Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

CONTEMPORARY CAPOEIRA 171
Figure 7.2 Itamar and Mestre Gato from Senzala, Buzios (Rio de Janeiro), 1970s. Photo by Pimpa (Maria Beatriz
Albuquerque).
making the group known to wider audiences. Soon Senzala became a model for many teachers and groups,
who started to take over its training methods, graduation system, organization and style (see Figure 7.2).
Realizing that their enthusiasm for capoeira was not enough to make up for their ignorance of the
‘foundations’ of the art as practised in Bahia, many of the committed Senzala members subsequently spent
more time in Salvador, visiting and training in different academies, and even participating in the most
traditional Angola rodas. As M.Gato emphasizes, back in Rio they then tried to pass on their experience to
their younger students. During the early 1970s, visits from Bimba’s most renowned students to the Senzala
rodas also became a regular feature. 18 Again a number of Bahian capoeiristas ended up moving to Rio in
the 1970s, attracted by the far greater possibilities the city seemed to offer for the development of the art.
Among them were Peito Pelado, Baianinho da Massaranduba and Dentinho, who all influenced the way
younger Cariocans played capoeira. 19 Camisa Roxa’s younger brother José Tadeu Cardoso (M. Camisa,
then still called Camisinha) arrived in 1972 and soon became a leading figure in the Senzala group (see
Figure 7.3). 20
Yet despite these multiple links to Bahia, and in particular Bimba’s Regional, the capoeira from Senzala
remained a somewhat distinct style. M.Gato highlights how unbalancing techniques (rasteiras) and throws—
not much used in Rio at the time—were central to training in the Senzala academies. 21 According to André
Lacé, one of its early critics, the hallmarks of the Senzala style were a ‘good-looking ginga (white
aesthetics), but inclining towards a not very creative standardization, a high foot making the rasteira
prohibitive, the game (maybe unconsciously) planned in advance, the elimination (prejudice) of the agogô…’.
Lacé recognized that ‘they were looking for new paths’, but reprimanded that
the ginga continually over-emphasized (‘marcada’), the rhythm hurried and samba-like. Many of them
think that to play capoeira Angola is to play the Regional slowly and on the ground. It isn’t. 22
Why was Senzala so immensely successful, even more than some schools created by famous Bahian
teachers who were at the time settling in the cities of the Southeast? Nestor Capoeira asserts that by being
middle class Senzala was clearly favoured; for instance, they had much easier access to the media than