will not judge them. Personalities range from quirky to introverted. The people training with Baz are as diverse in personality as they are in physical appearance. This shows that the capoeira environment at TMCC is welcoming and nurturing to personal development and growth. The atmosphere at the TMCC is also reminiscent of Baz’s first experiences of training capoeira in Israel. When physical tasks get difficult in class, students are reluctant to

27 Student Capoeira Survey- Edgar “Zorro”. Distributed May 15, 2012. 28 http://www.themichigancenterforcapoeira.com/HOME.html

89 become negative and complain. Students often encourage and push each other to work harder. This explains why students are quick to mention community, togetherness, and people when they talk about capoeira. There is a correlation between the community values held by students and their teacher, values that have been passed down from his teachers and capoeira community in Israel to his American students. Arguably, friendship and community are understood universally which is why the camaraderie aspect of capoeira has remained intact through time and place, and across nationalities.

Musical Identity and TMCC: Folk Music and New Techniques

Music plays a large role for TMCC students. During one of my visits to Baz’s house we watched a video of the school’s previous batizado. One of the segments was a musical performance of the song “Raihna do Mar” (“Queen of the Sea”), better known by the chorus response, “Mora Iemanjá” (“Iemanjá Lives”). The students who performed in the video were Jessica, Rita, Steve and Sam. All of these students have a passion for music, either by hobby, profession, or in educational pursuits. Jess is a singer/songwriter who plays guitar; Rita has been a musician from a young age- starting on piano; Steve is a guitar teacher; and Sam has studied classical guitar performance at a local university.

Although musical performances often accompany capoeira, the context for this show was very different. The instrumentation consisted of two guitars and an atabaque— the only instrument typical to capoeira music. The introduction of classical guitar is melodically reminiscent of Spain perhaps because of the classical guitar repertoire. The piece has standard Western attributes such as harmonization and instrumental breaks. “Rainha do

Mar” transitions to “A Hora Essa” (This Is The Hour), a common piece in capoeira rodas. When the quartet ended their staged performance, the audience clapped to mark

8: the conclusion. The quartet started to play again, but the type of performance transitioned from a formal concert setting to a roda setting. The quartet then became the batería for roda, instead of just performers on the stage.

The importance of music to TMCC’s students was expressed in this clip and in my observations of students playing guitar and harmonizing to capoeira songs after classes. The staged performance at TMCC’s fourth annual batizado marks some level of affinity with Western aesthetics. The instrumentation, the performer-audience divide, and dark backdrop with a spotlight are all western performance attributes worked into the students’ musical display. This performance is symbolic of the cultural fusion of musical aesthetics. In my experience, batizado performances include performing difficult capoeira sequences, a maculele29 dance routine, or a musical performance featuring capoeira or Brazilian music. The performance by TMCC students adapted capoeira music for an American audience by altering song structure and instrumentation. Straying away from or altering Brazilian and capoeira music practices at American batizados is not a new practice in the United States, but an indication of cultural fusion.

Reconciling A Shifting Folk Practice, part I

This section looks at the authenticity of American capoeira practices through models suggested by post-colonial theorist Paul Gilroy and historian Matthias Rörhig

Assunção. Comparing contemporary practices to models suggested by scholars is an attempt to understand ways in which capoeira academies may differ within global capoeira culture, while maintaining the traditional capoeira goals and practices. 29 Maculele is a dance style with wooden sticks (sometimes machetes) between two partners. This genre within capoeira has rhythms, songs, and movements exclusive to the genre.

Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic Modernity and Double Consciousness discusses issues of fragmentation of cultural practices belonging to the African diaspora in the

Western and modern world. In Chapter 3 entitled “Jewels Brought from Bondage”,

Gilroy discusses the importance of music and movement as essential tools of communication and expression. Slaves in the Americas were punished for attaining skills such as reading and writing, and with music and movement came a source of autonomy.30

What Gilroy describes is the inseparable relationship between communication and music.

Capoeira is an excellent example of how music and movement work together for the purpose of communication. Before capoeira was an accepted practice in Brazil, the music, movement and language were separate from, European-derived Brazilian culture.

With time, the language and music of both slave and Brazilian cultures began to interact.

The result of this exchange was black slave populations speaking Portuguese as well as musical practices from slaves becoming a part of Brazilian musical identity. The impact of slave music practices (later Afro-Brazilian music practices) is evident in Brazil’s current musical identity, which was discussed in chapter 1. Music and language both act as sites for cultural exchange. With the exchange of culture comes a shift in value and aesthetics. Value shifts are the result of dominant cultures picking and choosing what is significant, which inevitably places emphasis on certain characteristics of a cultural practice, while eliminating or devaluing emphasis on other aspects. The more a practice interacts with various cultures, the more the practice changes. Capoeira in the United

States is removed from Brazilian capoeira, which is removed in time and language from prototypical capoeira of the slaves. Because capoeira has been introduced to various

30 Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Double Consciousness and Modernity, 74-75

8< cultures outside of the initial group of creators and practitioners, there will continue to be constant change based upon what a host culture values aesthetically.

Matthias Rörhig Assunção discuses how capoeira song subjects and lyrics have changed overtime in an essay entitled “History and Memory in Capoeira Lyrics.” This essay discusses how language has changed between African origins and Brazilian practices in the nineteenth century. Assunção attributes this shift to the end of the transatlantic slave trade and the number of capoeira practitioners with Angola origins.31

Assunção maintains that distance (in time and location) and transmission of knowledge ultimately results in a degree of change linguistically. I assert that if a change in practice has occurred in language, then this shift has occurred in other facets of capoeira as well.

Additionally, modifications between cultures in Brazil indicates that it is probable that the introduction of capoeira to other cultures and nations has resulted or will result in some change or shift in ritualistic practice and interpretation. In my observations, some of these modifications include the integration of other musical forms, the use of a recorded batería, and the discussion of history.

Gilroy’s position highlights a characteristic of Afro-diasporic music. Assunção’s position explains how easily some characteristics of capoeira change. Together, these positions lead to an inevitable conclusion: capoeira cannot maintain the same format and values with such rapid globalization.

Culturally, in the United States, we fragment the relationship between music and movement that was once codependent in capoeira. The structural format of capoeira has

31 Matthias Rörhig Assunção, “History and Memory in Capoeira Lyrics“ in Cultures of the Lusophone Black Atlantic, eds. Nancy Pricilla Naro, Roger Sansi-Roca, and David Treece (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), 207.

8= been unintentionally altered due to the many sites of cultural integration. This shift of musical function is just one way in which American culture and modern culture has reshaped capoeira practices, just like the example of TMCC’s batizado music performance described in the previous section.

