The Practice
Capoeira Angola…
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…helps us develop strength, flexibility, agility, hand-eye coordination, and endurance.
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…is an expression of self & collective that involves movement, singing, and playing instruments.
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…is a way of strengthening our body, mind, and community bonds.
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…lets us reconnect with ourselves and others.
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…represents decades of resistance, culture, joy, and history.
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…teaches us another language—Portuguese—while learning about African-Brazilian culture.
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…has a global community; it’s an art that connects people from completely different backgrounds.
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…is a combination of physical activity, singing and community known to improve overall health and mood!
Physicality
Capoeira Angola is a dynamic practice that cultivates strong, agile, and healthy bodies. Our classes offer a comprehensive full-body workout while honing skills that promote personal growth and challenge.
In this dynamic African-Brazilian tradition, we delve into a range of movements including handstands, cartwheels, bridges, kicks, dance, and ritual calls known as chamadas.
Through interactive sequences of attacks and defenses, questions and answers, and playful exchanges—accompanied by live music and call-and-response singing—the captivating "game" of Capoeira Angola unfolds.
This practice not only enhances our physical bodies, likened to hardware, but also synchronizes them with the technology of our minds. Through a unique blend of strength, mobility, grace, rhythm, explosiveness, and acrobatics, Capoeira Angola offers a holistic approach to training.
Join us to play, train, develop a practice, and embrace the journey of self-discovery!
Musicality
Our bateria, featuring 3 berimbaus, 2 pandeiros (tambourines), a conga drum, an agogô (cow bell), and a reco-reco, creates a meditative baseline for call-and-response singing and Capoeira Angola games.
We study each instrument's role in our harmonious, collective sound. In our exploration of musicality, we embrace the concept of sankofa, urging us to study and reconnect with our musical roots. We focus on tuning, tonality, tempo and style from recordings of Mestres from the 1940s to the 1960s. We draw inspiration from recordings of “os antigos”—Mestre Cabecinha, Mestre Traira, Mestre Waldemar, Mestre Juvenal, Mestre Gato Preto, among others—to evolve our practice and eventually improvise. Singing in harmony, memorizing Portuguese songs, and collecting rhythms enrich our repertoire.
Our honing of musical sensitivities allows us to collaborate seamlessly with our fellow musicians, enabling the bateria to serve the players and the game of Capoeira within the roda.
Ancestrality
Ancestrality holds profound significance to us in Capoeira Angola, serving as the cultural and spiritual foundation of this African-Brazilian art form.
We honor the ancestral lineage that birthed & preserved Capoeira Angola, recognizing it as a practice rooted in resilience, resistance, and cultural preservation.
Through the music, movements, and rituals of Capoeira Angola, we connect with our ancestral past, pay homage to those who came before & plant the seed within us which is the future of this art form.
This connection not only enriches the practice but also deepens the understanding of oneself within the broader tapestry of history and culture.