Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

106 THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA
Figure 4.6 Capoeira roda in a neighbourhood, probably Corta Braço in Liberdade; note the orchestra with three
berimbau and two pandeiros (left); Sunday Capoeira roda in a neighbourhood, Jogo de dentro: tesoura (right). Photos
by Pierre Verger, 1946–7. By kind permission of the Pierre Verger Foundation.
refusal to endorse the dominant model of work ethics that lower classes were supposed to follow, and to
comment ironically about it. In that respect the dialectics of malandragem (discussed in Chapter 3) also
applied to Bahian capoeira.
Movements, rhythms and games
What formal aspects characterized capoeira in three contexts mentioned above? Capoeira took place in an
imaginary circle (roda) formed by the orchestra (bateria) and the other participants or spectators. Two
players kneeled down in front of each other and next to the orchestra, at the ‘foot’ of the berimbau (see
Figure 4.7). They listened to a preliminary song, called ‘litany’ (ladainha), and waited for subsequent
‘praise’ (reza or canto de entrada), when some of the standard phrases such as ‘turn around the world’
(‘volta ao mundo’) from the lead singer, repeated by the chorus, indicated that the game could begin.
Players crossed themselves, drew signs on the ground and started their game. Many capoeira groups today
still comply with that basic structure.
The range of movements was much wider and less formalized than those known in the contemporary
capoeira Angola style (see Chapter 6). Although players used all the movements familiar to contemporary
angoleiros, such as the ‘negation’ (negativa), the stingray’s tail (rabo de arraia), the whip (chibata), the
half-moon (meia lua), the scissors (tesoura), the head butt (cabeçada), the cartwheel (au) and the sweep
(rasteira), they also employed movements that are no longer part of standard capoeira Angola today, for
instance various types of balões (consisting of throwing the other player by holding his neck), the cutilada
(hand blow) and the meia lua virada (‘turned half moon’, a kick similar to the queixada used in the capoeira
Regional style, albeit not performed from such a high-standing position). 44 There was no absolute
consistency in the naming of all the kicks or in the use of them, which explains why subsequently so much
controversy over what are or are not ‘true’ capoeira Angola movements developed. 45 Whatever the definitive
answer to this still disputed issue, it is clear that all kicks developed from the syncopated basic step or sway
(ginga) that kept players in permanent movement, and always in tune to the rhythm played by the orchestra.