Capoeira, like many other historically black practices, has become a part of transnational or global culture. Some larger questions to consider in regard to capoeira are: to what extent are the origins in relation to current transformations of capoeira acknowledged? Is it just too uncomfortable to talk about race when we play sports? I think that teaching capoeira in the United States is a delicate position to navigate. An instructor has to be proficient physically and musically with the additional task of the awareness of race politics. Ideas of race and power are historically tied to capoeira because of colonization and the transatlantic slave trade. Discussing these issues, I imagine, are difficult for American teachers for a number a reasons. If a teacher does not come from a place (educationally, socio-economically, or geographically) saturated in the everyday reality of the black-white dichotomy of race, these issues may not be relevant to how they relate to capoeira. From a business perspective, if a teacher is completely aware of how race politics play a role historically in capoeira, it can be uncomfortable to talk about how race, class, difference, and the African diaspora play a significant role in contemporary capoeira because talking about race can lead to discomfort. Uncomfortable students will not return resulting in fewer students and an instructor struggling to maintain a capoeira academy. Making people uncomfortable is not a good business model. In Sara Delamont’s essay “The Smell of Sweat and Rum: Teacher Authority in

Capoeira Classes”, Delamont acknowledges the extent to which race becomes a

94 demarcation of authority to students. Her work suggests that Afroness, Brazilianess, speaking Portuguese, in addition to the physicality and musicianship of capoeira, allows students (and audiences) to accept the authenticity of their participation in capoeira. With

Delamont’s essay in mind, it follows that the opposite is true as well. That is to say, being white and non-Brazilian would make it difficult for teachers to assert their authority and knowledge to students and spectators initially.32

To level the playing field, and accommodate the multitude of backgrounds capoeira instructors come from, as well as the wide audiences they are catering to, it seems manageable to only talk about the tangible aspects of the art form— the movement and the music— while leaving the conceptual, like race politics and difference to be left to those who show special interest. In my experiences playing capoeira for over four years, instructors who feel comfortable discussing race, do so and teachers who are less comfortable mention race in passing or not at all. When I consider Baz and his nationality, it is apparent that his method of transmitting capoeira history may be less explicit than an American, a Brazilian, or a member of the African diaspora because of his distance from issues of race and ethnicity in the Transatlantic world.

Spirituality and Axé

A common notion amongst capoeira students is the general “culture” feeling of the sport. Culture is in quotations to highlight the otherness that students associate with capoeira practices initially. When training capoeira, students adopt many capoeira customs in order to become acclimated to the new practice. In the context of capoeira,

32 Sara Delamont, “The Smell of Sweat and Rum: Teacher Authority in Capoeira Classes,” Ethnography and Education 6, no. 2 (2006): 161-175.

95 axé can be thought of as positive energy, expression, and liveliness. Axé is an excellent example of a transitional concept within capoeira with regards to spirituality.

Associations with spirituality and axé are common within capoeira because of the heavy influence from West African religions, mostly Yoruba. In my experience in American rodas, there is a lack of discussion on what precisely ignites this emotional response to capoeira, or to what extent religion has been and continues to be intertwined in the game.

In the survey, another student was asked, “What is your favorite component of capoeira and why?” They responded, “The music, the community, the axé. I love how everyone I meet is always friendly and easy to talk to.”33 Ideas of axé and positive energy seem to coexist in students’ understandings, but these ideas differ from the original meaning within prototypical Afro-diasporic practices of Brazil and West Africa. In Clarence

Bernard Henry’s book, Let’s Make Some Noise: Axé and the African Roots of Brazilian

Popular Music, he discusses the diffusion of the African religious sentiment of “axé” in

Brazil. Bernard explains:

Axé is an endearing term linked with Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions, black expression, and local identity in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. This term has a sacred/secular connection that stems from àsé, the West African Yoruba concept that was spread to Brazil and throughout the African diaspora. Àsé is imagined as a power and creative energy that are bestowed upon human beings by ancestral spirits who act as guardians. This power and creative energy are found within both sacred and secular realms, which often interact with each other. Àsé is similar to a charge or boost of energy that moves like an electrical current…many participants [in special ceremonies] believe that àsé creative energy is vital in helping people accomplish their goals in the secular (that is, the real world).34

Henry’s overview of how axé is used in an Afro-Brazilian and Brazilian context is consistent with how capoeira practitioners in the United States use this term.

33 Student Capoeira Survey- anonymous. Distributed May 15, 2012. 34 Clarence Bernard Henry, Let’s Make Some Noise: Axé and the African Roots of Brazilian Popular Music (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2008), 3.

Understanding of the term, however, is less of an issue than the cultural weight of axé as a concept being frequently misunderstood. In my experience, “axé” is used as a salutation, a way to close capoeira meetings or to express energy and positivity. The song

“Tem Que Ter Axé” or “You Must Have Axé” is popular in Cordão de Ouro rodas, made popular by Mestre Suassuna. This Brazilian Mestre is an iconic figure in present-day capoeira most notably for developing the Miudinho style, (which literally translates to smaller) as well as developing toques that are exclusive to the subgenre of capoeira games35. In Miudinho, players are in close proximity throughout the game, while exhibiting expressively acrobatic moves quickly. For me, Miudinho has the speed and showiness of Capoeira Regional and the expressivity and closeness of Capoeira Angola.

In the United States, the song “Tem Que Ter Axé” spreads awareness of the word axé and the energetic atmosphere of capoeira, but has little to say about the context of axé.

Conceptually, axé is a topic that fully expresses the disconnect between Brazilian and

American knowledge base of the influence of the African diaspora within capoeira.

While Mestre Suassuna has cultural connections with axé because of his Brazilian nationality and his lifetime commitment to capoeira, the message holds less weight when passed down to students he has taught for half a century and their students as well.

A problem arises when American capoeira academies and their students attribute axé and other concepts within capoeira as only relevant to capoeira, inadvertently omitting spiritual contributions of Afro-Brazilians from the African-diaspora. Teachers are, in many cases, the only window to anything authentically Brazilian for students.

Omitting knowledge will result in limitations of the next generation of capoeira teachers,

35 Mestre Ponchianinho, Essential Capoeira: The Guide to Mastering the Art (London: New Holland Publishers, 2007), 19-20.

97 hindering a comprehensive understanding of Afro-Brazilian culture situated in capoeira practices.

Reconciling a Shifting Folk Practice, pt. II

To revisit my discussion on understanding Afro-diasporic cultural values within capoeira, it is obvious that students do not consider capoeira history and contributions of

Afro-Brazilians to be the most important aspect of their interaction with the art form.

This is not because of ignorance or lack of access, but because of a shift in values within the capoeira community which is a result of the migration of the sport. This is also not to say that students necessarily need to know this information: it is s imply not as relevant to the practice of capoeira in the United States.

The intermingling of cultural values, national identity, and time all contribute to the shifting aesthetics of capoeira taking it from a form of resistance to a sport. While race and ethnicity hold importance historically, these issues are becoming displaced in contemporary practices in the US. In a section entitled “Music Criticism and the Politics of Racial Authenticity,” Paul Gilroy discusses the potential problem of linking authenticity of black folk practices only to their ethnic place of origin. Gilroy states:

The problem of cultural origins and authenticity to which these examples point has persisted and assumed an enhanced significance as mass culture has acquired new technological bases and black music has become a truly global phenomenon. It has taken on greater proportions as original, folk, or local expressions of black cultures have been identified as authentic and positively evaluated for that reason, while subsequent hemispheric or global manifestations of the same cultural forms have been dismissed as inauthentic and therefore lacking in cultural or aesthetic value precisely because of their distance (supposed or actual) from a readily identifiable point of origin. 36

36 Paul Gilroy The Black Atlantic: Double Consciousness and Modernity, 96.

Gilroy’s discussion is in relation to popular music that has stemmed from the

African diaspora, but it also lends itself to capoeira. Gilroy suggests that change in location or types of participants does not make a practice any less authentic.

