Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School Axé, Tallahassee Capoeira!: A Local Manifestation of a Globalized Afro- BAbirgaail zChirlisitainne R eTharrdadition Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC “AXÉ, TALLAHASSEE CAPOEIRA!”: A LOCAL MANIFESTATION OF A GLOBALIZED AFRO-BRAZILIAN TRADITION By ABIGAIL CHRISTINE REHARD A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music 2020 Abigail Rehard defended this thesis on March 30, 2020. The members of the supervisory committee were: Michael B. Bakan Professor Directing Thesis Panayotis League Committee Member Vincent Nicholas Joos Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to express the utmost gratitude to my family members, friends, and mentors who have consistently been my biggest champions throughout this endeavor. I am grateful for the wisdom and guidance my committee members Dr. Michael Bakan, Dr. Vincent Joos, and Dr. Paddy League have given me during the course of this project and for the early encouragement from Dr. Frank Gunderson and Dr. Meg Jackson to dig into this research. Professor Taz and Instrutora Texuga and the Tallahassee Capoeira community have been incredibly generous with their time and openness to this study. I thank you for welcoming me into your capoeira family. Axé! iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. v Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 4 Purpose and Significance ................................................................................................. 7 Survey of Literature ......................................................................................................... 8 Theoretical Approach .................................................................................................... 13 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 14 Overview of Chapters .................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER TWO: CAPOEIRA CONTEMPORÂNEA: A SPECTRUM OF STYLES .............. 18 CHAPTER THREE: CAPOEIRA IN TALLAHASSEE ............................................................ 33 Capoeira in the Tallahassee Area ................................................................................... 33 Building the Academy: Tallahassee Capoeira’s Origin Story ......................................... 39 Teaching and Evaluating Capoeiristas ........................................................................... 42 Connecting to a Larger Capoeira Network ..................................................................... 45 CHAPTER FOUR: MAKING MUSIC AT TALLAHASSEE CAPOEIRA ............................... 48 Instruments .................................................................................................................... 52 Capoeira Songs.............................................................................................................. 55 “Quero Aprender” / “I Want to Learn” .......................................................................... 59 Altered States of Mind ................................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER FIVE: THE VITALITY OF AXÉ ........................................................................... 68 Defining Axé ................................................................................................................. 68 Building Axé ................................................................................................................. 70 Practicing an Afro-Brazilian Tradition ........................................................................... 75 A Search for Authenticity .............................................................................................. 78 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................................................... 83 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................... 85 A: ACL Testing Requirements ...................................................................................... 85 B: Selection of Songs from Tallahassee Capoeira .......................................................... 92 C: IRB Approval Letter ............................................................................................... 101 D: Sample Consent Form............................................................................................. 102 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 103 Biographical Sketch ................................................................................................................ 108 iv LIST OF FIGURES 2.1. Early depiction of capoeira. ............................................................................................... 20 3.1. Allied Capoeira League and Tallahassee Capoeira logos. .................................................. 39 3.2. Standardized corda levels for adult and kids in the Allied Capoeira League. ...................... 44 3.3. Tallahassee Capoeira’s network with capoeira academies in the surrounding area. ............ 46 4.1. Pensador throwing a kick during the ACL tournament hosted by Tallahassee Capoeira. .... 50 4.2. Layering of instrumental toques in Tallahassee Capoeira bateria. ...................................... 54 v ABSTRACT The Afro-Brazilian martial art and dance form known as capoeira has spread extensively around the world in recent decades. Today, capoeira academies may be found worldwide in cities large and small, especially throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. This thesis investigates the transnational study of capoeira, focusing on a capoeira contemporânea academy located in Tallahassee, Florida. Through participant-observation fieldwork, interviews with instructors and students, and musical analyses, I highlight the experiences of non-Brazilian practitioners teaching and learning capoeira and explore how these same individuals find meaning more broadly in their engagement with this Afro-Brazilian tradition. I examine how Tallahassee Capoeira participants negotiate their ties to notions of Afro-Brazilianness through axé, a malleable force of power that is inherent to capoeira’s practice. In a successful capoeira roda, or circle, capoeira players maximize the axé of the space by being fully engaged in the movements within the game and by participating in music making. Axé encompasses the capacities of resilience, adaptability, strength, and communal solidarity that define the idealized capoeira experience in all of its myriad manifestations. It is that sense of axé, from the traditional realms of the Afro-Brazilian martial art to the globalized markets of the international fitness industry, that weaves together this diverse cultural complex. Exploring the vitality of axé within capoeira’s transnational settings, with a particular concentration on Tallahassee Capoeira, is the focus of this thesis. vi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION “All riiiiight, since I’m hearing sleepy voices this morning, we’re going to pick things up and have a…Capoeira Battle!” Professor Taz announces to the group of seven summer camp kids. It was the last day of a week-long capoeira camp. Music class was right before their lunch break at the park, and despite their insistence on singing the songs Taz creatively inserted their apelidos, or nicknames, into earlier that week, the volume of their singing had diminished as did their energy right before lunch. The idea of a sing-off instantly jolted their batteries. To begin the battle, Professor split us into two teams—Maracajá, Pipoca, Jacaré, and myself against Coelha, Sapinho, Coruja, and Furacão. We knelt on the blue tumbling mats Taz had placed on opposite sides of the training floor. “We’re going to see which team can sing the loudest and the best,” Taz explains. “Now, we’re not yelling, but we’re using our best, loudest singing voice. Based on how each team sings the responses, I’ll be pushed away or pulled toward a team.” He notes that he will sing songs they already know the responses to but also songs they aren’t familiar with. The goal is to listen and sing it back to the best of our abilities. Calling our attention to the start of the game, Taz begins playing a series of triplets on the berimbau before starting the São Bento Grande rhythm. He playfully sways back and forth between the two teams and begins calling easy songs with short responses like “AEIOU,” “ABC,” and “Sim, sim sim, não, não, não” and