Styles of Capoeira

Overall there are two main classifications of Capoeira: traditional and modern. Angola is the eldest which is often referred to as the traditional form. With roots in African traditions, Capoeira Angola is estimated to be over 500 years old. The more modern forms are usually referred to as either regional or contemporanea.

Capoeira Angola

Capoeira Angola is generally the most dance-like of the three capoeira forms. It contains deeply held traditions and is often characterised with sneaker movements. Those who practise this form will often do so in closer proximity to each other than those who practise either the regional or contemporanea forms. Overall the movements are usually slower than other forms as well as being conducted closer to the ground. In practise however, the speed is vastly dependent on the pace of the music. Capoeira Angola is commonly known for the chamada. This is a physical call-and-response that is used to challenge an opponent or to change the style in the roda.

Grão-Mestre Pastinha is considered to be the father the best known Capoeira Angola schools. Although he was not the only mestre of capoeira Angola he was still given the name of ‘Father of Capoeira Angola’. Capoeira Angola has experienced a lot of growth over the past 20 years and schools can be found all around the world including countries like Australia, USA and Brazil.

Capoeira Regional

Capoeira regional is the most common form of capoeira in practise today and is very wide spread across Brazil. This form was developed by Mestre Bimba in an effort to bring capoeira closer to its fighting origins and make it more effective. Compared to the traditional form, capoeira regional consists of faster and more athletic moves and is characterised by high jumps, spinning kicks and other acrobatics.

Capoeira regional will usually rank participants by ability. Each participant’s skill level is denoted by a corda (coloured rope) which is worn as a belt. The Angola form does not use a formal ranking system like this and instead rank is determined at the discretion of the mestre. In both forms, the recognition of highly advanced skill only comes after many years of practising capoeira.

Capoeira Contemporanea

Contemporanea is a term that is used to describe those who practise more than one form simultaneously. Capoeira contemporanea students will often train in both forms of capoeira, Angola and regional, on top of newer moves that wouldn’t normally fall under either category.

In more recent times, the philosophies of modern capoeira have been seen in the formation of many more schools around the world. With the more modern times, capoeira has been developed as more of a modern martial art and the style can vary from school to school with some capoeira schools teaching a blended version of various styles.

The schools that teach a blend often try to teach use of the strengths of both the Angola and regional forms. With this the forms continue to evolve and develop into something new.

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