In Sara Delamont’s ethnographic article “The Smell of Sweat and Rum: Teacher

Authority in Capoeira Classes,” Delamont discusses how capoeira teachers in the UK use other cultural forms, like samba, to convey Brazilianness to students. The thought behind this being that Western students should hold or mimic the same values as their Brazilian counterparts.37 Mimicry of Brazilian attitudes towards music, dance, and capoeira have become apparent in my research with TMCC and observations as an American practitioner.

In the textbook, Thinking Musically, ethnomusicologist Bonnie Wade discusses the concept of authenticity and why this concept is important to thinking critically in respect to folk music traditions. Wade states, “Distinctive culture could serve both as a marker of difference in external relations and a symbol behind which the citizenry could rally as a community. Thus was born the concept of authenticity as faithfulness to one’s essential nature.”38 According to Wade’s discussion, an authentic folk practice can be demonstrated through membership in a group and the continual practice of rituals determined by the group. Modern capoeira instructors exhibit both elements of citizenship and practice of rituals, which suggests that authenticity is regulated by the current practicing community to enforce what is acceptable as an authentic practice.

37 Sara Delamont, “The Smell of Sweat and Rum: Teacher Authority in Capoeira Classes,” Ethnography and Education 6, no. 2 (2006) 161-175. 38 Bonnie Wade. Thinking Musically: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 180-181.

Gilroy and Wade each have a position that supports capoeira culture in the United

States as an authentic practice, despite being removed in time and distance from capoeira practices centuries ago. I assert that individuals practicing capoeira contribute to the authenticity of the martial art, while larger societal structures contribute to the fragmentation of the sport.39 The distinction is illustrated through two groups: the capoeiristas and popular culture. The difficulty in discussing the fragmentation of capoeira between capoieristas and popular culture is that each group does not exist independently. Gilroy acknowledges inevitable shifts in authentic Afro-diasporic culture and practices as well as the larger societal structures that fragment folk practices for gain, in what he calls “folk cultural identity and pop cultural betrayal.”40

More importantly than objectively categorizing capoeira as authentic or inauthentic based on who practices and where they practice capoeira, is the maintenance of capoeira rituals and values despite being geographically distant from Brazil.

Authenticity in capoeira is determined by local capoeira communities and by extension larger global communities. Authenticity in capoeira remains intact because practitioners of various nations adhere to the same rules and rituals that makes capoeira distinct from other martial art forms.

Presently, capoeira in an American context is positioned between the lived experience of the capoeirista and interpretations from mass media and other entities looking to appropriate capoeira culture. Issues of authenticity and authority are becoming more important with the globalization of capoeira. With globalization comes

39 Sara Delamont and Neil Stephens.,“Up on the Roof: The Embodied Habitus of Diasporic Capoeira,” Cultural Sociology 2, no. 1 (2008): 57-74. 40 Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Double Consciousness and Modernity, 99.

9: new audiences and a new and larger community. Capoeiristas are a global community that share in a once exclusively slave practice. The challenge for the capoeira community is to represent capoeira with as much context as possible to audiences, while creating an authentic experience for students and audiences.41 Representing capoeira can prove to be a difficult task if economic gain takes precedent to transmission of knowledge. In the following chapter, I will discuss in more detail how capoeira culture is portrayed in

American popular culture.

41 Sara Delamont, “The Smell of Sweat and Rum: Teacher Authority in Capoeira Classes,” Ethnography and Education 6, no. 2 (2006): 161-175.

CHAPTER IV. CAPOEIRA IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE

Since the late 1970s capoeira has been practiced and recognized, in small circles of martial-arts enthusiasts, as an Afro-Brazilian martial art (as discussed in chapter 2).

With its growth in popularity abroad, capoeira, since the 1990s, has been portrayed in popular media and its appeal has expanded from practitioners and students of the sport to the general public. I will discuss the introduction of capoeira to the general public by highlighting the fragmented historical and cultural understanding of capoeira in the

United States. Next, I will analyze the individual components in American popular media that have contributed to the national recognition of capoeira. I will focus on how films, music videos, video games, and television shows portray capoeira to American audiences. And finally, I will address the issues of misrepresentation that arise through the co-opting of capoeira as an exoticized cultural product.

Capoeira In Film: Only the Strong and Oceans Twelve

Only The Strong, a 1993 film, is possibly the most influential film in the

American capoeira community. This film is the first and only American Hollywood blockbuster to exclusively feature the sport. Only the Strong tells the story of Louis, an ex-green beret who hopes to turn around the lives of inner city kids through the movement, music, and discipline of capoeira. Capoeira is an ideal subject for film because capoeira is better captured in film than in snapshots or photos. The benefit of capoeira in film is the broad audience that it reaches. Anyone interested in Brazil, martial arts, gangs, or teachers with a heart of gold are likely to have seen this movie and reminisce in fondness.

.. 9<

The protagonist, Louis, is especially invested in Lincoln High School students because he used to be a lost student, like them, before his service in Latin America. The imagery of the opening scene references Brazil as well as the occasional untranslated

Portuguese used throughout the film. Other action genre stereotypes occur, such as training montages and fight scenes. Musically there are representations of the blending of American culture and that of capoeira culture. The musical synthesis in Only the

Strong serves as one of the first attempts to blend capoeira music with an American sound, compliant with the tonality of Western music. This musical blending in Only the

Strong can be interpreted as diluting capoeira music in order to make the new genre palatable to a new audience.

The opening scene of Only the Strong is the only time when capoeira music, the roda, and movements, are used independently of American music forms.

For the remainder of the film, the music features the berimbau, but often has the background sound associated with hip-hop because of tempo and use of bass. In addition, the vocals are reminiscent of 90s girl groups who repeat the chorus of “Paraneue” or

“Parana É” in the style of background singers (no more than 3) as opposed to many singers in a call-response format. The soundtrack of Only the Strong is of particular interest because the music literally blends capoeira standards like “Parana E” with 1990s popular music beats.

Although “Paranaue”/ “Parane É” is the theme for Only the Strong, only the chorus is sung repeatedly, which is the title of the song. There is limited engagement with the

Portuguese language and the entire text of the song.

“Paraná E” is a popular song in the capoeira community and is sung regularly at informal and formal rodas or gatherings. “Paraná E” references the state of Paraná, which borders Uruguay. When capoeiristas sing “Parana E”, it is to recall capoeira’s nationalistic ties to Brazil. The song is sung to recognize the strength, skill, and cunning of capoeira.

The idea of cultural blending in a popular film and music is not a new discourse between Brazil and America. A chapter from Bryan McCann’s Hello, Hello Brazil (2004) entitled, “American Seduction” marks the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing

American outlets in the 1930s and 40s. The chapter focuses heavily on the influence of

Western Art music in Brazilian music as well the use of Hollywood imagery to expand on global perceptions of Brazil.1 The interchange between Brazilian and American culture has been in use since the early twentieth century. Only the Strong is just another example of conscious efforts of expanding and resituating Brazilian folk music.

