Capoeira as Creative Resis t ance as Creative Resistance

Introduction

Three months ago, I made a new year’s resolution to be more committed to principles Capoeira has taught me than ever before.

Little did I know that Capoeira would be hitting the airways in North America and be the talk of the town. Chinwe Oniah, a student based in Oakland, California recently released a beautiful video called “Why More Black Americans Should Try Capoeira” at the San Francisco Film Festival. I couldn’t agree more.

As I teach youth ages 5 – 12 the artform I have been reflecting on how Capoeira changed my life as a young person. It has been the guiding light in my personal, creative and professional development. I even made a song about what it’s meant in my life. (https://azmeramusic.bandcamp.com/ track/know-justice-know-peace)

Capoeira is an outlet that allows us to maximize our potential, in a society committed to underestimating our existence, especially as Afrodescendant people.

Origins Capoeira, pronounced Cahpoo-eh-rah, is an Afro-Brazilian martial art form that today is a global phenomenon.

With over 6 million practitioners and counting, this craft has been featured in music videos by entertainers like Little Wayne, Hollywood series, and made countless appearances in movies like Disney’s Rio. Perhaps one of the most wellknown video games with the craft is Tekken, featuring the formidable fighters and jogadores (players) Eddie and Christina.

When most people see Capoeira for the first time, they assume that it is a dance.

While Capoeira does indeed involve a series of beautiful and fluid movements, many don’t know its rich and deeply liberatory history.

Capoeira History

In 1888, Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, and while nearly 400,000 enslaved people were brought to the United States, around 4.9 million were reported to have been trafficked to the ports of Brazil.

Since enslaved people were not allowed to practice self-defense, they disguised their movements as a dance, and thus Capoeira was born.

I was introduced to Capoeira when I was seven years old, and consider it a blessing to have been learning, training, and teaching ever since.

Here are three ways Capoeira changed me:

1. Improved my relationship with my body. As a young person with a lot of energy, and who also witnessed a lot of anger and violence growing up, my body was receptive to every interaction. It needed to release that energy in a productive way, and Capoeira was that outlet. Coming from poverty, where substance abuse, houselessness and dysfunction were the norm, I trained for 3 hours a day, to process the mixed emotions as a coping mechanism. As a result, I learned how to value giving my body the time it needs to rest, to reset, to stretch and to express itself freely. I now see that as a necessity rather than an obligation, and I always feel better after I’ve gotten some movement in. It’s taught me that I can trust my body to know how to move, and how to respond to any given circumstance.

While I was a sophomore at the University of Southern California (USC) I enrolled in a Portuguese class for my language requirement and shortly after I got the opportunity to study abroad in Brazil for one month. To raise funds for my plane ticket, I decided to bring my Spoken word together with Capoeira, and on March 1, 2015, I created a visual Spoken word video called “Capoeira” (https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Yx9KnkbxU-c) where I reflected on what this craft meant to me in my healing journey.

As you will see, Capoeira involves musicality in singing, innovation with equipment made from tire wire and madeira (forest wood) to make the heartbeat instrument called the berimbau, and movements that loosen, strengthen and fortify the body.

This innovation and ability to make something out of nothing is a key element I’ve called upon throughout my life.

The principles learned have been fine tuned and taught in what were CaPoetic workshops, which shape The CapoEthic Method ™ that I now teach leaders and learners of all ages to improve their relationship to their mind and body.

During my time in college, we completed over 150 workshops on and off campus and served over 250 community members. We led creative CaPoetic workshops with students on and off USC campus and in greater Los Angeles, Oakland, California, Salvador Bahia, Brazil and even East Jerusalem, and Ramallah, Palestine.

2. Increased my selfconfidence and ability to relate to/ engage others. There is a dialogue in Capoeira— an energy exchange that heals, reveals and deepens one’s relationship to self and others. In capoeira class, we have partner work, so I had to learn how to listen to others.

Part of the practice requires you to pair off and to make eye contact with the person you are playing against.

When they throw a kick at you, you must respond with an escape or another kick, and in this way you are speaking to each other without saying a word.

I learned how to read body language and also became aware that sometimes a dialogue between two bodies can be even more powerful than a verbal conversation. Energy speaks, and it’s important to practice self-discipline instead of reacting.

If someone accidentally kicks you in the face, you can’t lose your composure or else that is considered low maturity and discipline. Your response needs to be improved by protecting your face when playing. There is always room for growth. My favorite movie growing up was Only The Strong, not only because the soundtrack is an infusion of Capoeira Hip Hop music. The film highlights how this art form, when taken seriously, can transform lives.

Luis, a former Lincoln high school graduate, returns to Miami from his military mission in Brazil in search of new job opportunities; he visits his 11th grade social studies teacher who happens to be in desperate need of help getting his students’ attention. He invites Luis to teach Capoeira to twelve system-involved youth who are “bottom of the barrel” at Lincoln.

Luis encounters resistance from both the students, the school administrators and the community members, but with persistence and vision he prevails. He takes some of the most “misbehaved” youth and gives them tools for anger management, conflict resolution, and healthy relationships that make even rival gang members willing to work together, and ultimately, do what no one believed possible –graduate high school. I resonated with the movie because though I never was involved in a gang or incarcerated, I did struggle with anger growing up.

3. Connected me to an Afro-diasporic global community that started in Brazil. In my early 20’s I was just beginning to process complex childhood trauma when I decided to recommit myself to the art form of Capoeira.

