Capoeira: Martial Arts Dance

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines martial arts, danicing and music. We got the opportunity to see it while walking back to the hotel from the beach. The music was accompanied by chanting and dance. The martial artists were graceful and athletic. Capoeira was developed by slaves in Brazil during the early sixteenth century. I was particularly interested by an instrument I had never seen. The instrument is called the berimbau. It is of African descent and has strings in the front and what looks like a gourd at the bottom. It has a very unique sound.

Capoeira descends or comes from African fighting skills. Some say that the dance disguised the fact that it was a facade preparing for rebellion. At one time Capoeira was not allowed by the authorities.