Historian Matthias Röhrig Assunção in an essay entitled “History and Memory in

Capoeira Lyrics from Bahia, Brazil” discusses the function of capoeira texts. Assunção asserts that song texts preserve capoeira narratives as well as (presumably translated) narratives from the Africans that originally sang capoeira songs. Assuncão goes on to say, “Capoeira lyrics sung in twentieth century rodas touch on many themes. They articulate the everyday struggle for survival or reflect on human relationships and sentiments such as love and friendship, envy and competition.”2

1 Bryan McCann, “American Seduction” Hello, Hello, Brazil: Popular Music in the Making of Modern Brazil (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2008), 129-159. 2 Matthias Röhrig Assunção, “History and Memory in Capoeira Lyrics from Bahia, Brazil,” Cultures of the Lusophone Black Atlantic, eds. Nancy Pricilla Naro, Roger Sansi- Roca, and David Treece (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), 202.

The last themes—love, friendship, envy, and competition are at the core of Only the Strong. Further speculation on the inclusion of the song in the film reveals the dual significance of the song “Paraná E”. “Paraná E” as a theme song reflects capoeira history,

Brazilian nationalism, aesthetics of camaraderie, brotherhood, and sometimes rivalry. In addition to the thematic weight of “Paraná E,” the song is catchy. The chorus of the song is the title. Therefore, because it is only two words, it is easily remembered. These attributes are key to introducing American audiences to capoeira in a way they will relate.

There are other instances where music is used symbolically. In one scene of the film, the teacher is working to get students to give capoeira a chance. Luis shows the students the basic ginga movement, with capoeira music playing on a cassette tape. The boys were only captivated by some of the moves because of their interest of inflicting pain on others. A student named Donovan was intrigued by capoeira music. The next day, Donvoan returns to class with a new mix tape featuring capoeira beats and a hip-hop laden track in an attempt to make practicing capoeira more appealing. This is perhaps one of the most symbolic moments of the film because of the integration of American pop with the Brazilian folk music of capoeira. This reiterates McCann’s research on the interplay of film and music between America and Brazil.

Various portions of the film indirectly reference practices in capoeira. Usually when there is a street fight, this is portrayed as a capoeira roda in the film. Additionally in any street gathering of capoeira, the police show up and the roda stops and players disperse. The pickup rodas in the film are a direct reference to the suppression period of capoeira. During this period it was a punishable offence to practice capoeira in public. In

:5 the film, themes like camaraderie or brotherhood, crime and territory as well as sportsmanship are all used through the vehicle of capoeira in a newly envisioned urban setting. The divergence from Brazilian cultural settings to American cultural settings allows the audience to imagine this new sport in their own cultural backdrop, allowing the sport to transition more easily into American practices. Integration of American music forms can be seen as an argument for the dilution of Brazilian capoeira practices to suit the desires of wider American audiences. The dilution of Brazilian-ness on screen in

American media allows audiences who see actual capoeira to acknowledge only a portion of capoeira as a practice. The spectacle of capoeira is celebrated in media, therefore when those same media consumers see capoeira live, they only know to appreciate the visual spectacle. This byproduct of valuing visual capoeira permeates the internal capoeira academy system in the United States. Capoeira instructors are aware that the spectacle is the ”wow” factor that draws crowds3. For capoeira teachers that have their own schools, as businesses or in conjunction with their jobs or careers, know that “giving the people what they want” is the only way to insure students, customers, and most importantly- financial security.4

Katya Wesolowski reflects on the globalization of capoeira in an essay entitled,

“Professionalizing Capoeira: The Politics of Play in Twenty-first-Century Brazil”.

Wesolowski speculates about a shifting idea of authenticity as capoeira reaches new audiences as well as the transmission of capoeira values by stating, “The global commodification and consumption of capoeira as an exotic, hip, multicultural activity has

3 Baz Michaeli. Interview with the author, West Bloomfield Twp, MI. May 15,2012. 4 Sara Delamont, “The Smell of Sweat and Rum: Teacher Authority in Capoeira Classes,” Ethnography and Education 6, no. 2 (2006): 161-175.

:6 influenced the tone and direction of the internal politics that have long been apart of this practice.” 5 Wesolowski is suggesting that the widespread practice of capoeira exists not only because of the institutionalization of capoeira, discussed in the previous chapter, but also because of the American economic need to produce profit and the American social desire to be culturally aware. Teaching capoeira in the United States fulfills both of these needs, making the teachers and students a part of a mutually beneficial economic relationship entirely separate from the art of capoeira itself, but based on providing a service.

Only the Strong was screened in over 600 movie theatres across the nation. The film grossed over 3.2 million dollars in the United States, securing the 14th spot in its opening week. 6The film, Only the Strong, was America’s first contact with capoeira’s folk practices. Because Only the Strong reached wide-audiences, the imagery and associations that are projected have become ingrained in modern American capoeira culture.

An American capoeira instructor that has acknowledged this film’s influence on his growth in capoeira is Todd Russell. Todd, better known in capoeira as Contra Mestre

Carcará, is the founder of the Capoeira Mandinga academy in Rochester, NY. I stumbled upon this information through my time as a capoeira student visiting schools for special events. The annual event I attended is named “Eat, Sleep, Capoeira” stylized with a strike through the “Eat” and “Sleep”, implying that capoeira is the only important thing. During

5 Katya Wesolowski, “Professionalizing Capoeira: The Politics of Play in Twenty first- Century Brazil,” Latin American Perspectives 39, no.5 (2012): 82-92. 6 Statistics from Boxoffice Mojo- http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekly&id=onlythestrong.htm and Internet Movie Database- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107750/

:7 capoeira workshop weekends, it is common for the teachers to take time out between grueling training sessions to answer any questions that students have about learning capoeira. One student asked the panel of teachers how each of them found out about capoeira. CM Carcará attributed his initial contact with capoeira to the film Only The

Strong, and he had a desire to learn the martial art ever since. CM Carcará and his academy are a testament to the long lasting effects of capoeira in popular media.

In 2004, the second installment of the Oceans franchise, Oceans Twelve, was released. Oceans Eleven, Oceans Twelve, and Oceans Thirteen tell the story of recreational skilled thieves that get their thrills from the heist, under the direction of

Daniel Ocean played by George Clooney. One particular scene is of interest. In an attempt to steal a Fabergé egg, a thief uses an array of capoeira moves to accomplish the goal of stealing. The jeweled egg is kept under tight security in the form of lasers. The thief avoids the elaborate security system by the improvisational movement discipline of capoeira. The movements are unmistakably derived from capoeira practice and the theme of trickery is consistent with capoeira aesthetics.

While physically this scene depicts capoeira execution accurately, the music is situated outside of capoeira entirely. Instead of a traditional roda or the sounds of the berimbau, the scene utilizes more contemporary music. The electronic/techno piece,

“Tek A La Menthe” by the TeoTK is the background for this capoeira display. The piece is characterized by shorter note values, possibly eighth notes, and a quick tempo with very few pauses or rests. The repetitive nature of the piece adds to the suspense of the scene.