It gave me the community and a positive outlet that I needed to heal in healthy ways.

At the time I trained under the Afro-French instructor, Saracuru, through Capoeira Brasil Downtown LA, a contemporary school with groups in over 6 countries.

I started to see the global impact Capoeira had on folks across sectors. I met folks in entertainment, education, music, non-profits, private consulting, government all who trained Capoeira. I asked what brought them to the art, and countless numbers reported that Capoeira gave their life more meaning, and helped them get on a better path.

For some it was the community that drew them in, for others it was the exercise and fun, for others it was a spiritual connection.

Everyone had a different reason, but all had the same foundation; Capoeira changed them.

It reminded me of my own journey.

While visiting Brazil, what blew me even further away was that I met, trained and learned from Black feminist Capoeiristas. There have been women practicing and contributing to Capoeira for as long as Capoeira has been around, but the documentaries and history won’t always show you that.

When I was completing a Fulbright Creative and Performing Arts grant in Salvador Bahia, Brazil (Fulbright) in 2017, for the first time I encountered Black feminists Capoeiristas who were also university professors.

I studied under Mestra Janja and Mestra Paula Barreto, founders of the Nzingha Institute of Capoeira Angola Studies (http:// nzinga.org.br) and professors at the Cor da Bahia department at UFBA, the Federal University of Bahia.

It was eye opening and life affirming. I had to go all the way to Brazil to learn about Kimberly Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, which is what we read in Mestra Paula’s class.

Getting to see Capoeira through a Black feminist lens for the first time, transformed my relationship to the craft.

A timeless question arose in that journey - does Capoeira transform societal norms, or does it merely reflect the societal norms that exist?

I still don’t know the answer to that question, but I have seen it transform my own understanding of power.

I see women continuing to light the path toward a future of healing and justice, willing to address the forms of sexism, racism, and classism that divide our world, rather than yield positive change.

In Black Feminist-led Capoeira, women had the opportunity to play the berimbau, make up the majority of the bateria (Band), and sing songs that controlled the pace of the game unhindered or interrupted by harmful patriarchy.

Beyond mere inspiration, these Black Feminist Capoeiristas actively create new worlds. Ones that we so desperately need— a world filled with nurturing, nourishment, softness, tenderness, and a willingness to reckon with the grief necessary to heal.

I met Black women practitioners from the U.S. like the brilliant Treneil, Miriam, who organized the first annual women’s empowerment event in 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. At the Mutual Aid Liberation Center, I witnessed a beautiful, tender and sacred space cultivated for all people, young and old, men and women in Capoeira to come as they are, play, dance, sing, and cry held in the balm of authentic community engagement, as Dr. Irma would name it. Black women’s leadership in Capoeira helped me to see how powerful women truly are, when we empower ourselves and create brave spaces where we can simply be. This event reminded me that when women are present and supported, a world of positive change is made possible. Women see what often remains unseen, because we’ve had to live in the in-between space. I look forward to sharing more about their work in upcoming pieces.

Capoeira Today: Today, Brazil has the largest population of people of African descent outside of Africa. According to the World Directory of Minorities and

Indigenous People in Brazil, over 48% of the population have African ancestry. The world of practitioners is growing, and ever changing as the art form continues to evolve.

Like most other things in Black culture, over time Capoeira has been appropriated in different ways, but it’s been heartening to see how Black people, especially Black women have made the craft their own.

The primary styles practiced are considered Capoeira Angola (slower movement), Regional (faster, more acrobatic movements) and Contemporanea.

A mestre (a master of Capoeira) is one who has expert level experience, demonstrated commitment to their community and maintains an ongoing reverence for the cultural heritage of this sacred craft. They work to preserve the history of Capoeira through their teaching, often rooted in oral storytelling, and they also actively uplift the community through social change projects. If you want to learn more about Capoeira, beyond a quick google search, you can listen to part of my journey with Mestre Cleber Pety of Bantos Capoeira on Break The Boxes podcast at the links below. https://open.spotify.com/ episode/3nvjXRKp6mgBoalVBY6EG

Links for more resources

1. Learn more about Capoeira’s history and practitioner count https://larc.ucalgary.ca/ publications/professionalizing-andregulating-capoeira-brazilian-dilemma

2. Learn more about Brazil’s slave trade and history (https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=lzFxC-BP4M0)

3. Learn more about Brazils demographic population https://www. refworld.org/docid/49749d4d32.html

4. Learn more about my journey in Capoeira https://open.spotify.com/ show/70lCY9s8ekQMB484hxKcbV

5. Watch my Spoken Word video of Capoeira

6. Learn more about Black Capoeira org in Minneapolis (https:// www.abcapoeira.com/about/mestreyoji-senna

7. Learn more about one of the oldest Capoeira schools in Los Angeles, led by a Black Mestre https:// www.brasilbrasil.org

8. Learn more about Mestre Batata in Culver City, LA https:// capoeirabesouro.com/about-us/mestrebatata/

9. Included in photoCourtney Woods, PhD and Azmera Hammouri-Davis, Photo taken by Irma McClaurin (2022) (c) 2023 Azmera HammouriDavis Bio: Azmera, MTS (aka The Poetic Theorist) is a poet, emcee and the founder and host of Break The Boxes who has a debut album Young Spirit Old Soul out now on bandcamp (azmeramusic.bandcamp.com). She works to uplift wisdom across generations & faith traditions. Twitter & Instagram: @azmerarhymes website: azm-era.com