Gestão de competições e federações de Capoeira

Capoeira (Portuguese pronunciation: [kapuˈe(j)ɾɐ]) is an Afro-Brazilian martial art and game that includes elements of dance, acrobatics, music, and spirituality.

It includes acrobatic and complex manoeuvres, often involving hands on the ground and inverted kicks. It emphasizes flowing movements rather than fixed stances; the ginga, a rocking step, is usually the focal point of the technique. Though often said to be a martial art disguised as a dance, capoeira also serves as a way to maintain spirituality and culture.

Capoeira has been practiced among Black Brazilians for centuries; scholars have identified roots in engolo, a traditional Bantu martial art practiced in Angola. Capoeira is first mentioned in an official document in 1789, as a criminal activity. In the 19th century, a street fighting style called capoeira carioca appeared; it was also criminalized. In the early 1930s, Mestre Bimba reformed traditional capoeira and developed the capoeira regional style, which established standardized teaching sequences. The government came to see capoeira as a socially acceptable sport, legalizing it in 1937 and promoting it as part of national culture. In 1941, Mestre Pastinha founded his school where he cultivated the traditional capoeira Angola, distinguishing it from reformed capoeira and the "national sport" approach. Both of these influential teachers came from the Bahia region of Brazil. Beginning in the 1960s, the Grupo Senzala became increasingly influential, practicing a particularly athleticized version of capoeira. In the mid-20th century, capoeira became increasingly recognized outside Brazil. Women, who were previously marginalized in capoeira, began to participate much more often in the culture. In the late 1970s, trailblazers such as Jelon Vieira and Bira Almeida started bringing capoeira to the US and Europe, helping the art become internationally recognized and practiced. In the 1980s, capoeira Angola received greater visibility, and capoeira culture began to place greater explicit emphasis on anti-racism. In 2014, capoeira was granted a special protected status as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. It is presently practiced all over the world, has appeared in commercial martial arts films, and has influenced the fighting styles of some practitioners of mixed martial arts.

Capoeira is played as a game in a roda, a ceremonial circle, along with musical accompaniment. Its fundamental movement is the ginga, a rhythmic sidestep. Other moves include kicks, sweeps, handstrikes, and cartwheels (aú).

In police documents, capoeira was known as capoeiragem, with a practitioner being called capoeira. Gradually, the art became known as capoeira, with a practitioner being called a capoeirista. In a narrower sense, capoeiragem meant a set of fighting skills. The term jogo de capoeira (capoeira game) is used to describe the art in the performative context. Although debated, the most widely accepted origin of the word capoeira comes from the Tupi words ka'a ("forest") paũ ("round"), referring to small forested areas in the Brazilian interior where fugitive slaves would hide.

Capoeira first appeared among Africans in Brazil during the early colonial period. According to oral traditions preserved by old capoeira mestres and within the capoeira community, the art has historical connections to Angola. Although the exact origins of capoeira remain uncertain, some studies have suggested that engolo was one of the African traditions that may have influenced its development, with the Cunene region identified as one of the areas associated with the practice. Some authors argue that other African and Brazilian practices also contributed to the formation of capoeira, rather than a single ancestral tradition; Assunção identifies moraingy, a fighting style from Madagascar, as a possible precursor. Similarities between engolo and capoeira have been noted in movements such as crescent kicks, push kicks, sweeps, handstands, cartwheels, evasions, and techniques such as meia lua de compasso, scorpion kick, and cartwheel kick, although the extent of a direct historical connection remains debated.

Capoeira was first mentioned in a judicial document under the name Capoeiragem in 1789, as "the gravest of crimes". The street capoeira practiced in 19th-century Rio de Janeiro was often associated with violent confrontations. This street-fighting capoeiragem incorporated different fighting elements, including foot kicks, headbutts, hand blows, knife fighting and stick-fighting. This historical form of capoeira became known as capoeira carioca, referring to its association with Rio de Janeiro; it is no longer practiced as an organized style. Capoeira was listed as a crime in the Brazilian penal code of 1890. The main proponents of this fighting-oriented capoeira were Mestre Sinhozinho and Mestre Zuma. In this period, capoeiristas usually carried knives and bladed weapons with them, or hid blades in unusual places such as umbrellas or the berimbau (a traditional musical instrument). When street capoeira was illegal in Brazil, capoeiristas and other outlawed groups like female prostitutes, street vendors, and Candomblé priestesses would benefit each other by setting up their rodas (capoeira circles) and stands near each other. The capoeiristas would bring business by buying food from the street vendors, while the women would keep a lookout for police, concealing the weapons of capoeira fighters. Although very few women took part in capoeira in this period, there is documented evidence that a small number of women were trained in it.

In 1909, capoeirista Ciríaco Francisco da Silva defeated Japanese jujutsu fighter Sada Miyako in one of the first documented examples of vale tudo (early mixed martial arts). Besouro Mangangá was a legendary capoeira fighter of the early 20th century; while there is only one historical record of his existence, his exploits are recounted in various songs and tales, such as his a