The actor showing off his capoeira skills in the scene is Vincent Cassel. Cassel is a native of France, known to English audiences for his work in Oceans as well as Darren

Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Cassel is a capoeira practitioner and is captivated by Brazilian culture.7 The presence of capoeira in Ocean’s Twelve demonstrates cultural othering by mixing electronic music with folk practices while expressing the globalization of capoeira through the non-American actor’s fluidity in the movements. This scene makes light of capoeira by removing capoeira from an important historical context and by placing it in a modern culturally ambiguous context. Using capoeira, as a means to steal is a reference to capoeira in the nineteenth century, used by gangs in Rio de Janeiro8.

Even though the use of capoeira for committing crimes can be connected to capoeira history, the use of musical styles outside of traditional capoeira musical practices distorts the tradition for audiences.

Capoeira in the Virtual World

In the video game world, capoeira made an appearance in Tekken 3 (1997), gaming company Namco’s third installment of the Tekken franchise. This popular fighting game was featured in arcades and on the game console, PlayStation. All of the games in the Tekken series are first person fighter games, with the option of playing solo against the computer or playing an opponent in the 2-player mode. Each character in the

Tekken franchise has a backstory and originates from a variety of locations around the globe.

7 Internet movie database, entry Vincent Cassel, Accessed May 30,2012. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001993/bio 8 Matthias Röhrig Assunção, Capoeira: History of an Afro Brazilian Martial Art. “Capoeiragem in Rio de Janeiro, c 1800-1930” (New York: Routledge, 2005), 70-95.

Eddy Gordo was introduced as the first Afro-Brazilian character to be featured in

Tekken 3. With this new character, the Tekken franchise introduced dedicated gamers and fans to the art of capoeira. Eddy’s story in the game is a heart-wrenching one. Eddy was supposed to be the heir to his father’s company in Brazil, but his father was killed by a drug cartel. Convinced that he would be safe in prison, his father’s dying wish was for his son to admit to the murder of his father to avoid a similar fate. In prison, serving an eight- year sentence, Eddy learned capoeira under the supervision of an anonymous mestre.9

After his release, Eddy was determined to avenge the death of his father.

Eddy’s capoeira movements in Tekken 3 were body imaged by Marcelo Pereira, better known as Mestre Marcelo. Eddy Gordo’s capoeira is Mestre Marcelo’s capoeira.

This is interesting because Mestre Marcelo is the founder of one of the most prominent

American capoeira academies, Capoeira Mandinga. Mestre Marcelo studied capoeira in

Brazil under the direction of Ricardo Suassuna in the 1980s. Upon receiving a graduated cord in capoeira, Mestre Marcelo left to start his own academy, but was not permitted to use the name of Mestre Suassuna’s group, ‘Cordão de Ouro’10 This marks the moment of divergence between Cordão de Ouro Capoeria and Capoeira Mandinga.

Namco heard of Mestre Marcelo through an event he organized named “The

International Capoeira Seminar” in 1995. The Namco gaming company invited Mestre

Marcelo to incorporate capoeira into the Tekken franchise, allowing a larger audience to experience capoeira from a virtual and technological perspective. While the Tekken character Eddy Gordo might be reminiscent of Brazil through his fighting style, there is very little that informs audiences about capoeira. Mestre Marcelo himself acknowledges

9 Eddy Gordo story from gameplay of Tekken 3. 10 “Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha,” http://www.mandinga.org/mestre.html

:: the lack of Brazilianess in the character Eddy Gordo11. In an interview with Gamepro magazine, Marcelo shares his opinions on the project:

On a scale of 0-10, I give Eddy Gordo a 6. As I mentioned before, tradition is an important fact. Capoeiristas have authentic nicknames such as Ze Faisca (“Joe Spark”), Cobra Verde (“Green Snake”), Gato Preto (“Black Cat”), etc…It would be O.K. if the name was in English, but Eddy is not a Brazilian name and Gordo in Portuguese means fat! In the same issue of names, the names chosen for the capoeira movements are pretty off the wall and are not like the traditional names I called the movements as I was motion captured. Eddy’s attire could be improved to better reflect the capoeira standards, and a strong drum beat if not traditional capoeira music would add great spice to the character’s ginga (swing). Please keep in mind that I am very critical because I am very authentic to my art. I do imagine that Namco had to deal with thousands of details for all the characters and strategies of the game.... Overall, I do like the character Eddy Gordo. I think he does some cool movements for a video game with some great combinations. Plus, to be appealing to an audience that knows practically nothing about capoeira, maybe that is just the way he needed to be presented at first.12

For starters, Eddy is not a Brazilian name. Mestre Marcelo suggested the name

Tony Bamba to Namco, but that obviously did not work out.13 The apparent compromise is the appelido or nickname on the side of Eddy’s capoeira uniform that reads ”Faisca” or

“spark” in Portuguese, perhaps an attempt to authenticate Eddy’s identity as a Brazilian capoeirista to the Mestre and other capoeira practitioners.

Issues like the compromise of Eddy Gordo’s virtual identity are apparent in capoeira as it becomes available to wider audiences. In this instance, it is clear that the movements of capoeira supersede the accuracy of even a Brazilian name. If compromises like this are made on a grand scale, as in the production of a videogame, it is safe to

11 Teta, Chupa, “Interview with Mestre Marcelo: Meet the Real Eddy Gordo,” Interview with Gamepro Magazine, December 2008. 12 Teta, Chupa, “Interview with Mestre Marcelo: Meet the Real Eddy Gordo,” Interview with Gamepro Magazine, December 2008. 13 “Tekken”, from capoeira mandinga site, http://www.mandinga.org/tekken.html

:; assume that instructors are put in similar positions when putting on a capoeira show for public audiences.14

In Tekken 4, Namco introduced another character, Christie Monteiro, who also specialized in capoeira. Eddy and Christie’s stories intertwine in the saga. While imprisoned, the mestre that taught Eddy made him promise to teach his granddaughter,

Christie, the art of capoeira in order to keep the tradition alive. Eddy, true to his word, taught Christie and she became a champion capoeirista. Eddy left Christie abruptly after teaching her, seeking vengeance for his father’s death. Disturbed by his sudden disappearance, Christie set out on a mission to find Eddy by signing up for the King of

Iron Fist Tournament 4, which she won. 15 The addition of another capoeira character reflects the popularity of capoeira to both videogame audiences and Namco.

In reviewing gameplay of Tekken 3, Tekken 4, and Tekken 516 there is little acknowledgement of the musical component of capoeira. Each fighting venue or scene comes with its own musical theme, completely independent of players in the arena. The lack of thematic music serving as an indicator of fighting styles in the Tekken franchise may not have been a consideration. Before the appearance of capoeira, the other fighting styles did not require musical consideration as a part of the fighting/movement discipline.

Capoeira is the only style that requires the use of music for the physical jogo (game).

