Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

NOTES 235
14 It seems, however, that Burlamaqui knew the work of OCD, an army officer who had published a pamphlet as
early as 1905, where he already proposed the transformation of capoeira into a national gymnastics. See O.D.C.,
Guia do capoeira ou ginástica brasileira (Rio de Janeiro: 1907; republished by the Associação de Capoeira
Barravento, Niteroi, RJ).
15 Burlamaqui, Ginástica, pp. 22–3.
16 http://rohermanny.tripod.com (accessed 11/02/02).
17 Pires, Escritos, p. 59.
18 Marinho, Subsídios, pp. 29–30.
19 J.Moura, Mestre Bimba. A crônica da capoeiragem (Salvador: author’s edition, 1991), p. 24
20 A.A.Decânio Filho, A heranga do Mestre Bimba (Salvador: author’s edition, 1996), p. 73. The same episode is
also told for Bimba’s father.
21 M.Itapoan, A saga, p. 17. Moura, Mestre Bimba, p. 12 however claims that the club was only founded in 1930.
22 Vingativa, banda traçada, balão em pé, balão arqueado, balão colar de força, cintura desprezada, cintura de rins,
gravata cinturada, tesoura aberta, benção, solta pescoço, sopapo galopante, godeme, cotovelo and dentinho. See A
Tarde, 16 March 1936, as quoted in Abreu, Bimba é bamba, p. 68. As this author points out, martelo and
queixada—today considered hallmarks of Regional style—are still missing from the list.
23 Rego, Capoeira angola, p. 33. For further statements by Bimba on this point see L.V.de Sousa Reis, O mundo de
pernas para o ar. A capoeira no Brasil (São Paulo: Publishers Brasil, 1997), p. 133.
24 B.Almeida (M.Acordeon), Capoeira. A Brazilian Art Form. History, Philosophy, and Practice (Berkeley, CA:
North Atlantic Books, 1986), p. 115.
25 Moura, Mestre Bimba, p. 25.
26 Itapoan, A saga, p. 93; Itapoan quoted in Vieira, O jogo, p. 154.
27 A.L.Lacé Lopes, A Volta do Mundo da Capoeira (Rio de Janeiro: Coregráfica, 1999), pp. 349–54. Other students
of Bimba, emphatically assert that Bimba did use movements from ju-jitsu. This information was provided by
M.Umoi (Lisbon).
28 In a previous fight in the Brotas stadium Bimba had already defeated another challenger. See Abreu, Bimba é
bamba, p. 53.
29 According to Edison Carneiro, Negros bantos (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização brasileira, 1937), p. 159, these
matches enjoyed ‘enormous success’ in terms of ticket sales.
30 Quoted in Abreu, Bimba é bamba, p. 65
31 Ibid., p. 67.
32 Ibid., p. 91.
33 Ibid., p. 76.
34 Pires, Escritos, pp. 147–8; Abreu, Bimba é bamba, p. 95.
35 Lacé Lopes, A Volta do Mundo, pp. 354–7; http://openlink.br.inter.net/rohermanny/.
36 See Revista Recôncavo (Salvador), January 1953, p. 20.
37 See Tribuna da Bahia from 18.11.1972 as quoted by Abreu, ‘Bimba é bamba’, p. 34. Mestre Decânio
(A herança, pp. 152, 247) asserts that Bimba’s ‘teaching system and method’ was already stabilized when he
started training with the creator of the Regional [in 1938].
38 G.Downey, ‘Incorporating Capoeira: Phenomenology of a Movement Discipline’ (PhD thesis, Anthropology,
University of Chicago, 1998), pp. 226–8. In 1967 Bimba asserted that the main movements he had introduced
into Regional were the banda traçada, baú, cruzo de carreiro, encruzilhada, salto mortal and ponteira (quoted in
Abreu, ‘Bimba é bamba, p. 28).
39 See illustrations 10–12 in the leaflet accompanying the LP recording Curso de Capoeira Regional (n.d.); See also
Itapoan, A saga, p. 91; Acordeon, Capoeira, p. 115, describes it as ‘a sequence of acrobatic throws trained
recklessly without spotting to help the students lose their fear of falling’. A. A.Decânio Filho, Falando em
capoeira (Salvador: author’s edition, 1996, p. 27) asserts the balões were inspired by Greco-Roman wrestling.
See also Downey, ‘Incorporating’, p. 230.