Every country has one or more folk dances. Each one is performed differently than the other, although they might have originated from similar backgrounds. One dance that particularly captures my attention is the Capoeira. The Capoeira is a Brazilian folk dance that started out as a fierce form of self-defense and has now become a friendly dance between a circle of people. To better understand and familiarize with the Capoeira we must learn how and where it originated, the ways it has evolved, and how it is being used today.

             .

             In the 1500's, black slaves in Brazil began to incorporate martial arts moves as a way to defend themselves. Capoeira was the name given for those moves of African martial arts that came out of Angola and were later modified and mixed in Brazil. Earlier, these slaves lacked a form of self-defense, an in a way quite parallel to karate, they began to use these grappling and striking as well as animal forms with the things they had in hand, such as sugar cane knives and 3/4 staffs. Being slaves, they had to disguise the study of the art, and that is how the dance came into it. Their hands were manacled most of the time, so the art used a lot of standing on hands feet up, and some moves were directed to fighting mounted enemies.

             .

             Capoeira was born in the "senzalas", places where slaves were kept, and evolved in the "quilombos", a refugee home for slaves. The senzalas restricted the Capoeira development, because what hurt the slaves physically hurt the masters financially. When slaves fled, they started to practice the Capoeira again in the quilombos. Since these quilombos were often chased after and hunted down, the Capoeira was used more as a fighting style instead of a dance. Then in the 1800s, the Capoeira was outlawed in all of Brazil, but it was later surpressed because its frequent hidden practice could not be controlled, so the government decided to allow it again if it was not used violently.