14 Sara Delamont, “The Smell of Sweat and Rum: Teacher Authority in Capoeira Classes,” Ethnography and Education 6, no. 2 (2006): 161-175. 15 Namco game corporation, cut scene. Tekken 4. 16 Tekken Gameplay viewing observed via youtube. Various users uploaded Tekken videos of matches featuring Eddy and Christie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY0nSFoGWO0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB77MdedFI0&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-48RDt7aNo

Capoeira in Popular Music Christina Aguilera is an American solo pop artist who got her start on the Mickey

Mouse Club and is known for her breakout single “Reflections” from Disney’s Mulan soundtrack. In 2002 Aguilera released her fourth album Stripped. From the Stripped album, the single “Dirrty” was released featuring rapper Redman. A common practice for music singles is having a music video. This, what would be deemed controversial, music video contributes to the discussion of capoeira in popular music. In the music video, Aguilera is depicted in a wrestling ring and walking down dungy corridors passing by rooms of people engaging in physical movements either dancing or pseudo-fighting.

The “Dirrty” music video seems to embody a hypersexualized fight club, sans blood.

“Dirrty” is in the key of g minor, features heavy bass beats, occasional spoken words throughout the song, and lyrics that glorify raunchy behavior. The overall feeling of the music, without the visuals, denotes aggressiveness-highlighted by stressed syllables at the end of phrases. All of these musical features are in contrast to Aguilera’s previous persona marked by her forceful vocal style, melismatic melodic lines, lyrical melodic lines, and relatively large vocal range.

Capoeira takes place more than halfway through the music video. There are several snapshots of people moving in contrast to the group Christina is dancing with.

The implication of this video is that “other people get ‘dirrty and rowdy’ like us”.

Glimpses of capoeira between gyrating hips, break-dancing, choreographed and unchoreographed group dances, assaults the eyes with movement. The visual aim is to focus on the moving bodies. The capoeira scenes happen so quickly and so closely to breakdancing shots, it would be difficult to tell the difference between the two.

The imagery in the music video suggests practices that are not typical of the everyday dancer. As I mentioned before, the scenery is dark and appears to be underground, and there is very little natural lighting or windows. The overall appearance is grey in hue. Visually the scene is grungy and the suggestion is that the “dirrty” acts happen in private or secret. Capoeira, as portrayed in the “Dirrty” music video is reduced to strictly a movement discipline while simultaneously linking it to a subculture, or

“dirrty” in the sexual, criminal or moral sense. Although capoeira can be discussed as a subculture during its suppression period in Brazil, this portrayal fails to provide a cultural context for capoeira. The physical presence of capoeira in the “Dirrty” music video is in isolation from the batería or any sounds that are traditionally linked to capoeira. There is no reference to place, nation, or time period. Capoeira is just moving bodies in a mash-up of dancing that is familiar to American audiences.

In 2006, the popular group The Black Eyed Peas released a cover of Sergio

Mendes’ single “ Mas Que Nada”. The song was originally written and performed by

Brazilian popular musician, Jorge Ben Jor. “Mas Que Nada” first appeared on Jor’s debut album Samba Esquema Novo in 1963. “Mas Que Nada” has been a circulating single in

Brazil and in the United states since the early 60s17 but has recently been reintroduced to

American audiences. Stylistically, Jorge Ben Jor uses fusion of various Brazilian forms of music, including bossa nova, samba, and funk. “Mas Que Nada” holds true to the fusion of multiple Brazilian music styles. Because “Mas Que Nada” has appeared in

17 “Mas Que Nada” has been covered by Dizzy Gillespie on his 1967 album Swing Low, Sweet Cadiliac.

American music contexts multiple times and several decades apart illustrates the immeasurable impact Brazilian music has had on the global music scene.18

The music video for the Black Eyed Peas cover displays a rush of images, seeming to display all music and dance forms attributed to Brazil. We see and hear musical aesthetics of samba, break dancers, a romanticized party-all-night lifestyle, and a glimpse of capoeira between two men in white pants. The images presented in the music video leave viewers feeling as if they are a part of this energetic and fun lifestyle.

Although the intentions of the music video are for fun, and arguably for profit, the video leaves a very narrow and essentialist impression regarding what Brazilian musical styles entail, specifically in regards to capoeira. The 2006 version of “Mas Que Nada” recognizes capoeira’s national heritage over its ethnic origins.

In contrast to the Aguilera music video, “Mas Que Nada” situates capoeira within

Brazilian practices as a visual reference to define Brazil itself. The modern twist on

Sergio Mendes’ cover of Jorge Ben Jor’s single already has Brazilian nationalism and musicality in mind, considering this is a collaboration between Brazilian and American musicians. Both music videos show glimpses of capoeira, but neither provides a complete context of Brazilian and Africanness associated with the sport. Without the context, history, and malandragem (trickery or cunning), capoeira is just a type of movement19 that defies normalized attitudes toward dance and athletic displays.

18 Charles A Perrone and Christopher Dunn, “Chiclete com Banana”: Internationalization in Brazilian Popular Music,“ in Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization, eds. Charles A Perrone and Christopher Dunn (Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press, 2001), 1. 19 Katya Wesolowski, “Professionalizing Capoeira: The Politics of Play in Twenty first- Century Brazil,” Latin American Perspectives 39, no.5 (2012): 82-92.

Both examples show capoeira separated from the music traditionally associated with the game. Insisting that capoeira music should remain unchanged is an unrealistic approach, but the result is a less than accurate portrayal. An atabaque or berimbau playing capoeira toques would solidify the music /movement relationship that is inherent in capoeira to wider audiences, rather than omitting capoeira music or sounds all together.

Capoeira in Cartoons

More recently, capoeira has been showcased in a different genre, the genre of adult cartoons. Typically, in the earlier popular sightings of capoeira, there was some connection linking the sport to action, martial arts, or music. The shift to capoeira in cartoons indicates a new level of acceptability among the masses or at least comedians, cartoonists, and producers. In 2010, cartoon American Dad, created by Seth McFarlane tells the story of a right-wing, conservative, CIA agent Stan Smith, and his obtuse vision of the perfect family. This satire features Francine- a loving wife, Steve- a nerdy son,

Haley- a hippie daughter, Klaus- a man in a fish’s body and Roger, an alien. This show is meant to be as ridiculous as it sounds. In an episode entitled “100 A.D”, daughter Haley decides to elope with her boyfriend Jeff. Stan and Francine are furious and put out a

$50,000 reward for whoever finds and stops Haley and her boyfriend Jeff. In one scene,

Reginald (a human turned koala) and Bullock (Stan’s CIA boss) decide to fight for

Haley’s honor. Reginald is depicted doing a ginga-like movement while singing muddled lyrics of “Paranaue” or “Paraná E,” the same song featured in Only the Strong.

Revisiting this popular capoeira song indicates that the 1993 film perhaps had a large impact on audiences, or at least on the film industry. The impact is strong enough to

;6 recall the exact melody of the song, but not enough to have the precise lyrics. The song

“”Paraná E” has become synonymous with capoeira in the United States since its introduction in the early 1990s in Only the Strong. The revisiting of “Parana E” in 2010 by cartoon producers suggests an attempt to authenticate their version of capoeira.

