Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

grown to become another core capoeira event in Europe. Other venues in France and Italy have become
equally established as a regular meeting point for European capoeiristas. Fast growth changed relations
between teachers making them—just as decades earlier in São Paulo—more competitive. If, during the
1980s, the few capoeiristas spread over Western Europe needed each other to organize events, the 1990s
saw the establishment of several capoeira professionals in the same city. Teachers with a group already
consolidated in a city they consider their ‘territory’ do not always see it as an enrichment if another capoeira
academy opens in town. The big groups expanding into Europe also tend to favour interaction between their
own nuclei rather than encourage relations with other groups. Despite these problems, the proficiency of
European capoeira is increasing. Even if it has not yet attained the level of the United States, Europe already
has its first native mestre. Edgardo Sananiello graduated in 2001 from M.Canela. 116
Consequences of globalization
CONTEMPORARY CAPOEIRA 189
Figure 7.8 Mestre Pastel, 3rd Batizado, Group Raizes de Rua, London, 2003. Photo by Florence Royer. Courtesy of
Raizes de Rua, London.
Even though the United States and Europe were at the centre of the international growth of capoeira, the art
also expanded into other countries. Since the 1970s, for instance, M.Lucídio taught in Japan, with his
students participating in the Asian Martial Games. 117 At a relatively early stage capoeira was also
introduced in Israel, South Africa, and Canada. The most recent wave of capoeira expansion is directed
towards Eastern Europe (Poland, Estonia, Serbia and Finland), Southeast Asia (Singapore), Latin America
(Mexico and Venezuela) and Southern Africa (Angola, Mozambique and South Africa). In places as
removed from capoeira’s original context as the Pacific, regional events become viable. Thus, in April 2002,
60 capoeira groups from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore and Japan met in Sydney, where
60 athletes competed during the First International Capoeira Championship of Asia and the Pacific. 118
No doubt, the extraordinary expansion of capoeira around the globe has far-reaching significance for the
art. Many groups have become truly international with growing numbers of students outside Brazil. The