Providing the melody to the only capoeira song that might have been recognized by

American audiences seems to suggest that the portrayal is legitimate, or reliable, authority. Other shows that have featured some aspects of capoeira include America’s

Next Top Model a reality show started by fashion icon Tyra Banks, as well as Bob’s

Burger’s, an adult-geared cartoon about a family selling burgers and the difficulties that arise.

These descriptions sum up how capoeira has been acknowledged by filmmakers, musicians, and cartoonists. It can be interpreted from these examples that American exposure to capoeira over the past 20 years to American audiences has made a transition into the melting pot of American culture through the use of mass media. Capoeira is now recognized as a Brazilian art form, but with an essentialized view and limited understanding of the sport’s complexities.

The risk of having non-culture bearers represent capoeira can cause greater damage than good to the sport. This is not to say that the only people who can represent capoeira are Brazilians, Afro-Brazilians, African Americans, or capoeiristas. To me, a person who is able to represent capoeira must have dedicated time to researching history and exhibit knowledge (musically and physically) of the sport.

When capoeira representations are left to those who make a living in the entertainment industry, problems arise. To begin with, capoeira is presented in small

;7 fragments. This becomes difficult for American views to contextualize the images and sounds they are exposed to, leaving room for misinterpretation. Very few people will take the extra time to research a new topic after viewing a popular show or film.

Understanding cultural forms based on images provided by the media results in exposure to other places and people in the world, but with the setback of a singular view of said people or places. A single perspective that is reviewed and consumed constantly by the public then becomes fixed, permanently reducing people, places, and culture to stereotypes that become difficult to unlearn on such a large scale.

All cultural products relating to the African diaspora in the West are directly linked with race. These cultural products, in this case capoeira, exists in the West because of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Exposing people to one aspect of the culture out of context completely eliminates the circumstances that contributed to this modern display.

In the examples I have discussed, there are few (if any) references to those who practiced, trained, and struggled to maintain this form of cultural retention from centuries ago. In this sense, American popular culture is slowly accepting capoeira without acknowledgment of its history. If this trend continues, then capoeira will be acknowledged without recognition of Afro-Brazilian value, eventually leading to the whitening of capoeira, or the lost of the Trans-Atlantic history. This means capoeira will probably still be praised for the extensive repertoire of movements, while being reduced to an ambiguous cultural product.

To combat the limited portrayals of capoeira to large audiences and more adequately represent the diverse rituals within capoeira, students can take it upon themselves to investigate the diversity of cultural practices that contribute to capoeira.

Students play an important role in the continuance of capoeira. By accepting or rejecting knowledge that is provided, students can individually contribute by expressing desires to learn (physical, musical, historical, etc.) Teachers will be happy to oblige the needs of students (and to keep a lucrative business), thus regulating, to an extent, a singular view of capoeira that is demonstrated to audiences.

CONCLUSION

Capoeira has been and continues to be a folk practice in transition. The advantage of contemporary capoeira discourse is having access to information. Scholars, practitioners, and the media contribute to the longevity of the Afro-Brazilian martial art.

Scholars use literature and research to think critically and culturally about prototypical and modern capoeira practices while practitioners contribute to the history of capoeira culture by continuing the rituals of the sport. Each group continually influences the other.

Scholars write about capoeira because of the large number of practitioners outside of

Brazil, the musical rituals, the physical display, and the rich history. Individuals play capoeira for many reasons, including fitness, music, or to experience another culture. The media portrays capoeira because it is something new to present to wide audiences. All these constitute, to some degree, capoeira culture. Although capoeira culture is continually expanding, there are gaps between practitioners and spectators. The institutionalization of capoeira in Brazil has solidified a position on the world stage but with that position comes other issues including disputes over origin, authenticity, and the practice of the sport.

In addressing the debate of Brazilian or African art, Paul Gilroy’s The Black

Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness has become an important tool in the academic and popular discussions of the origins of capoeira. Gilroy argues that the Trans-

Atlantic slave trade was not only a physical vehicle for transmission of people, but also a symbol for the transmission of culture. Understanding both the physical movement of people and symbolic transmission of cultural practices provides a more thorough way to

;: understand the historical and modern components that have led to the globalized practice of capoeira. The ethnically diverse African diaspora in Brazil should be original enough to demarcate the beginnings of capoeira.

The globalization of capoeira will always leave room for cultural fragmentation and appropriation; my previous chapter demonstrated the wide availability of capoeira images and sounds. Secondary cultures or nations in which capoeira is practiced will always leave room for failure to recognize or forgetting the circumstances of colonialism in Atlantic countries1. The importance of the African diaspora to prototypical capoeira and contemporary capoeira forms will continually be a sensitive site for capoeira discourse. Inside individual academies, different perspectives dictate which sections of capoeira history are important when it comes to history, geography, notable figures, musical practice, et cetera.

The goal of this thesis is to problematize the limitations of one view of the now global sport. For me, too many people view capoeira in terms of physical objectives and goals. With the globalization of capoeira, the structures within the art form are readily available, oftentimes a mouse click away. The tangible product is what we, in the United

States, have come to appreciate about capoeira, while omitting the vastly important metaphysical elements and the social impact of the Afro-diasporic gift.

Capoeira academies set the standard for the reception of capoeira. The way capoeira is conducted will affect how scholars write about capoeira, how individuals perceive capoeira, and how the media portrays capoeira. When capoeira academies are

1 Joshua M Rosenthal. “Capoeira and Globalization," in Imagining Globalization: Language, Identities, and Boundaries, ed. Ho Hon Leung, Matthew Hendley, Robert Compton, and Brian Haley (New York: MacMillan, 2009), 145-163.

;; persistent and explicit in discussing the impact of the African diaspora, nothing less than a holistic understanding of capoeira will be acceptable.

There are many issues within capoeira that I was unable to fully explore because they are beyond the scope of the initial project. I focused on history, race, and authenticity. For future research, I would like to investigate gender issues that are present in a male dominated sport. Researching original documents, like song texts and speaking with women capoeiristas about their experiences will contribute to capoeira scholarship by creating a richer narrative.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Almeida, Bira. Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1986.

Assunção, Matthias Röhrig. Capoeira: The History of An Afro-Brazilian Martial Art. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis, 2005.

Assunção, Matthias Röhrig. “History and Memory in Capoeira Lyrics from Bahia, Brazil” in Cultures of the Lusophone Black Atlantic, eds. Nancy Pricilla Naro, Roger Sansi-Roca, and David Treece. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007.

Avelar, Idelber and Christopher Dunn, eds. Brazilian Popular Music and Citizenship Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2011.

Béhague Gerard. “Bridging South America and the United States in Black Music Research.”Black Music Research Journal 22, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 1-11.

______. “Boundaries and Borders in the Study of Music in Latin America: A Conceptual Re- Mapping.” Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana no. 1 (Spring - Summer, 2000): 16-30.

______. “Bossa & Bossas: Recent Changes in Brazilian Urban Popular Music” Ethnomusicology, no. 2 (May, 1973): 209-233.

______. “Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and Brazilian Ethnomusicology: A General View.” Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana 3, no. 1 (Spring - Summer, 1982):17-35 .

______. Heitor Villa-Lobos: The Search for Brazil's Musical Soul. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.

______. “Regional and National Trends in Afro-Brazilian Religious Musics: A Case of Cultural Pluralism.” Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana 27, no. 1 (Spring - Summer, 2006): 91-103

Capoeira, Nestor. A Street Smart Song: Capoeira Philosophy and Inner Life. Berkeley, CA: Blue Snake Books, 2004.

______. Capoeira: Roots of the Dance-Fight-Game. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2001.

______. The Little Capoeira Book. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2003.

Centeno, Miguel Angel. Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-State in Latin America, University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1957.

Davis, Darién J. White Face, Black Mask: Africaneity and the Early Social History of Popular Music. United States: Michigan State University Press, 2009.

Delamont, Sara. “The Smell of Sweat and Rum: Teacher Authority in Capoeira Classes.” Ethnography and Education 1, no. 2 (June 2006): 161-175.

______and Neil Stephens. “Up on the Roof: The Embodied Habitus of Diasporic Capoeira.” Cultural Sociology 2, no. 1 (2008): 57-74.

Downey, Greg. Incorporating Capoeira: Phenomenology of A Movement Discipline. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. PhD dissertation.

______. “Listening to Capoeira: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and the Materiality of Music.” Ethnomusicology 46, no. 3 (Autumn, 2002): 487-509.

______. Learning Capoeira: Lessons In Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

______. “Scaffolding Imitation in Capoeira: Physical Education and Enculturation in an Afro- Brazilian Art.” American Anthropologist 110, no. 2 (Jun., 2008): 204-213.

Dunn, Christopher. Brutality Garden: Tropicália and the Emergence of A Brazilian Counterculture. United States: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Fryer, Peter. Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

Galm, Eric A. The Berimbau: Soul of Brazilian Music. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2010.

Gilroy, Paul. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. London: Verso, 1993.

Henry, Clarence Bernard. Lets Make Some Noise: Axé and the African Roots of Brazilian Popular Music. United States: University of Mississippi Press, 2008.

Hess, David J. and Roberto A. Damatta, eds. The Brazilian Puzzle: Culture on the Borderlands of the Western World. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

Lewis, J. Lowell. Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian Capoeria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

McCann, Bryan. Hello, Hello Brazil: Popular Music in the Making of Modern Brazil. United States: Duke University Press, 2004.

McGowan, Chris and Ricardo Pessanha. The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009. <4

Murphy, John P. Music in Brazil: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Obi, T.J Desch. Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Arts in the Atlantic World. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2008.

Perrone, Charles A. Masters of Contemporary Brazilian Song. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989.

Ponchianinho, Mestre. Essential Capoeira: The Guide to Mastering the Art. UK: New Holland Publishers, 2007.

Rosenthal, Joshua M. “Capoeira and Globalization.” in Imagining Globalization: Language, Identities, and Boundaries. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009.

Skidmore, Thomas. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Macmillan Education: Basingstoke (1988): 217-313.

Talmon-Chvaicer, Maya. “The Criminalization of Capoeira in Nineteenth-Century Brazil.” The Hispanic American Historical Review 82, no. 3 (Aug., 2002): 525-547.

______. The Hidden History of Capoeira. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.

Wade, Bonnie. Thinking Musically: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Wesolowski, Katya. “Professionalizing Capoeira: The Politics of Play in Twenty first-Century Brazil”. Latin American Perspectives. (March 2012): 82-92.

APPENDIX A: RESEARCH REFERENCES

DATE: April 30, 2012

TO: Ashley Humphrey FROM: Bowling Green State University Human Subjects Review Board

PROJECT TITLE: [301354-4] Capoeira in the 21st Century: A Historical, Cultural, and Practical Look at Capoeira in the United States SUBMISSION TYPE: Revision

ACTION: APPROVED APPROVAL DATE: April 29, 2012 EXPIRATION DATE: March 18, 2013 REVIEW TYPE: Expedited Review

REVIEW CATEGORY: Expedited review category # 7

Thank you for your submission of Revision materials for this project. The Bowling Green State University Human Subjects Review Board has APPROVED your submission. This approval is based on an appropriate risk/benefit ratio and a project design wherein the risks have been minimized. All research must be conducted in accordance with this approved submission.

The final approved version of the consent document(s) is available as a published Board Document in the Review Details page. You must use the approved version of the consent document when obtaining consent from participants. Informed consent must continue throughout the project via a dialogue between the researcher and research participant. Federal regulations require that each participant receives a copy of the consent document.

Please note that you are responsible to conduct the study as approved by the HSRB. If you seek to make any changes in your project activities or procedures, those modifications must be approved by this committee prior to initiation. Please use the modification request form for this procedure.

You have been approved to enroll 100 participants. If you wish to enroll additional participants you must seek approval from the HSRB.

All UNANTICIPATED PROBLEMS involving risks to subjects or others and SERIOUS and UNEXPECTED adverse events must be reported promptly to this office. All NON-COMPLIANCE issues or COMPLAINTS regarding this project must also be reported promptly to this office.

This approval expires on March 18, 2013. You will receive a continuing review notice before your project expires. If you wish to continue your work after the expiration date, your documentation for continuing review must be received with sufficient time for review and continued approval before the expiration date.

Good luck with your work. If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Research Compliance at 419-372-7716 or [email protected]. Please include your project title and reference number in all correspondence regarding this project. - 1 - Generated on IRBNet

This letter has been electronically signed in accordance with all applicable regulations, and a copy is retained within Bowling Green State University Human Subjects Review Board's records.

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

BGSU HSRB – APPROVED FOR USE RBNet ID # 301354 EFFECTIVE 04/29/2012 EXPIRES _03/18/2013

$(#%%* &# ! $ '($%"& % * &# $(#$ % $&#'**!!# % %$$!# %,%* %#&%% %#& %$ % !# %.$ $* &% %** &#$%% %$ % !%!# %. * &'"&$% $ # # $ &%%#$# #* &#!#%!% !$ %% - $*&!#* &!#3$&.& 68

APPENDIX B: CAPOERIA SURVEY

1) When did you first learn about capoeira?

2) What comes to mind when you think about capoeira?

3) In your opinion, what is the most important part of capoeira?

4) In your opinion, what draws new people to try capoeira?

5) Do you have role models in the capoeira community? If so, who are they and why are these figures important to you?

6) Have you played capoeira outside of the United States (for at least 2 months)?

6.1) If you have played capoeira abroad, compare your experiences to playing/training capoeira in the United States.

6.2) Are there differences between capoeira taught in other countries and capoeira in the United States?

7) How long have you been playing capoeira?

8) How often do you attend capoeira classes/training sessions? Circle One.

5-7 times per week 3-5 times per week 0-2 times per week

9) How often do you attend capoeira gatherings or events, outside of classes? (Workshops, Ceremonies, Demonstrations)

5-7 times a month 3-5 times a month 0-2 times a month

10) What is your favorite component of capoeira and why?

11) What is your least favorite component of capoeira and why?

Additional Comments